200 dead in Israeli Gaza strikes

Egyptian, Qatari and US mediators meet in Rome today

GAZA:

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said an Israeli strike on a school killed 30 people on Saturday, after a days-long military operation further south left around 170 dead, according to emergency services.

The latest strike, which Israel said targeted "terrorists", was at least the eighth time since July 6 a school has been hit, leaving a total of more than 100 people dead, based on figures given by the health ministry and a hospital source.

With most of the Gaza Strip's 2.4 million people displaced at least once during the war started by Hamas's October 7 attack, many have sought refuge in school buildings including the one hit on Saturday.

The health ministry reported "30 martyrs and more than 100 wounded" in the strike on Khadija school in the central Deir el-Balah area.

Israel's military said Palestinian militants were using the compound as a "hiding place".

Further south, in the Khan Yunis city area, around 170 people have been killed "and hundreds wounded" in an Israeli operation since Monday, Gaza's civil defence agency said.

It issued the toll after the military warned of new operations in the Khan Yunis area, where troops had earlier recovered the bodies of five Israelis killed during the October 7 attack and held in Gaza since.

Egyptian state-linked media said Egyptian, Qatari and US mediators are to meet with Israeli negotiators in Rome on Sunday in the latest push for a Gaza truce, which critics of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have accused him of blocking.

Israel had warned on Monday that its forces would "forcefully operate" in the Khan Yunis area. On Saturday, the military ordered residents from more parts of Khan Yunis "to temporarily evacuate to the adjusted humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi" -- the second such change to the declared safe zone within a week. The United Nations said that by Thursday, more than 180,000 Palestinians had already fled fierce fighting there.

Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the civil defence agency, told AFP that many people had been displaced again on Saturday as the Israeli operation continued. But with large parts of Khan Yunis "not suitable for living" and "no other options available", civilians have struggled to find safety, he said. "Where will these residents go?"

The evacuation orders and "intensified hostilities" have "significantly destabilised aid operations", the UN said, reporting "dire water, hygiene and sanitation conditions" in the Palestinian territory.