An Israeli strike on a UN-run school housing displaced families in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp on Tuesday killed 23 people and wounded 73 others.

The strike left the school partially destroyed, with debris covering the yard and classrooms used as shelters by displaced Palestinians. 

“These were civilians who were killed. These were children who were torn up in the strike, there’s nothing left of them,” one man yelled as he showed Middle East Eye a white tarp on which body parts were being collected.

Among those killed was local journalist Mohammad Meshmesh, taking the number of journalists killed in the conflict to 160, the government media office in Gaza said.

The strike on the school left people in a state of shock, as they watched rescue workers removing bodies from under the rubble, Nuseirat resident Riyad Abu Shanab.

Look around you. You can see body parts strewn around,” Abu Shanab said.

“I could have been one of the victims. I had just gone to the toilet to wash my hands when the strike hit, engulfing the area with fire. It was only a moment that separated me from death,” he added.

‘Before this strike hit, I could hear the sound of children outside. After the strike, the sound of children disappeared’

Maysara, schoolgirl

“This is an Unrwa school sheltering displaced people. They hit a school yesterday too. People are getting killed in front of us and we have nowhere to go.”

Um Alaa Abu Daher was sitting with her daughter and niece in a classroom on the ground floor when the missile hit nearby.

“Suddenly there was nothing but fire and smoke outside. But this is not the first time we find ourselves in this situation,” Abu Daher said.

Her niece Maysara said the school that the family had previously been sheltering in was also hit, wounding several of her relatives. 

“Before this strike hit, I could hear the sound of children outside. After the strike, the sound of children disappeared,” Maysara said.

The Israeli military said “terrorists” were active in the area and that it was investigating reports of casualties.

Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday killed at least 57 Palestinians, including 17 people who were killed in a strike near a tented area housing displaced people in the humanitarian-designated area of al-Mawasi in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza.

The attack on al-Mawasi comes after air strikes killed at least 88 people and wounded 289 others on Saturday in a displaced people’s camp in the same district.

More than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s war on Gaza since October, according to local officials. The majority of the dead are women and children.

Israel on Tuesday said it had killed or wounded 14,000 Hamas members and eliminated half of the organisation’s leadership.

Israel claimed al-Mawasi strike on Saturday was targeting Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif, though the Palestinian group denied he was affected.