At least 10 Gazans killed in Israeli shelling of UN agency school
Palestinians search for bodies and survivors among the rubble of a destroyed house following Israeli airstrikes, Deir Al Balah, Gaza Strip, Palestine, Jan. 29, 2024. (EPA Photo)


Israeli shelling of a U.N. school, sheltering internally displaced Gazans, killed at least 10 people and wounded 15 others, local authorities said Monday.

Palestinian medical sources at Al-Shifa Medical Complex reported that the Israeli army last night targeted the Al-Rimal neighborhood with airstrikes and artillery in the most intense attacks in over a month, following the withdrawal of military vehicles from the neighborhood in mid-December.

According to the enclave's Health Ministry, at least 165 Palestinians were killed and 290 others injured in the last 24 hours amid continued Israeli onslaught.

"The Israeli occupation committed 19 massacres against families in the Gaza Strip, leaving 165 martyrs and 290 injured during the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement Monday.

"Many people are still trapped under rubble as rescuers are unable to reach them," it added.

Despite the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) provisional ruling, Israel has continued its offensive on Gaza, killing at least 26,422 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 65,087 since Oct. 7, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas, which Tel Aviv says killed around 1,140 people.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza's population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure was damaged or destroyed, according to the U.N.

Five killed in West Bank

In a separate incident, at least five Palestinians were killed during separate Israeli military operations in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah reported Monday.

It said a 21-year-old man was killed in a village near Jenin. Two other Palestinians, including an 18-year-old, were fatally injured in confrontations with soldiers in Dura near Hebron.

A 16-year-old was killed in a further incident near Bethlehem and a fifth was killed during confrontations with Israeli soldiers near Ramallah.

The Israeli army claimed that soldiers had tried to arrest a suspect near Jenin. The suspect allegedly opened fire on the troops and was then shot dead.

Violent riots broke out in Dura during a night-time military operation, during which soldiers were pelted with stones and soldiers "returned fire and a hit was identified," a military spokesperson said and confirmed two deaths in the incident.

Another Palestinian was shot dead near Bethlehem when he allegedly tried to attack soldiers at a military post with a knife, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.

Meanwhile, the incident near Ramallah is still being investigated, it said.

The situation in the West Bank has worsened considerably since the start of Israel's war on Gaza, in response to the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion.