At least 30 Palestinians killed in Israeli strike on school housing displaced people

An Israeli strike on a school that had been housing displaced people in Gaza killed at least 30 Palestinians including fifteen children and eight women, on July 27, as per Palestinian health officials. 

Meanwhile, Israel's military said it had struck a Hamas command centre on the school in the central town of Deir Al-Balah, the Hamas-run government media office said. 

As per media office and the Gaza health ministry, over 100 people were wounded.

In a statement, the Israeli military said that it had targeted a "Hamas command and control centre inside the Khadija school compound in central Gaza", adding that the school was being used to launch attacks against troops and as a weapons cache and that it warned civilians before the strike.

The wounded people were taken to Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah via ambulances while some of the wounded arrived on foot with clothes stained with blood.

A footage by Reuters showed people returning to the site of the bombing to check on their belongings, and fires burning in the area. Walls were blasted and debris scattered in the schoolyard, where some cars were damaged.

In previous such strikes that have hit civilian infrastructure, Israel's military has blamed the militant Islamist group Hamas for putting civilians in harm's way, accusing it of operating within densely populated neighbourhoods, schools and hospitals as cover, which Hamas has denied, as per media reports.