19 killed in Israeli shelling on central Gaza school

GAZA, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) — At least 19 Palestinians were killed and dozens of others injured on Sunday in Israeli shelling on a school housing displaced persons in the Nuseirat refugee camp of central Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian sources.
Local sources and eyewitnesses reported that Israeli artillery fired on the Al-Mufti school, which houses dozens of displaced families in the northern Nuseirat camp.
The ambulance crew and civil defense units quickly arrived at the targeted site, they said, adding flashlight beams and mobile phone lights pierced the darkness caused by a power outage as rescue workers worked to transport the injured.
Paramedics said the rescue team recovered 19 bodies and around 80 injured people, including children and women, and transported them to hospitals in central Gaza.
Also on Sunday, five children were killed by the Israeli army in the west of the Al-Shati camp of northern Gaza, the Palestinian official news agency WAFA reported.
The Israeli military has not yet commented on these attacks.
The ongoing Israeli offensive follows a Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which left about 1,200 people dead and around 250 taken hostage. Gaza-based health authorities said on Sunday that the Palestinian death toll from the Israeli airstrikes has reached 42,227. ■