Israeli airstrikes killed at least 100 Palestinians across Gaza on April 3, 2025, including at least 27 people sheltering at a school in northern Gaza, Palestinian medical authorities said, in a new escalation of Israel's offensive. Health officials said 70 wounded were still being treated critically or had critical injuries.
The school strike in Gaza City's Tuffah neighborhood killed 14 children and five women among those recovered, according to Health Ministry spokesman Zaher al-Wahidi. More than 30 other people were killed in strikes on homes in nearby Shijaiyah, he said. The Israeli military said it struck a Hamas command-and-control center and that it had taken steps to reduce civilian harm.
Hamas condemned the school strike as a massacre of civilians. Israel had made the same operational argument a day earlier when it struck a U.N. building used as a shelter, killing at least 17 people. The packet shows a familiar pattern in the war: civilian shelters, military claims of militant infrastructure and rapidly rising casualty counts.
The attacks came as the military ordered more residents in parts of northern Gaza to move west and south to shelters, warning it would work with extreme force in the area. Many left on foot, carrying belongings or using donkey carts. The U.N. humanitarian office said about 280,000 Palestinians had been displaced since Israel resumed fighting in Gaza.
The broader campaign had already entered its 20th month. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there was doubt about the survival of three hostages previously thought alive, while U.S. President Donald Trump said only 21 of 24 believed alive had survived. Families of captives were left in panic as Israel prepared to enlarge its offensive, call up reservists and seize more territory.
AP's reporting places the day's strikes within a war that has already killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, who do not separate militants from civilians. The source also noted attacks on a restaurant, a school shelter and other sites across the strip. The verified facts in the packet point to a conflict still widening, with casualty counts rising and no immediate sign of relief for civilians under repeated evacuation orders.
The strike on the school was not the only one that day, but it became the clearest symbol of the human cost. The AP account said the bodies of 14 children and five women were recovered from the Tuffah neighborhood school, while more than 30 people were killed in nearby Shijaiyah. That combination of shelter casualties and home strikes made the casualty toll rise fast across Gaza City.
Israel's evacuation orders pushed residents farther west and south, often on foot and with whatever they could carry. The U.N. said about 280,000 Palestinians had been displaced since Israel resumed the war, a figure that explains why schools and other public buildings had become shelters in the first place. With reservists being called up and Israel signaling a larger operation, the civilian pressure on Gaza was growing even as casualty figures mounted.
