Dawn prayers were shattered by the early morning triple air strike from Israeli warplanes, which gutted Al-Tabieen religious school and mosque in Gaza City.

In the hellish aftermath, body parts were strewn around the rubble and charred, bloodied bodies slumped in the wreckage of the two-storey complex.

Grim-faced volunteers piled corpses in blood-stained blankets into an ambulance, as seriously wounded men lay groaning on the ground.

Gaza's civil defence agency said at least 93 people were killed, 17 of them women and children, making it one of Israel's deadliest strikes in the war on Gaza.

Israel's military disputed the death toll, claiming the school was targeted with "precision munitions" because it "served as an active Hamas and Islamic Jihad military facility".

Such Israeli allegations have become a pattern in recent weeks. According to an AFP tally, at least 14 schools sheltering displaced Palestinians have been hit since July 6, killing more than 280 people.

"Peaceful people -- women, children, and youths -- were performing the Fajr prayer as usual when suddenly a missile hit them," said Abu Wassim, who lives nearby and came to survey the scene.

"They were reduced to remains. Children were torn apart, and women were burned. What can we say or do? What is in our power?"

'They were just praying'
 

As the sun climbed and mourners gathered, one man stroked the face of a dead child shrouded in a plastic body bag.

"They dropped a missile on them while they were just praying. Fear God, people! Fear God, Arabs!" a woman wailed over the body.

Another man looked lost as he held a small corpse wrapped in a blanket. Nearby, six body bags lay on the ground, three of them children. Tattered Korans were piled on a window ledge.

"We woke up before dawn to the sound of a strike," said Sakr, a resident from the neighbourhood who gave just one name.

"We headed to the site and found body remains of civilians who were peacefully performing prayers. We found bodies of children scattered in the street."

Another man said: "You can't even recognise the bodies, there were scattered remains.

"The ones who were struck are displaced people taking shelter in a school. What's their fault? What have they done wrong?"

Mohammad Al-Mughayyir, director of the supply and equipment department of Gaza's civil defence service, told AFP that six schools in Gaza City had been targeted in the past week alone.

Israeli military spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Nadav Shoshani claimed that about 20 "Hamas and Islamic militants" were operating from the Al-Tabieen complex.

"The compound, and the mosque that was struck within it, served as an active Hamas and Islamic Jihad military facility," he said posting his claims on X.

Later on Saturday, Gaza civil defence agency spokesman Mahmoud Bassal told journalists that the strike "directly targeted" two floors of the school.

The strike hit "the upper floor housing women and children and the ground floor that was used for prayers by the displaced people," he said.

Israel's bloodiest-ever war on Gaza has killed at least 39,790 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's health ministry.

The brutal assault has also left more than 91,702 Palestinians wounded, while an Israeli siege has pushed most of Gaza’s 2.4 million inhabitants to the brink of famine.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online.