At least 10 people have been killed in an Israeli attack that sparked a fire at a school sheltering displaced people in Gaza City, including one child who was burned to death in the blaze. Israel has killed at least 32 Palestinians in Gaza on Tuesday.
The Palestinian Civil Defence said its emergency workers recovered 10 bodies early on Wednesday morning after the attack in Yaffa school in Al-Tuffah neighbourhood.
Attacks targeting tents sheltering displaced people across the Gaza Strip have significantly increased over the past week. Between 15 and 21 April, at least 23 incidents were reported in which IDP tents were struck, resulting in the reported killing of 78 Palestinians, including women and children, and the injury of dozens, the UN humanitarian update stated.
In one of the incidents on 16 April in Al Mawasi area of western Khan Younis, 10 Palestinians, including four women, five children and one person with disabilities, were reportedly killed and burned alive when an IDP tent was hit. Several others sustained severe burns and critical injuries.
“Children are being burned while they sleep in the tents of the displaced,” Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif wrote on social media after the attack on Wednesday.
“There are no safe areas, and no survivors of this genocide. Gaza City and its northern areas have been subjected to heavy Israeli shelling and artillery fire for hours,” he said.
Video footage shared on social media after the attack on the school-turned-shelter showed flames engulfing tent structures and canvas covering melting onto the remains of burning chairs and what appeared to be a bed frame.
Between 7 October 2023 and 22 April 2025, the Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that at least 51,266 Palestinians have been killed and 116,991 Palestinians injured. This includes 1,890 people killed and 4,950 injured since the escalation of hostilities on 18 March 2025, according to MoH.
On 17 April, MoH published the breakdown of casualties in Gaza between 18 March and 17 April. Of the 1,691 people killed, 595 were children, 308 were women, 105 were elderly and 683 were men. Among the 4,464 people injured, 1,610 were children, 842 were women, 225 were elderly and 1,787 were men.
