GAZA STRIP: Gaza’s civil defence agency said an Israeli strike hit a school in Gaza City on Tuesday, killing at least seven people, while the Israeli military said it struck a Hamas command centre.

The bodies of five men and two children were pulled out of the building “after an Israeli plane dropped a bomb on the second floor of the (Mustafa Hafiz School) building housing thousands of displaced people,” agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.

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He said 15 people were wounded in the strike.

AFP was unable to independently verify the death toll at the school, which the Israeli military said was targeted because it housed a Hamas command and control centre.

“Hamas terrorists used the command and control centre to plan and execute attacks against IDF (Israeli army) troops and the State of Israel,” the military said in a statement.

It said it carried out a “precise strike on terrorists who were operating” inside the school.

Earlier this month, the military had struck the Al-Tabieen School in Gaza City, which according to the civil defence agency killed 93 Palestinians.

In recent weeks, the military has struck several schools across Gaza, primarily in Gaza City, accusing them of housing Hamas command centres, which the Palestinian group denies.

The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,199 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Hamas group also seized 251 people, 105 of whom are still held captive in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory military offensive against Hamas has killed at least 40,173 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which does not provide details on civilian deaths.

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Most of the dead in Gaza are women and children according to UN human rights office.