A child burns to death following the attack on school-turned-shelter in Gaza City.

At least 10 people have been killed in an Israeli attack that sparked a fire at a school sheltering displaced people in Gaza City, including one child who was burned to death in the blaze.

The Palestinian Civil Defence said its emergency workers recovered 10 bodies early on Wednesday morning after the attack on the school, where forcibly displaced people had taken shelter. A large number of people were also injured, it said in a post on the Telegram messaging platform.

“Children are being burned while they sleep in the tents of the displaced,” Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif wrote on social media after the attack.

“There are no safe areas, and no survivors of this genocide. Gaza City and its northern areas have been subjected to heavy Israeli shelling and artillery fire for hours,” he said.

Video footage shared on social media after the attack on the school-turned-shelter showed flames engulfing tent structures and canvas covering melting onto the remains of burning chairs and what appeared to be a bed frame.

Several civilians burned to death after Israeli forces targeted displacement tents inside Yafa School, east of Gaza City. pic.twitter.com/ABNRWdFjSf

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) April 23, 2025

The civil defence also issued an urgent appeal for assistance from the International Committee of the Red Cross to help rescue people trapped under the rubble following Israel’s bombing of two homes in Gaza City’s Tuffah neighbourhood.

“Trapped people are calling for help to rescue them from under the rubble of homes,” the civil defence said in a statement, adding that emergency workers were unable to reach the area because it was too dangerous, as the area is designated a “no-go” zone by Israeli forces.

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic and local Palestinian media also reported that a child was among two people killed on Wednesday morning in an Israeli attack on tent shelters in northern Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp.

One person was also reported killed and several injured in an Israeli drone attack on tent shelters in the so-called al-Mawasi “safe zone”, south of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

Intense Israeli artillery fire and air attacks were reported across the Strip in the early hours of the morning.

Gaza City, Palestine – For 72-year-old Kamal Anton, Pope Francis was a source of comfort and support.

Kamal has had to shelter since the start of the war in the same Catholic church compound in Gaza City – the Holy Family Church – that his wife and daughter were shot and killed by an Israeli sniper in.

That was in December 2023, two months after the start of Israel’s war. Anton and the more than two million Palestinians in Gaza have often felt abandoned in the 18 months of conflict, in which more than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed, with hope of an end to the war still feeling remote.

But the late pope, who died aged 88 in the Vatican City on Monday after a battle with illness, was in constant contact with Gaza’s small Christian community. Before his illness, he held calls every evening with those sheltering at the church, and continued to reach out, on a less regular basis, even after he fell ill.

Kamal remembered his most recent call on Saturday, just two days before his death. Pope Francis was greeting the members of the church for Easter.

“During his call, he prayed for peace and resilience for us in Gaza,” Kamal said. “He never forgot the word ‘peace’ in any of his calls with us throughout the war. His support included all of us – Christians and Muslims alike. He prayed daily for our safety.”

Palestinian defender

A deep sense of grief and sorrow permeates the Holy Family Church, where approximately 550 displaced Palestinian Christians continue to seek shelter.

Israel has attacked the church and its neighbouring school several times during the war, including a July 2024 attack in which four people were killed. Another church, St Porphyrios Greek Orthodox Church, has also been bombed.

But the Holy Family Church is still a refuge. People gather inside the church every day, piano music accompanies hymns during prayer, and people greet Father Gabriel Romanelli. He’s the parish priest, an Argentinian who came to Gaza to lead the church 15 years ago.

After the death of the pope, those in the church have largely dressed in black, the colour of mourning.

The loss of the leader of their church was a solemn enough event, but Palestinian Christians know they have also lost one of their greatest defenders – a world leader who has long backed the Palestinian cause, and has earned the anger of Israel on a number of occasions for his defence of Palestinians.

In his final public speech delivered on his behalf on Easter, Francis called for peace in Gaza and urged the warring sides to “agree to a ceasefire, release the hostages, and provide aid to a starving people longing for a peaceful future”.

Father Romanelli told Al Jazeera that the loss of Pope Francis was a tragedy for Christians around the world, and particularly in Gaza.

He recalled that Saturday phone call with the pope.

“He said he was praying for us, supporting us, and thanked us for our prayers,” Romanelli said. “People at the church waited for his call daily. He would speak to the children and reassure them. He was deeply human and incredibly supportive, especially during the war.”

Catastrophe

Kamal noted that support from Pope Francis was also material, in the form of aid arriving in Gaza until Israel blocked all entry of goods into Gaza in March, just before it unilaterally broke a ceasefire.

“Everyone in Gaza knows how much the Vatican supported us,” Kamal said. “We always shared that aid with our Muslim neighbours too.”

Kamal’s fellow Palestinian Christian, 74-year-old Maher Terzi, is also in mourning.

Maher, who has been displaced since the first week of the war, had just sat in the mourning hall when he spoke to Al Jazeera.

“He gave us strength,” Maher said. “He told us not to be afraid, that he was with us and would never abandon us, no matter what.”

“He encouraged us to hold on to our land, and promised to help us rebuild our destroyed homes,” Maher added. “His death is a catastrophe and a shock for us during such a difficult time.”

Al Masirah, a Houthi-affiliated outlet, says the US launched a series of strikes on several locations in the country.

Yemen’s Houthis have said they shot down a US drone that was carrying out an attack on the northwestern Hajjah governorate whilst the Al Masriah news outlet has reported that United States air strikes targeted at least three areas across the country.

In a statement on Tuesday, Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said the group’s “air defence shot down a hostile American MQ-9 Reaper drone while it was carrying out hostile missions in the airspace of Hajjah Governorate”.

Saree claimed that this is the seventh US drone that the group has downed so far this month, and the 22nd since Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza began 18 months ago.

Al Masirah, a Houthi-affiliated outlet, said a series of strikes on Tuesday night targeted Kamran Island in the Red Sea, two air strikes hit the Al Salif district in western Yemen, and four air strikes were reported in the Al-Saleem district in the Saada province in the north of the country.

The US has been carrying out near-daily, deadly air attacks against what it claims are Houthi targets in Yemen, killing more than 200 people – including women and children – since March.

The administration of US President Donald Trump has warned that its military campaign will continue until the Yemeni group halts all firings against vessels in the Red Sea,  a major conduit for international trade.

The Houthis have rejected the US assault, stressing that they are targeting ships in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and will stop when Israel ends its punishing war on the enclave.

The latest attack comes just days after 12 people were killed in air strikes conducted by the US on Yemen’s capital Sanaa.

Last week, the US launched 13 strikes on Hodeidah’s port and airport. It was three days after its deadliest attack to date targeted the Ras Isa port, also in Hodeidah, killing at least 80 people and wounding more than 150 others.

Since November 2023, the Houthis have reportedly launched more than 100 attacks on vessels they say are linked to Israel, in response to Israel’s war on Gaza.

The group halted attacks on shipping lanes during a two-month ceasefire in Gaza earlier this year. But they pledged to resume strikes after Israel renewed its assault on the besieged enclave last month.

Houthi attacks have paralysed shipping through the Suez Canal, a vital waterway through which approximately 12 percent of global shipping traffic normally passes, forcing many companies to resort to costly alternative routes around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.