Israeli forces killed 11 Palestinians and wounded several others on Monday evening with a bombing of a school sheltering displaced people east of the Maghazi camp in central Gaza .
Activists and witnesses said that armed militias backed by Israel stormed the school and opened fire, before residents confronted the invaders. Israeli forces then intervened, firing two missiles at the school.
Israel-backed militias have carried out frequent raids in Gaza, backed by Israeli drones. The groups have carried out abductions and assassinations of Palestinian security forces, including that of senior Hamas security officer Ahmed Zamzam in December.
For its part, Hamas has carried out ambushes on militias it says have been cooperating with Israel, as well as raids and arrests.
At least five Israel-backed militia groups are operating in Gaza, most notably that of Yasser Abu Shabab, the militant leader who was killed in December. Other militia groups are operating in Beit Lahia in the north, eastern Gaza, Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, and in eastern areas of Khan Younis.
A Palestinian contractor working for the World Health Organization (WHO) was also killed on Monday when Israeli forces opened fire on a WHO vehicle on the Salah al-Din Street in southern Gaza, according to activists.
In a statement on X, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced the death of the contractor, named separately by activists as Majdi Aslan.
Ghebreyesus added that the UN agency would be suspending medical evacuations from Gaza until further notice. Israel's closure of the Rafah crossing has also prevented the entry and exit of sick and wounded Palestinians. Hamas on Monday slammed the crossing's closure as having been carried out on "flimsy pretexts" by Israel, as it continued "daily violations of the ceasefire".
The group also reiterated its rejection of the Board of Peace's disarmament plan, following reports that the group had been given a one-week deadline to disarm.
Hamas told Saudi Arabia's Asharq News that the group will not put down its weapons while Israeli forces are still in Gaza. Ben Gvir leads raid on Al-Aqsa Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir led a raid on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem, as the Muslim holy site has remained closed by Israeli forces for more than a month.
Israeli authorities shuttered the mosque as Israel and the United States began their joint strikes on Iran in late February. The mosque - considered one of Islam's holiest sites - has remained shut through Ramadan, Eid Al-Fitr and for daily and weekly congregational prayers.
The Palestinian Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs slammed Ben-Gvir's storming of the mosque as a "blatant assault", and was joined in its condemnation by several Arab and Muslim states.
Qatar's Foreign Ministry called the move a "flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and a provocation to Muslims around the world", while also rejecting attempts by Israelis to change the legal status of the mosque. Jordan, which is the official custodian of Muslim and Christian religious sites in Jerusalem, slammed the raid as "a flagrant violation of international and humanitarian law".
Israeli hardliners have long campaigned for the mosque to be demolished and replaced with a Jewish temple. The closure of Al-Aqsa for over a month has raised fears about greater Israeli infringement on the holy site, which is also a symbol of Palestinian national identity.