Middle East latest: At least 27 killed as Israeli strike hits a school in Gaza

An Israeli strike on a school sheltering the displaced in the Gaza Strip killed at least 27 people, including a child and seven women, Palestinian officials said Thursday, as Israel continues to strike at what it says are militant targets across Gaza.

In southern Lebanon, the U.N. peacekeeping force said an Israeli tank fired on its headquarters in the town of Naqoura, hitting an observation tower and wounding two peacekeepers, who were hospitalized.

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not say how many were fighters but say women and children make up more than half of the fatalities. The war has destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced around 90% of its population of 2.3 million people, often multiple times.

A year ago, Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed into army bases and farming communities, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. They are still holding about 100 captives inside Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Israel is now at war with Hamas in Gaza and its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon, which began firing rockets at Israel on Oct. 8, 2023.

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Here is the latest:

TEL AVIV, Israel - Israel’s police and Shin Bet internal security service said on Thursday they arrested five Palestinians from northern Israel associated with the Islamic State group over an alleged plan to bomb a mall in Tel Aviv.

The Shin Bet said the five men were active in online discussions on how to plant a car bomb that would topple large skyscrapers in central Tel Aviv. The suspects also allegedly watched videos of Islamic State attacks in Syria.

Police said they thwarted the plan “in the early stages of its implementation” and seized weapons from their home. Police did not provide further evidence. Two of the men had expressed interest in going abroad to fight with the Islamic State, according to police.

The arrests came as Israel faced a spate of shooting and stabbing attacks carried out by Palestinians from Israel and the occupied West Bank that have killed 9 people and wounded dozens in recent days.

ROME — Italy’s Defence Minister Guido Crosetto has urgently summoned the Israeli ambassador to Italy to discuss the strike on a U.N. peacekeeping base in southern Lebanon where Italian personnel operate.

Italy has about 1,000 soldiers deployed in Lebanon, participating in the UN peacekeeping mission.

A UNIFIL spokesperson said Thursday that two peacekeepers were hospitalized after its headquarters in Naqoura was directly hit by Israeli tank fire. Israeli forces have “deliberately” fired at the UN position in recent days, the spokesperson said.

The U.N. peacekeeping chief, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, said last week that U.N. peacekeepers were staying in their positions on Lebanon’s southern border despite Israel’s request to vacate some areas before it launched its ground operation against Hezbollah militants.

UNIFIL was created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after Israel’s 1978 invasion. The U.N. expanded its mission following the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, allowing peacekeepers to deploy along the Israeli border. The force has more than 10,000 peacekeepers from around 50 countries.

BEIRUT — The U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon said Thursday an Israeli tank fired on its headquarters in the town of Naqoura, hitting an observation tower and wounding two peacekeepers, who were hospitalized.

UNIFIL said in a statement that its headquarters and nearby positions “have been repeatedly hit.” It said the army also fired on a nearby bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, damaging vehicles and a communication system. It said an Israeli drone was seen flying to the bunker’s entrance.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — A strike on a school sheltering displaced people in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah killed 27 people, including a child and seven women, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where the bodies were brought. It said several other people were wounded.

An Associated Press reporter saw ambulances streaming into the hospital and counted the bodies, many of which arrived in pieces.

“We appeal to the world. We are dying!” one man screamed.

The Israeli military said it carried out a precise strike targeting a militant command and control center inside the school. Israel has repeatedly attacked schools that were turned into shelters in Gaza, accusing militants of hiding out in them.

Witnesses who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons said the strike occurred while school managers were meeting with representatives of an aid group in a room normally used by Hamas-run police who provide security. They said there were no police in the room at the time.

Over 2,000 Turkish citizens and some foreign nationals started boarding a Turkish military ship late Wednesday that brought in aid and will take them out of a country being hit by Israeli airstrikes targeting Hezbollah.

It's part of a six-ship convoy including escorts that set sail from the southern Turkish port of Mersin early Wednesday, transporting 300 tons of humanitarian supplies, including food, hygiene kits, kitchenware, tents, beds and blankets.

Besides the Turkish citizens, people from Bulgaria, Romania and Kazakhstan were among those who applied to evacuate on the ships. Officials did not provide numbers.

Turkey’s government plans to organize more sea evacuations if necessary and is contemplating charter flights to repatriate citizens.

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UNITED NATIONS – The top U.N. official in Lebanon repeated her call for an immediate cease-fire, saying the 21-day cease-fire proposal launched by the U.S. and France is still on the table “and very relevant.”

Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said Wednesday that a halt to fighting is the only way to ease “the colossal human suffering that is happening right now,” address Lebanon’s “humanitarian crisis of catastrophic proportions” and provide a window “for diplomatic efforts to take hold and succeed.”

The U.N. special coordinator for Lebanon expressed hope during a video press conference from Beirut “that Israel will now, or soon, be ready to add its support to the many calls and appeals out there for a cease-fire or a pause.”

“I’m not saying that it’s going to be an easy ride or walk in a park,” she said. “It will be difficult, but I am convinced that it’s doable, and it’s in the interest of Lebanon, in the interest of Israel to find sustainable solutions.”

Hennis-Plasschaert said there must also be a realistic roadmap to implement the 2006 U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the Israeli-Hezbollah war. Its key provisions include disarming all armed groups including Hezbollah and deploying the Lebanese army throughout the country’s south, which borders Israel and is mainly controlled by the militant group.

“At the end of the day, it is the lack or non-implementation of resolution 1701 over the past 18 years that led to today’s harsh reality,” Hennis-Plasschaert said.