The civil protection service in the Gaza Strip announced that at least 32 people were killed on Thursday in shelling by the Israeli army, which it said had targeted “Hamas terrorists” in two school complexes where displaced people had taken refuge.

“The shelling from the (Israeli) occupation of Al Karama and Shaaban schools, east of Gaza City, caused the death of 13 people, including women and children,” the spokesman for the civil protection service told Agence France-Presse (AFP). Mahmoud Basal, adding that around 30 other people were injured.

The Israeli armed forces had earlier announced that they launched a “precision strike” against “Hamas terrorists” who were using these facilities (…) to prepare and launch attacks against troops and the State of Israel.” “A number of measures were taken prior to the attack in order to limit the risk of civilian casualties,” the statement said.

The Palestinian enclave’s civil protection agency announced that 13 more people were killed in an Israeli airstrike against “crowds trying to get water in Al Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City.”

According to the same source, six people were killed by Israeli shelling in two houses on the outskirts of Gaza.

The war in Gaza was triggered by an unprecedented attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,208 people, according to an AFP count based on figures from Israeli authorities and also including the hostages who found the death in captivity in the Palestinian enclave.

Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip have killed more than 45,000 Palestinians since October last year, according to a health ministry tally in the Hamas-controlled enclave.