At least eight Palestinians have been killed and dozens of others wounded in Israeli attacks in Gaza City, Palestinian doctors said on Thursday.
The Israeli military (IDF) says it has attacked two schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
“The schools were used as terrorist hideouts,” the IDF said. Hamas members also planned attacks on Israeli soldiers from there, the military said.
To avoid harm to civilians, precision munitions were used and the area was monitored from the air, the Israeli military said.
Palestinians earlier reported that a school and a residential building in the threatened Shejaiya neighborhood of Gaza City had been hit, killing at least eight people.
The claims of both parties could not be independently verified.
Earlier, the Israeli army confirmed that military operations were underway in several parts of the Gaza Strip, including heavy fighting in the eastern Shejaiya neighborhood of Gaza City.
According to the Israeli military, “dozens of terrorists” have been killed in hand-to-hand fighting over the past day and more underground tunnels used by Hamas militants have been destroyed in Shejaiya, which Israel says is still a Hamas stronghold.
Residents of Shejaiya also reported seeing armed Hamas members attacking Israeli soldiers.
According to the Israeli army, fighting is also still going on in the city of Rafah in the far south of the Gaza Strip, where several fighters were killed in an airstrike.
According to doctors, aid workers are currently unable to reach the areas of Rafah and Shejaiya due to the fighting.
According to the Israeli military, a total of more than 50 targets were destroyed in airstrikes in the Palestinian territory on Wednesday.
The Israeli military also reported that two soldiers were killed in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
