SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Children were the main casualties in two different strikes today, one in Gaza and another near Israel's northern border with Lebanon. The Gaza strike happened this morning at yet another school sheltering displaced people. It killed at least 30 Palestinians, many children, and wounded more than a hundred, according to the Gaza ministry of health. And in a different strike today near the Lebanon border, Israeli officials are saying children were also among the dead in a reported rocket strike targeting Israel.
We're joined now by NPR's Kat Lonsdorf in Tel Aviv, who has been following both of these stories. And as a warning, there will be graphic descriptions of both scenes. Hey, Kat.
KAT LONSDORF, BYLINE: Hey, Scott.
DETROW: Let's start in Gaza. What can you tell us about the Israeli airstrike there?
LONSDORF: So this was on a school in the central city of Deir al-Balah. It's where many Palestinians have fled as evacuation orders from the Israeli military continue to increase around Gaza. The area is super overcrowded. This school had more than 4,000 people sheltering in it. It was also operating as a field hospital, according to the Gaza ministry of health. And that was part of what was hit. More than 30 people were killed, and scores more were wounded, many very seriously. The hospital morgue where those bodies were taken said there were at least 15 children killed and eight women.
DETROW: As has often been the case, our own producer, Anas Baba, was one of the first journalists on the scene documenting this. What did he have to report?
LONSDORF: Yeah. Anas is staying nearby. And again, thankfully he's OK. But he got there just minutes after the strike. And he started almost immediately sending us video. You know, it was chaos. Here's a part of a voice memo that Anas sent.
ANAS BABA, BYLINE: Everything is in a mess. Nothing is still the same. Blood everywhere. You can find pieces of flesh on the stairs and everywhere that you can see.
LONSDORF: You know, he described handicapped people trying to flee. Remember, this was a field hospital. He also sent videos that showed wounded children being carried away on donkey carts, people carrying dead bodies on makeshift stretchers made out of pieces of debris. A few ambulances were on the scene, but they were swamped. Medical services are increasingly hard to come by in Gaza due to a lack of medical supplies and facilities. And even gas for ambulances is really hard to find.
One woman Anas tried to stop for an interview was carrying a baby on her shoulder, and she just said this as she passed him.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).
LONSDORF: She said, there are missiles that haven't exploded. We need to leave. Anas then went to the hospital where the dead and injured were being taken, and he sent videos of hallways lined with bodies, many of dead children.
DETROW: What's the Israeli military's response?
LONSDORF: The Israeli military put out a statement saying that there was intelligence that Hamas was operating from the school, that they had been using the compound as a hiding place to plan attacks on Israeli forces. They also said that they had taken numerous steps to, quote, "mitigate the risk of harming civilians," like using, quote, "appropriate munitions." But again, this was a school housing some 4,000 people, and they were given no warning. Strikes by the Israeli military on schools housing displaced people in Gaza have become a pattern in recent weeks, and nearly the same statement is given each time.
DETROW: And as we mentioned, this wasn't the only major incident today. We're hearing about a rocket that hit a sporting facility in the north, close to the Lebanese border. What do we know about that?
LONSDORF: Yeah. So we're still gathering information about what happened, but it hit the city of Majdal Shams. It's in the Golan Heights, which is a disputed area that Israel seized from Syria in 1967 and claims as its own. This is a largely Druze community. It's an Arab minority group, some of whom are Israeli citizens. Israel says 40 rockets were fired from southern Lebanon by Hezbollah into northern Israel earlier today, and that most of them were shot down. But one hit a soccer field where kids were playing.
The Israeli ambulance service says that at least 10 people were killed, all of them children. And at least 29 more were injured, some critically. Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari called this the deadliest attack on Israeli civilians since October 7. That's the day of the Hamas-led attack on Israel that sparked the current war in Gaza. Hezbollah has put out a statement categorically denying responsibility for the attack, saying that they had, quote, "absolutely nothing to do with the incident." But then the Israeli military responded saying that it was Hezbollah. So it's all still a little unclear.
DETROW: There's been so much tension between Israel and Hezbollah. And there's been concern for a long time now about an entirely different all-out war between the two of them. What could this mean for that?
LONSDORF: Yeah. So this would be the largest number of civilian casualties by far in a Hezbollah attack since this kind of low-grade war started between the two last October. If, in fact, Hezbollah is to blame, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he's currently where you are, Scott, in Washington, D.C., he was briefed on this strike up north. And we're told he's holding security meetings about the situation. It's still too early to tell, really, what could happen. But it's possible this could trigger a much tougher Israeli response on Hezbollah than we've seen in recent months.
DETROW: That's NPR's Kat Lonsdorf reporting from Tel Aviv, with reporting from NPR's producer in Gaza, Anas Baba, as well. Thank you, Kat.
LONSDORF: Thanks, Scott. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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