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- Israel used US-made bombs to strike a UN-run school in Gaza, a CNN analysis found.
- Israeli forces attacked the school, serving as a refugee camp for 20,000 people, overnight.
- The IDF said it was targeting Hamas militants operating inside the school.
Israel used US-made bombs to strike a school in Gaza, killing dozens of people, CNN reported.
The United Nations-run school was being used as a refugee camp, housing about 20,000 displaced people, when at least three missiles struck it overnight, a local journalist told CNN.
CNN analyzed video of the strike and consulted a weapons expert to determine that Israel used US-made explosives in the attack.
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed the attack on Thursday, saying it was targeting a Hamas compound of 20 to 30 militants that were operating inside the school, NBC News reported.
Palestinian health officials said dozens of refugees were killed, including women and children, while a spokesperson for the IDF said he didn't know of any civilian deaths, NBC News reported.
"We were asleep here, (and) we suddenly saw rockets falling. I went down holding my child, we were both injured, my relative was martyred in that room," local journalist Jaber Abu Daher told CNN, adding that Israel's prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "is killing the civilians, he is not killing militants."
"It's innocent people asleep in a UNRWA facility… what did children and elderly do? What did they do to him? He is looking for Hamas people? Go look for them, why are you killing us in schools?"
The IDF spokesperson said Israel had postponed the strike twice in an attempt to avoid killing civilians, NBC News reported.
The strike is the latest Israeli military action that's sparked international outcry as its war against Hamas drags on. Last month, airstrikes in southern Gaza killed at least 45 people, according to Palestinian health authorities.
Those health authorities say tens of thousands have been killed in Israeli bombings since the war began last October, after Hamas launched terror attacks across the border, killing hundreds and taking hostages.
The overnight airstrike on the school in central Gaza also represents another challenge to US President Joe Biden, who has urged Israel and Hamas to come to a cease-fire deal and pressured the US ally into avoiding civilian casualties.
Biden is facing pressure from his left flank in the US from progressive voters who accuse him of supporting "genocide" by backing Israel's campaign.