DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza — At least 13 people, including women and children, were killed in two separate Israeli attacks in Gaza on Saturday, Palestinian health officials said, weeks after Israel announced the first aid delivery to war-torn northern Gaza.

The Gaza Ministry of Health said that one of the attacks hit a shelter converted into a school in the Tufah district in eastern Gaza City, killing at least six people. The ministry said that two local journalists, a pregnant woman and a child were among the dead. The Israeli military said the attack targeted a militant belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group but did not provide any evidence or further details.

Seven more people were killed when Israel attacked a tent sheltering displaced people in the southern city of Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital. It was stated that two women and a child were among the dead. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the explosion.

COGAT, the Israeli military agency responsible for humanitarian aid to Gaza, said on Saturday that 11 aid trucks carrying food, water and medical equipment had reached the northernmost part of the enclave, including the urban refugee camp in Jabaliya. It is the first time any aid has arrived in the north of this region since Israel launched a new military operation there last month.

The announcement came just days before a deadline by the United States demanding that Israel improve aid distribution across Gaza. Experts say there is a strong possibility that famine is imminent in some areas of northern Gaza.

Israel’s new offensive focuses on Jabaliya, a densely populated refugee camp where Israel says Hamas has regrouped. Other areas affected by the new campaign include Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, located just north of Gaza City.

The UN estimates tens of thousands of people remain in the region. Earlier this week, the Gaza Ministry of Health said there were currently no ambulances or emergency teams operating north of Gaza City.

Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, the Israeli army has struck scores of schools and tent camps housing tens of thousands of Palestinians driven from their homes by Israeli attacks and evacuation orders. The conflict has displaced 90 percent of Palestinians in Gaza, according to UN figures.

The military has repeatedly accused Hamas of operating from civilian infrastructure in Gaza, including schools, UN facilities and hospitals. Conflicting narratives about the use of schools and hospitals go to the heart of the 13-month-old conflict.

In July, Israeli airstrikes attacked a girls’ school in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah, killing at least 30 people sheltering there. The Israeli military said it targeted the Hamas command center, which was used to direct attacks on its soldiers and store “large quantities of weapons”.

More than 43,000 people have died in Israel’s more than year-long war against Hamas in Gaza, Palestinian health officials say. They do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but say more than half of those killed were women and children. The war began when Palestinian militants raided Israel on October 7, 2023, killing approximately 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 250.

___

Magdy reported from Cairo.