Israel strikes on two schools kill more than 18 in Gaza: civil defence

Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli strikes hit two schools in Gaza City Thursday, killing more than 18 people, while the Israeli military said it struck Hamas command centres.

"The Israeli occupation killed more than 18 citizens in strikes on two schools," Mohammad al-Mughayyir, a senior official at the agency told AFP, referring to Al-Zahra and Abdel Fattah Hamoud schools in Gaza City. He said 60 others were wounded. The Israeli military has released images and footage to show that it continues to operate at the Egypt-Gaza border.

It claims that troops in a combat engineering battalion demolished Palestinian rocket launch sites near Gaza’s largest fuel depot.

“Any damage to the facility could endanger the lives of tens of thousands of Gazan citizens who are in the area of the depot,” said the Israeli military, which significantly hampers supplies of fuel and other humanitarian assistance to the besieged enclave.

Israeli Prime Minsiter Benjamin Netanyahu promised last week that the military will continue to operate along the Philadelphi Corridor as it expands its ground invasion of Gaza, even as Egypt has expressed its opposition to any Israeli presence in the sensitive area.

Agence France-Pres