Israel-Gaza updates: US is 'strengthening' military force in Middle East

Leaders around the world have condemned an Israeli strike on a school in Gaza, making an appeal to the international bodies to stop the killing of civilians and protect displaced Palestinians. They also address the potential damage this attack has on the potential cease-fire negotiations.

"The deliberate killing of these huge numbers of unarmed civilians whenever the mediators' efforts intensified to try to reach a formula for a ceasefire in the Strip is conclusive evidence of the absence of political will on the part of the Israeli side to end this fierce war," the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement.

Qatar called for an independent international investigation into the strike and for full protection for displaced people.

"The State of Qatar has strongly condemned the Israeli occupation's bombing of a school sheltering displaced people east of Gaza city, which led to dozens of martyrs and injured, and deemed it as horrific massacre and brutal crime against defenseless civilians and a flagrant infringement of the fundamental precepts of international humanitarian law," Qatar said in a statement.

Turkey also called it "a new crime against humanity."

"This attack demonstrated once again that the Netanyahu Government intends to sabotage the negotiations for a permanent ceasefire. International actors who do not take steps to stop Israel are complicit in Israel's crimes," the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.

The European Union said it was "horrified" by the images of the strike.

"At least 10 schools were targeted in the last weeks. There’s no justification for these massacres We are dismayed by the terrible overall death toll," Josep Borrell High Representative of the EU said in a statement.

Francesca Albanese, United Nations Special Rapporteur, called Gaza the "largest and most shameful concentration camp of the 21st Century."

"Israel is genociding the Palestinians one neighborhood at the time, one hospital at the time, one school at the time, one refugee camp at the time, one 'safe zone' at the time. With US and European weapons. And amid the indifference of all 'civilised nations.' May the Palestinians forgive us for our collective inability to protect them, honoring the most basic meaning of intl law," Albanese said.

Scores have been killed following a strike on Al-Tabeen School in Gaza City early Saturday.

Al-Tabeen School is in Al Darj area of Gaza city and the school was housing hundreds of displaced persons, officials in Gaza said.

Many of the displaced people sheltering at the school had been performing dawn prayers at the time of the strike, according to the Government Information Office in Gaza.

Initial reports from Gaza officials said almost 100 people have been killed and dozens wounded, with an official casualty count expected to come from the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

"Today, an Air Force aircraft attacked, under the intelligence guidance of the Israel Defense Forces, the Shin Bet and the Southern Command, terrorists who were operating in a military headquarters located in the 'Al-Tabin' school complex near the mosque in Darje Tafah area, which is used as a shelter for the residents of Gaza City," read a statement from the IDF following the strike.

Gaza’s Civil Defence said two floors of the school were targeted: the first was housing women and the ground was a prayer hall for the displaced.

There were a total of “93 martyrs, including 11 children and 6 women, as a result of the massacre committed by the occupation against the displaced people in the Al-Tabaeen School in the Al-Daraj neighborhood," according to the Gaza Civil Defense.

The State Department has ended its investigation into allegations of human rights abuses committed by an Israel Defense Forces unit known as the "Netzah Yehuda" battalion and decided against withholding U.S. aid over the matter, according to U.S. officials.

The State Department had extended its review by several months in order to "evaluate new information" provided by the Israeli government, spokesperson Vedant Patel said in a statement to ABC News.

"After thoroughly reviewing that information, we have determined that violations by this unit have also been effectively remediated," Patel said. "Consistent with the Leahy process, this unit can continue receiving security assistance from the United States of America."

According to a U.S. official, Israel informed the U.S. that after its military prosecutors determined two soldiers connected to the unit should be penalized, they were removed from combat positions, have since left the military and are now ineligible to serve in the reserves.

Additionally, the official said that Israel told the U.S. the IDF had taken several steps to avoid future violations of rights, including enhancing screening requirements for personnel recruited into the battalion, implementing new control mechanisms during the soldiers' training, requiring a two-week education seminar unique to the unit, and documenting conduct of its members.

ABC News has also learned that the government of Israel told the State Department that the two soldiers were referred for prosecution, but that the case could not move forward because witnesses declined to cooperate.

The reported offenses that were under investigation occurred in the West Bank and happened before the attacks of Oct. 7.

-ABC News' Shannon K. Kingston

Hamas confirmed that Samer Mahmoud al-Haj, one of its local commanders, was killed in an Israeli attack on the Lebanese city of Saida. Although the commander is not high-ranked, his killing has triggered protests in Ayn al-Hilweh, which is the biggest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon.

The Israeli Defense Forces confirmed the attack in a statement, saying al-Haj was responsible for advancing terror attacks and projectile launches from Lebanon toward Israeli territory.

"Samer operated as the military forces' commander in the Ain al-Hilweh camp located in the area of Sidon and was responsible for the recruitment and training of terrorists to attack the State of Israel," the IDF said in a statement.

-ABC News' Nasser Atta and Bruno Nota