At least 52 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza Monday, including 36 in a school that had been converted into a shelter for displaced families, according to local health officials. The Israeli military said it targeted a Hamas and Islamic Jihad command center operating from within the school building, while medics and aid groups described a catastrophic scene in which sleeping civilians were burned alive.
The strike on Fahmi Al-Jargawi School in Gaza City's Daraj neighborhood occurred overnight, as hundreds of displaced residents from Beit Lahia sought refuge in classrooms. Fahmy Awad, head of the emergency service at Gaza's Health Ministry, stated: "The school was hit three times while people slept, setting fire to their belongings." He added that among the dead were a father and his five children.
Footage circulating online showed rescuers pulling out charred bodies as fires consumed portions of the building. Faris Afana, manager of Gaza's northern ambulance service, said, "There were sleeping children and women in those classrooms. Some of them were screaming but we couldn't rescue them due to the fires."
The Gaza Health Ministry confirmed the toll, with Shifa and al-Ahli hospitals receiving dozens of bodies and wounded. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed it struck a command and control center used by militants to plan attacks, and accused Hamas of embedding military assets in civilian infrastructure.
In a separate strike, 16 members of the same family were killed in a house in Jabalia, northern Gaza, including five women and two children, according to Shifa Hospital. The overall death toll from Israel's offensive has reached 53,939, with over 16,500 children among the dead, the ministry said.
Israel resumed its military campaign in March after a temporary ceasefire collapsed, declaring its objective to dismantle Hamas and retrieve the remaining 58 hostages from the October 7, 2023 attack that left 1,200 Israelis dead. Nearly 90% of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been displaced, with many living in overcrowded shelters or tents.
The offensive coincides with the rollout of a new aid distribution initiative known as the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which aims to reach one million Palestinians by week's end. However, the system has come under fire from United Nations agencies and major NGOs, who have refused to participate. They argue the Israeli- and U.S.-supported plan fails to meet basic humanitarian principles and may deepen civilian suffering by forcing further displacement.
Jake Wood, the American executive director of GHF, resigned abruptly on Sunday, saying it had "become clear that the foundation would not be allowed to operate independently." In response, the GHF said its trucks were "loaded and ready to go" and reiterated its goal to "serve the full population in the weeks ahead."
Israel has accused Hamas of diverting aid but has not provided specific evidence. The blockade imposed on March 2, which fully halted food, fuel, and medicine, was only partially lifted last week. On Sunday, 107 aid trucks were permitted to enter Gaza, far below the 500 to 600 daily shipments the U.N. says are necessary to avert famine.
Meanwhile, tensions flared in Jerusalem during an ultranationalist march marking Israel's 1967 conquest of the city's eastern sector. Some participants chanted anti-Arab slogans, and a small group-joined by an Israeli member of parliament-broke into a compound of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which Israel has banned.
The international community has widely rejected Israel's stated goal of facilitating what it calls the voluntary migration of Gaza's population. Hamas warned Palestinians on Monday against cooperating with the new aid system, alleging it serves Israeli efforts to depopulate the territory.
Calls for a ceasefire are mounting. On Sunday, the International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed the deaths of two of its staff in an Israeli strike in Khan Younis, describing the loss as evidence of Gaza's "intolerable civilian death toll." In Madrid, representatives from 20 countries gathered to explore options for peace, with Spain's foreign minister calling for an arms embargo on Israel if attacks persist.
