Children burned alive as Israel bombs school in Gaza City

More than 60 Palestinian civilians, most of them children and women have been killed by Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip since dawn on Tuesday, amid the regime’s renewed onslaught on the besieged territory.

Palestinian media cited medical sources as saying that the fatalities took place as a result of a series of airstrikes by the Israeli regime targeting homes, refugee camps and schools in the Gaza Strip.

Palestine’s official news agency WAFA reported that 12 civilians, including children, were killed in the massacre committed by the occupying entity after it bombed a home in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza.

Two civilians were killed and others were also wounded in an Israeli drone strike on the al-Manara area, east of Khan Yunis, south of the Strip.

According to WAFA, the death toll from the Israeli bombing of a gas station west of the Nuseirat refugee camp rose to 15 and a citizen was also killed in strikes on al-Sikka Street in  al-Zeitoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza.

“Israeli gunboats are firing at civilian homes in Beit Lahia, north of the Gaza Strip,” the news agency added.

Local reports said Israeli forces bombed Musa Bin Nusayr school in Gaza City’s al-Daraj neighborhood early on Tuesday, killing 13 Palestinians and injuring more than 10 others.

The victims were all reported to be from two displaced families from Beit Hanoun who had been sheltering in the school.

“Among the dead were four children whose bodies were completely burned, and three women, two of them pregnant,” the reports said. “Witnesses suspected Israel used new types of munitions which caused severe burns and widespread destruction.”

Palestinian resistance media said Israeli shelling continued in Khan Yunis and Rafah, adding that a drone bombed a tent in al-Mawasi refugee camp in southern Gaza, leaving an unspecified number of causalities.

In January, the Israeli regime was forced to agree to a ceasefire deal with Hamas given the regime’s failure to achieve any of its objectives, including the “elimination” of the Palestinian resistance movement or the release of captives.

The 42-day stage of the truce, which was marred by repeated Israeli violations, expired on March 1, but Israel is refraining from stepping into talks for the second stage of the agreement.

On March 18, the regime resumed the strikes on Gaza, breaking the nearly two-month-long ceasefire.

The Israeli regime’s war machine has since October 7, 2023, claimed the lives of 53,486 civilians, the majority of whom were children and women, and injured 121,398 others.

The figure is a preliminary toll as numerous victims are still buried under the rubble and on the streets, unable to be reached by ambulance and rescue crews.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant, citing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the besieged coastal territory.