Rescuers say Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip killed at least 52 people on Monday, 33 of them in a school-turned-shelter, as European allies ramped up their criticism of Israel.
While the war raged on, mediators presented a proposal for a 70-day ceasefire and hostage-release deal to Israel and Hamas, a Palestinian source says.
The territory’s civil defence agency says many of the casualties at the school in Gaza City were children, while the Israeli military says the site was housing “key terrorists”.
Israel has stepped up a renewed offensive to destroy Hamas, drawing international condemnation as aid trickles in following a blockade since early March that has sparked severe food and medical shortages.
It has also triggered international criticism, with European and Arab leaders meeting in Spain calling for an end to the “inhumane” and “senseless” war, while humanitarian groups say the trickle of aid was not nearly enough.
In Germany, chancellor Friedrich Merz voiced strong criticism of Israel, saying: “I no longer understand what the Israeli army is now doing in the Gaza Strip, with what goal.”
The impact on Gazan civilians “can no longer be justified”, he adds.
However, German foreign minister Johann Wadephul says Berlin would continue selling weapons to Israel.
In Gaza City, civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal says that an early-morning Israeli strike on the Fahmi Al-Jarjawi school, where displaced people were sheltering, killed “at least 33, with dozens injured, mostly children”.
The Israeli military says it had “struck key terrorists who were operating within a Hamas and Islamic Jihad command and control centre embedded in an area”, adding that “numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians”.
Another strike killed at least 19 people in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, Bassal says.
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