Five Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrike on school shelter in central Gaza

 A Palestinian boy holds on to his bicycle over debris in the courtyard of an UNRWA school which received a direct hit during Israeli airstrikes on the central Gaza Strip refugee camp of Nuseirat, May 19, 2025. (AFP)
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  • 28 Palestinians have been killed due to Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since dawn on Monday
  • The school west of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza has stopped offering full-time education

LONDON: Five Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike overnight in a school-turned-humanitarian shelter in the central Gaza Strip after Israel launched an extensive military operation to occupy the coastal enclave.

Medical sources reported that at least five people were killed and several others injured, mostly children, in an Israeli airstrike on Al-Hasayna School, which had been converted into a shelter for displaced families.

The school west of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza has stopped offering full-time education, and it belongs to the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, which was spared from extensive destruction or damage from the war.

According to Wafa news agency, 28 Palestinians have been killed due to Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since dawn on Monday, including 16 in Khan Yunis.

Since late 2023, the war in Gaza has displaced around 1.9 million Palestinians — about 90 percent of the population — with many facing multiple displacements. According to a UN report, schools have suffered severe damage due to Israeli actions, with 501 out of 564 schools requiring either full reconstruction or significant rehabilitation to be functional again.

In early May, an Israeli airstrike targeted a UN-run school in Al-Bureij, central Gaza, killing at least 30 people who were sheltering there. The facility had accommodated 2,000 displaced individuals.