Israeli strikes kill 15 in school shelter

CAIRO/RAMALLAH: An

Israeli airstrike

on a school sheltering

displaced persons

in Gaza City killed at least 15

Palestinians

on Saturday, hours after two strikes in the occupied

West Bank

killed nine militants including a local

Hamas

commander, Hamas said.
The Israeli military said the first of two West Bank airstrikes hit a vehicle in a town near the city of Tulkarm, targeting a militant cell it said was on its way to carry out an attack.

The school sheltering displaced persons was in Gaza City's Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, the Hamas run-government media office said.
The Israeli military said the school was being used as a command centre for Hamas, to hide militants and manufacture weapons. Hamas has denied Israeli accusations.

Earlier on Saturday, Israeli strikes in the enclave killed six in a house in the southern area of Rafah and two others in Gaza City, Gaza health officials said. The Israeli military said its forces had struck militants and destroyed Hamas infrastructure in Rafah and elsewhere in the enclave.
At least 39,550 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli military campaign in Gaza, said Gaza health officials.
A high-level Israeli delegation made a brief visit to Cairo on Saturday in an attempt to resume Gaza ceasefire negotiations,Egyptian airport authority sources said. It returned to Israel hours later, Israeli media said.