More than 80 Palestinians were killed across Gaza on Thursday, according to health officials, as Israel intensified its strikes across the strip.
The deaths, which authorities said included dozens of people seeking aid, come as negotiations to reach a ceasefire in the enclave ramp up. A source told CNN that Hamas officials were set to meet Thursday to prepare a response to the latest proposal, which has been accepted by Israel.
At a school-turned-displacement facility in Gaza City, 15 people were killed and 25 injured in Israeli strikes that left many with severe burns, the director of Al-Shifa hospital Dr. Mohammad Abu Silmiya said. The hospital is treating those wounded in the attack.
“The scene was extremely harrowing due to the charred bodies of the martyrs and children,” said Fares Afana, who heads the Emergency and Medical Services in northern Gaza, and had teams evacuating the injured from the school.
The hospital director said another 12 people were killed in other strikes in Gaza City.
In response to a CNN question on the school strike, the Israeli military said it struck a “key Hamas terrorist who was operating in a Hamas command and control center” in Gaza City. The Israeli military said that prior to the attack, “numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence.”
Earlier this morning, the Israeli army said that over the past day it struck “approximately 150 terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip, including terrorists, underground routes, military structures, weapons, sniper posts, and additional terror infrastructure sites.” CNN has requested comment from the Israeli military on Thursday’s strikes.
Images taken at the scene of the attack in Gaza City showed flames inside a building and several bodies that had been severely burned.
“Every so often, the Israelis would attack the school and bomb it, forcing us to flee, then we would return when the Israeli pressure eased. Today, as you can see, the pressure was intense,” said a woman, who did not give her name.
In southern Gaza, 35 bodies arrived at the Nasser Hospital on Thursday morning, according to the spokesman of Nasser hospital, Ahmad Al-Fara. The death toll includes fifteen people who were allegedly killed while waiting for aid in Khan Younis, and 20 others who died in strikes on encampments in the city, the hospital said.
The aid seekers were waiting near the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) distribution sites in the Al-Tahliya area of southwest Khan Younis when they were hit, according to the hospital.
“They said the American (GHF) is safe, is that what safety looks like?” one man, Awad Barbach, said at the funeral of one of those killed.
In another incident, in central Gaza near the Netzarim Corridor, crowds gathered to receive aid from trucks when chaos ensued, a witness said. Twenty-five people were killed in the incident, according to Abu Silmiya, the Al-Shifa hospital director.
“It was a trap… people were stabbing each other for the food… (then there was an) hour and a half of (Israeli) gunfire… we are not Hamas or Fatah. I’m just a civilian who wants to eat, and instead I find death,” one eyewitness, Ahmed Khella, told CNN.
“Where are (Hamas)?… they are all dogs,” he added.
Later on Thursday evening, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said seven people had been killed and 17 others injured while waiting for aid in the Tahlia area east of Khan Younis. Ambulance crews transported the injured and bodies of the deceased to Al Amal hospital, PRCS said.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
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