Gaza’s civil defence agency said a series of Israeli strikes on Thursday killed at least 30 Palestinians, with the Israeli military confirming it targeted Hamas militants in one attack.

The violence in the Gaza Strip continues to rock the coastal territory more than 14 months into the Israel-Hamas war, even as international mediators work to negotiate a ceasefire.

At least 13 people, including women and children, were killed when strikes hit two schools in eastern Gaza City, according to civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal.

“There are at least 13 martyrs, including children and women, as a result of the occupation targeting the Shabaan al-Rayes school and Al-Karama school in the Al-Daraj neighbourhood of eastern Gaza City,” Bassal told AFP.

He added that at least 30 others were wounded.

Hundreds of Palestinians displaced by the war were in the two schools when the strikes occurred.

“The occupation continues its policy of targeting displaced people and shelters housing them,” Bassal said.

The military said it had conducted a “precise strike on terrorists” operating in the compounds of the schools located in the Al-Daraj neighbourhood.

“Hamas terrorists used these compounds for terrorist activities and to plan and execute terror attacks against IDF (military) troops and the state of Israel,” the military said in a statement.

In a separate strike, another 13 people were killed when an Israeli warplane targeted a group of Palestinians filling water in Al-Shati refugee camp in western Gaza City, said Bassal.

Four additional fatalities were reported in another strike on a house, also in the Al-Daraj neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City.

The military had no immediate response on the strikes on the house and in Al-Shati camp.

Amid the ongoing violence, the United States, Egypt, and Qatar are engaged in renewed negotiations to halt the war and secure the release of dozens of hostages still held by militants in Gaza.

On Tuesday, the United States expressed “cautious optimism” about the prospects of reaching a ceasefire in Gaza.

The war was sparked by an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people on Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Hamas militants also took 251 hostages, of whom 96 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed at least 45,129 people, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

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