Fighting rages as some Gazans voice hope at renewed ceasefire calls

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

CAIRO (Reuters) -An Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering displaced families in the northern Gaza Strip killed at least 14 people on Thursday, Palestinians medics said, with the Israeli military saying it targeted militants using the compound.

Several people were wounded and others were missing after an Israeli missile hit the Al-Falouja School in Jabalia camp, Gaza's health ministry and the Civil Emergency Service said .

The Israeli military said is attack was aimed at a Hamas militant command centre there. It has regularly accused Hamas of using civilian buildings for military purposes - something the group denies.

War in Gaza has not let up, even as Israel's battle against Hezbollah on another front further north in Lebanon has escalated.

Gaza health authorities say more than 41,400 Palestinians have been confirmed killed in the near year-old offensive which Israel launched after Hamas fighters attacked Israeli towns on Oct. 7 last year, killing 1,200 people and capturing around 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Palestinian health officials said Israeli military strikes across Gaza had so far killed at least 31 people overnight into Thursday.

The armed wings of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said their fighters had attacked Israeli forces in the central Gaza Strip area with several mortar bombs. Hamas said its fighters also fired mortar bombs against Israeli forces in Khan Younis.

Residents said Israeli forces operating in the southern Gaza city of Rafah and in Zeitoun, a suburb of Gaza City, had blown up several homes in both areas as the military continued its operations there. There was no immediate Israeli comment on the fighting in those areas.

PEACE HOPES

Many months of diplomatic efforts to reach a Gaza ceasefire have yielded little progress, with Israel refusing any deal to halt the fighting without the total defeat of Hamas.

Over the past week, Israel has also launched some of the biggest airstrikes on Lebanon in nearly two decades, targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah, which has been firing into Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians.

On Wednesday, the United States, France and several other allies called for an immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Israel-Lebanon border while also expressing support for a Gaza ceasefire following intense discussions at the United Nations.

In Gaza, many Palestinians voiced hope that a deal to end the war in Lebanon would also bring an end to the fighting in the Palestinian enclave.

"Since Oct. 8, Hassan Nasrallah conditioned ending the strikes by Hezbollah on ending the Israeli crimes and war on Gaza. This is a big gate of hope that peace may prevail in Lebanon and Gaza," said Tamer Al-Burai, a Palestinian businessman from Gaza City, who is currently displaced in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

Nasrallah is the leader of Iran-backed Hezbollah.

"We stand in solidarity with the people of Lebanon and we don't wish that anyone be harmed as Gaza was," Burai told Reuters via a chat app.

Some expressed concern that a deal in Lebanon alone could free Israel's hands further in Gaza, but Abed Abu Mustafa, a resident of Gaza City, said he expected Nasrallah to continue supporting the Palestinian enclave.

"We are confident that Nasrallah wouldn't agree to a deal that doesn't include Gaza," Mustafa, 48, told Reuters.

(Reporting and writing by Nidal al-MughrabiEditing by Gareth Jones and Andrew Heavens)