An Israeli air strike on a school building sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza City has killed dozens of people, Hamas-run authorities in the territory say.

Dozens reported killed in Israeli strike on Gaza school building

An Israeli air strike on a school building sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza City has killed dozens of people, Hamas-run authorities in the territory say. 

A spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said al-Taba’een school "served as an active Hamas and Islamic Jihad military facility" with approximately 20 "militants" operating there. 

More than 60 people were killed and 47 injured, the health ministry’s ambulance service said, quoted by the AP news agency.

Earlier, the Gaza civil defence agency - a rescue service - said at least 90 people were killed. The BBC cannot independently verify figures from either side.

Israel has attacked several such shelters in Gaza in the past few weeks.

According to the United Nations, 477 out of 564 school buildings in Gaza had been directly hit or damaged as of 6 July, with at least another 14 targeted since.

Al-Taba’een school housed more 1,000 people - having recently received dozens of displaced people from the town of Beit Hanoun, after the Israeli army ordered them to leave their homes.

The building also served as a mosque and the Israeli strike hit during dawn prayers, witnesses said.

Jaafar Taha, a student who lives near the school, told the BBC the sound of the bombing was followed by screaming and noise.

"'Save us, save us', they were screaming," he said.

"The scene was horrific. There were body parts everywhere and blood covering the walls." 

Israel's military said it had "precisely struck Hamas terrorists operating within a Hamas command and control centre embedded in the al-Taba'een school".

A statement by IDF spokesman Lt Col Nadav Shoshani said that "based on Israeli intelligence, approximately 20 Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants, including senior commanders, were operating from the compound struck at the al-Tabaeen school, using it to carry out terrorist attacks".

The spokesman said the casualty figures released by Hamas officials "do not align with the information held by the IDF, the precise munitions used, and the accuracy of the strike". 

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