At least 30 Palestinians were reportedly killed Saturday when Israeli airstrikes hit a Gaza school being used to house people displaced by the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
Israel's military said it targeted a Hamas command center in the compound that was directing attacks against its troops and storing "large quantities of weapons," which Hamas denied, according to the Associated Press.
The Hamas-run government media office said that 15 children and eight women were among those killed and that more than 100 others were wounded, according to Reuters.
Journalists saw a dead toddler in an ambulance and bodies covered with blankets, AP said. Reuters reported that some people in blood-stained clothes walked to a nearby hospital where victims were taken.
Civil defense workers said thousands of refugees were sheltering inside the girls' school in Deir al-Balah, which also housed a medical facility, according to AP.
The building's walls were blasted open, cars were damaged and debris was scattered in the schoolyard, Reuters reported.
The deadly bombing came a day after U.S. officials said Israel and Hamas had agreed on the basic framework of a three-phase, cease-fire deal that President Joe Biden detailed in late May.
But in a fiery speech to Congress on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue the war against Hamas, calling it a "clash between barbarism and civilization."
A spokesperson for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas claimed in a statement after Saturday's airstrikes that Netanyahu's reception from supporters in the U.S. gave Israel a "green light."
On Friday, Netanyahu met in Florida with former President Donald Trump, who reportedly said that if he's not returned to the White House, "we're all going to end up with major wars in the Middle East and maybe a third world war."
