'This is not life:' Gazans reel from Israeli strike on school-turned-shelter

Young children wandered through the charred shell of what had been a school sheltering displaced Palestinians on Thursday, after a pre-dawn Israeli strike killed 12 people there according to the civil defence agency.

Tattered clothes hung from the blackened exterior of the building in western Gaza City, as rubble still smouldered below in the morning light.

Bloodstains dotted the ground strewn with the remnants of daily life. Clothing, metal chairs, tins of food and part of an electric fan lay amongst the wreckage, AFP footage showed.

Children walk over debris at Mustafa Hafez school, following an overnight Israeli strike in Gaza City. AFP

"This is not a life," said Umm Yassin Abu Awda, a Gaza City resident who stood amongst mourners at the city's Al Shifa Hospital following the strike.

"Either you strike us with a nuclear bomb and end it all, or people's conscience needs to finally wake up."

Nearly all of Gaza's population has been displaced at least once during the nearly 21-month war, which has created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people living there.

A boy checks the destruction at Mustafa Hafez school, following an overnight Israeli strike in Gaza City. AFP

Many have sought shelter in school buildings, but these have repeatedly come under Israeli attacks that the military often says target Hamas hiding among civilians.

Mohammad Al Mughayyir, an official from Gaza's civil defence agency, told AFP that most of the 12 killed in Thursday's strike were women and children.

Injured Palestinian children receives treatment outside Baptist Hospital in Gaza City, following an Israeli strike. AFP

He also reported a large number of injuries in the "Israeli air strike on the Mustafa Hafez School, which shelters displaced persons, in the Al Rimal neighbourhood."

They were among 25 people that the agency reported killed by Israeli forces on Thursday morning in the Palestinian territory, where Israel has recently expanded its military operations.

'Annihilate us'

Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it was looking into the report.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence.

An injured Palestinian boy waits to receive treatment at Baptist Hospital in Gaza City. AFP

At Mustafa Hafez School, a colourful mural on a wall next to the wreckage showed a smiling boy walking past a tree and a woman next to a Palestinian flag.

A small group sat on chairs in what was once the playground of the school.

Inside the building, a group of young boys surveyed the damage and climbed on upturned furniture while others sifted through the debris.

Crowds of mourners gathered at Al-Shifa Hospital, where men and women wept over the bodies of the dead.

People walk over debris at Mustafa Hafez school, following an overnight Israeli strike in Gaza City. AFP

"We have no life left. Let them just annihilate us so we can finally rest," said one woman who lost relatives in the strike and did not give her name.

"There's nothing left for us. My two daughters are gone — and now my niece, along with her six children and her husband, were burned to death," she said, her voice breaking with emotion.

At least 57,130 people have been killed in Israel's military campaign in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The United Nations considers its figures reliable.

Agence France-PResse