Israel-Hamas war: Israeli strike on Gaza school kills dozens

• An Israeli strike on a school in central Gaza kills more than 30 people
• The Israeli military says a soldier was killed in the north of the country in a border clash with Lebanon's Hezbollah

Here is the roundup of developments from the Israel-Hamas war and the wider Middle East region on Thursday, June 6:

06/06/2024June 6, 2024

Israel says soldier killed in Hezbollah cross-border attack

The Israeli military has said a soldier has been killed in the north of the country, where troops have been engaged in almost daily border clashes with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

The 39-year-old soldier "fell fighting in the north" on Wednesday, the military said in a statement, after two explosive drones were launched from Lebanon against the town of Hurfeish in northern Israel.

The man is one of at least 15 soldiers and 11 civilians killed on the Israeli side of the border since clashes began in early October, according to the army.

This does not include the almost 1,200 people killed during the Hamas attacks on October 7, or the hostages who have died in captivity in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Israel's offensive has killed more than 36,500 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.

Israeli politicians have threatened to fight even harder against Hezbollah, which last fought a major war with Israel in 2006.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel was "prepared for a very intense operation" along the border with Lebanon and that "one way or another, we will restore security to the north."

06/06/2024June 6, 2024

Israeli strike on UN school kills dozens

More than 35 people were killed in an Israeli strike that hit a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in central Gaza early on Thursday, local health officials have said. 

Witnesses and hospital officials said the pre-dawn strike hit the school in Nuseirat, which is run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). The school was housing Palestinians who had fled Israeli offensives and bombings in northern Gaza, they said.

UNRWA communications director Juliette Touma told the Reuters news agency that the number of people reported killed in the Israeli offensive on the Nuseirat school was between 35 and 45, but added that this figure could not yet be confirmed.

The Israeli military said Hamas militants were operating from inside the school, and added that it had "eliminated" several militants in a "precise strike on a Hamas compound embedded inside an UNRWA school in the area of Nuseirat."

The strike came after the military announced a new ground and air assault on several refugee camps in central Gaza in pursuit of Hamas militants it says have regrouped there. 

Thursday's strike is the latest instance of troops pushing back into parts of Gaza where they had previously conducted operations, underscoring the difficulty Israel faces in rooting out the militant group which has been designated a terror organization by the US, Israel and Germany, among other governments.

dh/ab (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)