IDF strikes kill 26, wound dozens in Gaza, West Bank

Aug. 3 (UPI) -- Israel Defense Forces targeted a Hamas command center in northern Gaza and Hamas militants in the West Bank, which killed 26 and injured dozens more in separate airstrikes Saturday.

The Israeli Air Force "struck terrorists operating within a Hamas command and control center," which "was known as the Hamama school in the northern Gaza Strip," the IDF said in a statement Saturday.

An official for the Hamas-run Gaza Civil Defense said the IDF struck two schools in two airstrikes, which caused 17 deaths and injured dozens more.

The dead and injured include children and were taken to the nearby Baptist Hospital, GCD spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said Saturday.

He said the Al-Huda and Al-Hamama schools were struck in the dual airstrikes and are used to shelter Gazans who are displaced by the war between Hamas and Israel.

Basal described the airstrikes as a "double tap" in which an initial strike occurred followed by a warning of a second airstrike that rained three missiles down on the compound.

He said the first attack was unexpected but the IDF warned of a follow-up attack before the three additional missiles struck the compound.

The IDF also killed nine Hamas militants in two airstrikes in the West Bank.

IDF officials said they struck a vehicle carrying five Hamas militants, including a local commander, who were traveling to another location to carry out an attack early Saturday morning.

All five militants were killed in the attack that occurred on a road that connects the villages of Zeita and Qaffin.

A Hamas official confirmed all five in the vehicle were Hamas militants.

The IDF said it killed four more militants near Tulkarem after they fired on Israeli troops.