Gaza officials told AFP news agency Monday (12/8) they had identified 75 of the 93 Palestinians killed in an Israeli air strike on a school building, while the Israeli military said the weekend raid had “killed” 31 militants.
Civil defense rescue teams in the Hamas-controlled territory said the Al-Tabieen religious school in Gaza City was attacked on Saturday (August 10) as Palestinian refugees sheltering there gathered for morning prayers.
The Israeli military has published the names and photographs of 31 people it said were militants killed in the strike.
Previously they had reported 19 militants killed there.
AFP could not independently verify the death toll at the school, which the Israeli military said was targeted because it housed Hamas' command and control headquarters.
“There are 93 dead in the attack on Al-Tabieen school, 75 of whom have been identified,” Gaza civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP on Monday.
“The others have not been identified because some bodies were torn and charred by the bombing.”
He said the dead included 11 children and six women.
Amjad Aliwa, an emergency doctor at Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City, confirmed that 75 people killed in the strike had been identified. “There are still bodies (whose identities are not yet known) that are completely destroyed,” he told AFP.
“There are also some families who have fled to the south (of the Gaza Strip) and cannot come to identify their loved ones.”
The Israeli military said it struck the school compound after receiving intelligence that Hamas militants were using it as a base and had plans to attack Israel and its security forces.
“The attack was carried out using three precision munitions,” the military said hours after the raid, adding that “no serious damage was caused to the compound where the terrorists were located.” (th/uh)
