Israeli strike on Gaza school kills 30, five of them kids

Palestinians check the UN-school that was housing displaced people in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip. Pic/AFP

An Israeli strike early Thursday on a school-turned-shelter in central Gaza that the military said was being used as a "Hamas compound" killed at least 30 people, including five children, according to local health officials.

The strike came after the military said it was launching new air and ground operations in central Gaza and an international medical group reported soaring casualties. The latest operations appear to mark a widening of Israel's nearly eight-month offensive, launched after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah received at least 30 bodies from the strike on the school and another six from a separate strike on a home, according to hospital records and an Associated Press reporter at the hospital. Hamas-run media had earlier reported a higher toll from the strike on the school.

The Israeli military said its fighter jets struck the school run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, known by the acronym UNRWA. The Israeli military claimed, without immediately offering evidence, that Hamas and the Islamic Jihad used the school as cover for their operations.

UNRWA schools across Gaza have functioned as shelters since the start of the war, which has displaced most of the territory's population of 2.3 million Palestinians.

Spain to join S Africa in UN court accusing Israel of genocide

Spain will ask a United Nations court for permission to join South Africa's case accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza, its foreign minister announced on Thursday. Spain is the first European country to take the step after South Africa filed its case with the International Court of Justice late last year. It alleged that Israel was breaching the genocide convention in its military assault that has laid waste to large swaths of Gaza.

Mexico, Colombia, Nicaragua, Libya and the Palestinians have already requested to join the case. The court has ordered Israel to immediately halt its military offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah but stopped short of ordering a cease-fire for the enclave. Israel has not complied.