United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East

Israeli strikes hammered a Gaza refugee camp on Friday after a deadly strike on a U.N.-run school, as the war sparked by Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel entered its ninth month.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands, laid waste to much of the Gaza Strip, uprooted most of its 2.4 million population and put them at risk of starvation.

The U.N. Palestinian refugee agency's chief said Thursday that Israel had carried out a strike on one of its Gaza schools "without prior warning" to thousands of displaced sheltering there.

"Another UNRWA school turned shelter attacked," Philippe Lazzarini wrote on social media platform X, adding that the agency had earlier provided Israeli forces with the building's coordinates.

Israeli military sent its tanks into the center of Rafah for the first time in three-week ground operation on Tuesday despite a global storm of outrage over a strike that set ablaze a crowded tent city, killing 45 people according to Palestinian officials.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has criticized Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz's "baseless" accusations against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, stating that these accusations are a futile attempt to shift focus from Israel's crimes in Palestine.

The United Nations has halted food distribution in Rafah due to a severe shortage of supplies and insecurity in the area, as reported by Voice of America (VOA).

The U.N. Agency helping Palestinian refugees reported that its distribution center and the U.N. World Food Program's warehouses in Gaza's southern city of Rafah "are now inaccessible due to ongoing military operations," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

This handout satellite image courtesy of Maxar Technologies shows tents and shelters for Palestinians displaced by the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas at the Mawasi camp near Rafah in the south of the Palestinian territory on May 15, 2024.

Israel battled Hamas in Gaza on Monday, including in far-southern Rafah, despite U.S. warnings against a full-scale invasion of the crowded city and of the threat from post-war anarchy or insurgency.

More than 100,000 people have fled Rafah in recent days, the United Nations said on May 10, with Israeli tanks encircling the eastern half of the southern Gaza city, under threat of a full-scale ground invasion.

Germany faces charges from Nicaragua at the top U.N. court on Monday that it is "facilitating the commission of genocide" against Palestinians with its military and political support for Israel.

Nicaragua has hauled Germany before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), demanding judges impose emergency measures to stop Berlin providing Israel with weapons and other assistance.