Gaza's civil defense agency said Saturday an Israeli air strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians killed 93 people, as Israel's military accused militants of using the building as a command center.
Aence France Presse could not independently verify the toll which, if confirmed, would appear to be one of the largest from a single strike during 10 months of war between Israel and Hamas Palestinian militants.
Hamas denounced the "dangerous escalation" in north Gaza, which came after international mediators invited the warring sides to resume next Thursday talks towards a long-sought ceasefire and hostage-release deal.
Jordan's foreign ministry said the timing of the school strike "is an indication of the Israeli government's efforts to obstruct and thwart these efforts."
Civil defense officials in the Hamas-ruled territory said three Israeli missiles hit the school in Gaza City while people performed dawn prayers.
"Their bodies were torn apart," civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP. "It reminds us of the first days of the war in the Gaza Strip."
With most of Gaza's 2.4 million people displaced during the war triggered by Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, many have sought refuge in school buildings, which have been hit at least 14 times since July 6, according to an AFP tally.
Israel's army said Saturday it had "precisely struck Hamas terrorists operating within a Hamas command and control centre embedded in the Al-Tabieen school."
The military has repeatedly made similar accusations after strikes on the school shelters. Hamas has previously denied Israeli claims that it uses schools, hospitals and other civilian facilities for military aims.
AFP-TV live images from the scene showed a large complex with a courtyard where debris lay inside and out. Part of the structure appeared to be a mosque, the upper story of which was partially blown out and charred.
Images also showed white-shrouded bodies, blood stains on the ground, and smoke rising from the rubble.
Hamas's October attack resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Palestinian militants seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 39 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel's retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 39,699 people, according to Gaza's health ministry, which does not give details of civilian and militant deaths
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas. In January the military said it had dismantled the group's command structure in northern Gaza. But the military has since found itself returning there and to other areas of the territory to battle militants again.
Iran has accused Israel of wanting to spread war in the Middle East, and Hamas officials, some analysts and critics in Israel have said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has prolonged the fighting.
However, Netanyahu's office on Thursday said Israel would send negotiators "to conclude the details of implementing a deal," after the joint invitation from mediators the United States, Qatar and Egypt.
The mediators' invitation followed intense diplomacy aimed at averting a region-wide conflagration.
In a joint statement Thursday, the three countries' leaders invited the warring parties to resume talks on Aug.t 15 in Doha or Cairo "to close all remaining gaps and commence implementation of the deal without further delay."
Recent discussions have focused on a framework outlined by U.S. President Joe Biden in late May and later endorsed by the United Nations Security Council.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, in talks with his U.S. counterpart Lloyd Austin, "raised the importance of swiftly achieving" a hostage release deal, Gallant's office said.
European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen said on social media platform X: "We need a ceasefire in Gaza now" and expressed strong support for the mediators' efforts.
