Despite the escalation at the northern front with Hezbollah, Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip have not ceased. A new wave of Israeli airstrikes targeting the center and south of the besieged territory resulted in the deaths of at least 50 people and injured approximately 200 others. The health ministry in the region confirmed that the new strikes hit a school where thousands sought shelter, noting that at least 30 people were killed in an airstrike on the Khadija School in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. Injured individuals were rushed to the nearby Al-Aqsa Hospital, while images from Deir al-Balah showed families carrying injured children for treatment. The Associated Press reported that people searched the destroyed classrooms for remains of victims. Its reporters witnessed individuals fleeing from the hospital where the deceased from the strike were taken, as an ambulance moved in the opposite direction. Inside the ambulance lay a dead infant along with another body wrapped in a blanket.
Israeli forces also carried out strikes outside Gaza, including a drone strike on the Balata refugee camp near Nablus in the West Bank, which resulted in one death after an Israeli soldier was injured at a nearby checkpoint. Israeli forces acknowledged targeting the Khadija School in Deir al-Balah, claiming that the area was used as a "command and control center" by Hamas fighters.
Major Escalation
It is noteworthy that mediators from the Israeli intelligence agency are expected to hold talks on Sunday in Rome with the head of the Central Intelligence Agency and members of Egyptian intelligence agencies as well as Qatari officials in an attempt to reach an agreement to recover Israeli captives held in Gaza, as well as to agree on a ceasefire. This military escalation in Gaza followed the killing of 12 people by a rocket that Israel says was fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon at a soccer field in the town of Majdal Shams in the occupied Golan Heights, while Hezbollah completely denies responsibility for the incident. Additionally, the airstrike on Deir al-Balah coincided with other strikes on Khan Younis, following a week of bloody fighting in Gaza's second-largest city.
