GAZA CITY—An Israeli airstrike on a school in Gaza City sheltering thousands of displaced Palestinians on Friday killed at least 5 people and wounded 22, including several children. The attack came as Israel is under increasing international scrutiny and criticism for the outright famine it has pushed Gaza into, with scores of adults and children dying of hunger and malnutrition in the past few days alone.

Israel attacked the Cairo Elementary School for Girls in central Gaza City just as people had gathered in the school yard for Friday prayers, according to multiple eyewitnesses. Many of the displaced in the school are from areas in northern Beit Hanoun, which has been nearly completely destroyed and emptied by the Israeli military. So far, Israel has not published even a perfunctory justification for the strike and the Israeli military did not immediately respond to questions submitted by Drop Site about the attack.

“During Friday prayers, they bombed the school with the worshippers inside,” Ibrahim Abu Amsh, an eyewitness told Drop Site at the scene. “Most of the injured were children—defenseless, hungry children. All of them were in a state of exhaustion, unable even to stand—they probably hadn’t slept all night due to hunger.”