A Palestinian man stand over covered bodies, killed in an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter, at the morgue of the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on April 23, 2025. Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP
Gaza City, Palestinian Territories: Gaza's civil defence agency on Wednesday said its crew recovered charred bodies from a school-turned-shelter for displaced people, as Israeli strikes killed 17 people in the territory since dawn.
Germany, France and Britain urged Israel to lift its blockade on humanitarian aid entering the besieged territory, which it imposed on March 2.
"Seventeen people have been killed since dawn," civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP, as Israel pounded the territory.
Palestinians mourn during a funeral of relatives, killed in an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter, at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on April 23, 2025. Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP
He said 11 of the victims, who included women and children, died in an air strike targeting the Yafa school building in Gaza City's Al-Tuffah neighbourhood.
"The school was housing displaced people. The bombing sparked a massive blaze, and several charred bodies have since been recovered," he said.
Several bodies, wrapped in white shrouds, were laid at the morgue of Al-Shifa hospital, an AFP journalist reported. The wounded were also being treated at the facility.
A Palestinian man transports the body of a child, killed in an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter, outside the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on April 23, 2025. Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP
At the hospital, women were seen weeping over the body of a child wrapped in a white shroud.
Grieving relatives carried the bodies of their loved ones for burial, including those of children while women wept nearby.
"We want nothing more than for the war to end, so we can live like people in the rest of the world," said Walid al-Najjar, a resident of Khan Yunis after a strike in the area.
"We are a people who are poor, devastated -- our lives are lost."
'No tools' to retrieve bodies
Since the war began on October 7, 2023, tens of thousands of displaced Gazans have sought refuge in schools to escape the violence.
Aid agencies estimate that the vast majority of Gaza's 2.4 million residents have been displaced at least once since the war began.
"We lack the necessary tools and equipment to carry out effective rescue operations or recover the bodies of martyrs," Bassal said.
On Tuesday, the Israeli military stated that it had targeted approximately 40 "engineering vehicles", alleging they were being used for "terror purposes".
Bassal said air strikes destroyed bulldozers and other equipment needed to "clear debris and recover the bodies of martyrs from beneath the rubble", as well as to "save lives, pull people from the rubble".
Elsewhere in Gaza, additional fatalities were reported on Wednesday, including four people killed in Israeli shelling of homes in eastern Gaza City, according to Bassal.
Since Israel's military campaign resumed, at least 1,890 people have been killed in Gaza, bringing the total death toll since the war erupted to at least 51,266, according to the health ministry in Gaza.
Call to lift aid blockade
Germany, France, and Britain on Wednesday called on Israel to stop blocking humanitarian aid into Gaza, warning of "an acute risk of starvation, epidemic disease and death".
"This must end," their foreign ministers said in a joint statement.
Palestinians carry shrouded bodies of relatives, killed in an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter, during their funeral near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on April 23, 2025. Photo by Omar Al-Qattaa / AFP
"We urge Israel to immediately restart a rapid and unimpeded flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza in order to meet the needs of all civilians."
The UN also warned that many community kitchens that are providing food for displaced people are also shutting due to depleting stocks.
"Due to a lack of cooking gas, families are resorting to burning plastic to cook their meals," the UN's humanitarian agency OCHA said on Tuesday.
"There are modest quantities (of fuel) available in Rafah and the north of Gaza, but they cannot be accessed due to displacement orders and location in the 'no-go' zones" drawn by the military.
