At least 17 Palestinians, including women and children, were killed Tuesday when an Israeli airstrike hit a school sheltering displaced families near the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, according to Xinhua.

Rescuers are still combing the rubble, with additional casualties expected. Hospital personnel have reported a critical surge of injured. 

As stated by the Israeli military, the strike targeted a Hamas command center based on "precise intelligence."

Since Israel started operations on March 18, nearly 2,500 Palestinians have been killed, raising the total number of deaths since October 2023 to more than 52,000, Xinhua reported.