An Israeli strike on a school housing displaced people in Gaza killed at least 20 people and injured dozens, local authorities told Reuters early on Monday (May 26).

Israel stepped up its military operations in the enclave in early May, saying it is seeking to eliminate Hamas' military and governing capabilities and bring back the remaining hostages who were seized in October 2023.

Medics said the dozens of casualties in the strike on the school, in the Daraj neighbourhood of Gaza City, included women and children.

Some of the bodies were badly burned according to images circulating on social media, which Reuters could not immediately verify.

There was no immediate comment by the Israeli military.

Despite mounting international pressure that pushed Israel to lift a blockade on aid supplies in the face of warnings of looming famine, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week that Israel would control the whole of Gaza.

Israel has taken control of around 77 per cent of the enclave either through its ground forces or evacuation orders and bombardments that keep residents away from their homes, Gaza's media office said.

The Israeli campaign, triggered after Hamas Islamist militants attacked Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, has devastated Gaza and pushed nearly all of its two million residents from their homes.

The offensive has killed more than 53,000 people, many of them civilians, according to Gaza health authorities.

Source: Reuters