Israeli strike kills at least 40 Palestinians at school in Central Gaza

Israel said Thursday it had bombed a school in the Gaza Strip, killing a Hamas militant inside. Hamas officials said 40 people were killed, including women and children, as they sought refuge in a UN compound.

The attack comes at a delicate time for a brokered ceasefire aimed at freeing hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 and some Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. Hamas is seeking a permanent end to the war.

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Israel insists the Islamist group must be eliminated first.

With both sides giving conflicting explanations for the attack on the school, the United States issued a joint statement with other countries on Thursday, calling on Israel and Hamas to make the compromises necessary to reach an agreement.

Ismail al-Tawabuta, head of the Hamas-run state press office, denied Israeli allegations that a Hamas command post was hidden in the United Nations school in Nuseirat, central Gaza.

"The occupation forces are using a fabricated and false story... to justify the brutal crimes they committed against dozens of displaced people," Tawabuta told Reuters.

The Israeli army said its warplanes had carried out a "precise strike" and distributed satellite photos showing two parts of a building where militants are said to be stationed.

"We have great confidence in the intelligence," said army spokesman Lt. Col. Speaking to reporters, Peter Lerner accused Hamas and Islamic Jihadists of deliberately using UN facilities as operational bases.

Also read: Israeli forces attack "Hamas compound" at school; media reports put death toll at 39, death toll at 4,444 He said there were between 20 and 30 militants in the compound, many of whom were killed, but did not give specific details as intelligence analysis is still being carried out. "There have been no civilian casualties. We are very cautious about believing anything revealed by Hamas," he said.

Schools run by the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) may have been attacked several times, said the agency's communications director Juliet Touma.

She said she could not confirm the death toll at this time.

Media in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip had previously put the casualty figure at 35 to 40.

Tawabuta and medical sources said 40 people were killed, including 14 children and nine women.

Efforts towards a ceasefire

Israel said on Wednesday it would launch a new military operation in central Gaza to fight militants who have resorted to hit-and-run tactics. Israel says ceasefire talks have intensified since U.S. President Joe Biden put forward a proposal on Friday but fighting will not stop in the meantime.

All attempts to broker a ceasefire have failed since a week-long ceasefire in November, with both sides blaming the other.

"At this critical moment, we call on Israeli and Hamas leaders to make the final compromises necessary to complete this agreement," the White House statement said, along with Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Britain, Canada and others.

CIA Director William Burns met Wednesday in Doha with senior officials from mediators Qatar and Egypt to discuss the proposed ceasefire. Two Egyptian security officials said the talks continued on Thursday but showed no signs of a breakthrough.

Biden has repeatedly said in recent months that a ceasefire is near, but it never materialized.

Last week's high-profile announcement coincided with intense domestic pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to find a way to end the eight-month war and negotiate the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

Hamas, which controls Gaza, began the war on October 7 with an attack on Israeli territory. According to Israeli figures, about 1,200 people have been killed and more than 250 hostages taken.

About half of the hostages were released during a ceasefire in November.

Health officials say Israel's military offensive on Gaza has killed more than 36,000 people in the region and thousands more are feared buried under rubble.

With about half of Hamas' forces wiped out in eight months of fighting, the group is resorting to insurgent tactics to thwart Israeli attempts to seize control of Gaza, U.S. and Israeli officials told Reuters.

According to three US officials familiar with battlefield developments, the number of Hamas fighters has dropped to between 9,000 and 12,000. Before the conflict, the Americans estimated it at 20,000 to 25,000. Israel has said it has lost about 300 soldiers in the Gaza conflict.

Hamas has not released numbers of its fighters killed, and some officials have argued that Israeli figures for Hamas fighter deaths are exaggerated.

Meanwhile, the conflict between Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah is threatening to escalate, with the US State Department warning of an all-out war.

Biden said the ceasefire proposal was an Israeli one, but it has received a lukewarm response from the Israeli public.

A senior adviser to Netanyahu acknowledged Sunday that Israel made the proposal even though it was "not a good deal."

Far-right lawmakers in Netanyahu's government have said they would resign if he agrees to a peace deal that keeps Hamas in power, a move that could force new elections and end the political career of Israel's longest-serving leader.

Centrist opponents who joined Netanyahu's war cabinet as a show of solidarity at the start of the civil war have also threatened to resign, saying Netanyahu has no plan.

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