TORONTO - The Israeli military said it conducted an airstrike on a Hamas compound embedded in a school complex in Gaza that eliminated militants who took part in the deadly Oct 7 attack against Israeli civilians.
The Hamas-run government media office said at least 27 people were killed at the school, which had been turned into a shelter. It added that dozens of people were also injured.
"Before the strike, a number of steps were taken to reduce the risk of harming uninvolved civilians during the strike, including conducting aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence information," the Israeli military said in a social media post. It described the attack as a precision strike on the school complex in the central Gaza area of Nuseirat.
The airstrike came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this week reiterated there would be no permanent cease-fire in the war against Hamas until the country’s conditions, which include the militant group’s destruction, are met.
Hamas — a designated terrorist group by the United States (US) and the European Union (EU) — has followed Israel in balking at US President Joe Biden's latest bid to end the war, with both sides saying their conflicting conditions for a permanent cease-fire must be met before they will agree to pause fighting.
Smoke and destroyed buildings at the entrance to the Bureij refugee camp following Israeli bombardments in Bureij, central Gaza, on Wednesday. (Photo: Bloomberg)
A Hamas spokesman said Tuesday that Israel must commit to a permanent cease-fire and full withdrawal from Gaza, conditions that Netanyahu's government has so far rejected.
"We are waiting a clear Israeli stance on this," the spokesman, Osama Hamdan, said Tuesday in Beirut.
