By Dawoud Abu Alkas and Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA/CAIRO (Reuters) -Palestinians said an Israeli strike killed at least 22 people in a school sheltering displaced people in southern Gaza City on Saturday, while the Israeli military said the attack targeted a command centre of militant group Hamas.

The Gaza health ministry said most of those killed were women and children. The Hamas-run government media office said 13 children and six women were among the dead.

The military said it hit a Hamas command centre embedded in the compound that previously served as a school, repeating an accusation that the group uses civilian facilities for military purposes. Hamas denies that.

Reuters footage from the site showed blasted walls, wrecked and burnt furniture, and holes in the ceiling of one room as people tried to salvage what they could of belongings.

“The women and their children were sitting in the playground of the school, the kids were playing, and suddenly two rockets hit them,” said one witness Said Al-Malahi.

Some of the dead were wrapped in blankets and carried away on donkey carts, as ambulances transferred other bodies.

“I couldn’t take it, I did not see a single man that is injured, it was all women and children, let the Arab countries rejoice, let them rejoice and clap for (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and the United States of America,” said another eyewitness, Ahmed Azzam, bitter that regional neighbours were not taking a tougher line against Israel.

MEDICS KILLED

In Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, the Gaza health ministry said four health workers were killed by an Israeli strike that hit ministry warehouses. Ambulance crews could not reach the dead or treat the wounded, it added.

In a statement, the Israeli military said forces, operating in Rafah since May, have killed dozens of militants in recent weeks and dismantled military infrastructure and tunnel shafts.

Israel’s demand to keep control of the southern border line between Rafah and Egypt has been a major sticking point in international efforts to conclude a ceasefire deal.

Hamas says it is focused on an agreement to end the war and get Israeli forces out of Gaza, while Israel says the war can only end once Hamas is eradicated. Another sticking point has been the specifics of an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

This war in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s subsequent assault on the enclave has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry, and displaced nearly the entire 2.3 million-strong population.

(Reporting and writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Additional reporting by Dawoud Abu Alkas in Gaza, Adam Makary in Cairo and Ali Sawafta in Ramallah; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Andrew Cawthorne)

By James Oliphant

(Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will not be joined by his party’s embattled pick for North Carolina governor when he visits the critical electoral state on Saturday, the Trump campaign said.

Trump previously endorsed Mark Robinson, who was the subject of an explosive CNN report this week that he once called himself a Black Nazi and proposed bringing back slavery in comments posted on a pornography website. 

Robinson, the state’s lieutenant governor, denied the allegations and has said he will remain in the governor’s race. His campaign could not be reached for comment.

Some Republicans fear his candidacy in one of the country’s highest-profile down-ballot races this year could damage Trump’s chances in the battleground state, where polls show Trump essentially tied with Democratic rival Kamala Harris ahead of the Nov. 5 election.

Ahead of Trump’s afternoon rally in Wilmington, North Carolina on Saturday, the Democratic National Committee launched new advertising across the cities of Raleigh, Charlotte and Greensboro tying the former president to Robinson. 

The billboard ads show a photo of the two men together, along with direct quotes from Trump previously calling Robinson an “outstanding person” and an “incredible gentleman.” 

The Harris campaign also began running a TV ad in the state on Friday featuring Trump’s past praise for Robinson.  

In March, Trump called Robinson “Martin Luther King on steroids” after Robinson delivered remarks in Greensboro, and Robinson appeared at a Trump event as recently as last month. Robinson would be the state’s first Black governor if elected.  

Robinson has a history of inflammatory rhetoric, at times referring to Muslims as “invaders” and calling gay and transgender people “filth.” He has made comments denying the Holocaust. 

Trump has yet to address the latest allegations against Robinson. One Trump adviser, who asked not to be named, said Trump should stay silent and not fan the controversy.

“Ignore it, and let it die,” the adviser said.

Trump’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Harris’ campaign and its allies have made a significant investment in North Carolina, including two stops by the vice president last week. A Democratic presidential candidate has not won the state since 2008, but voters elected Democrat Roy Cooper as governor in 2016 and 2020. 

Robinson had been trailing his opponent, Democrat Josh Stein, even before the CNN report, suggesting that he could be a drag on Trump’s chances in the state if some disaffected Republicans stay home on Election Day or defect to Harris. 

Chris Cooper, a professor of political science at Western Carolina University, said in a state that Trump won by just 1.3 percentage points in 2020, the Robinson scandal could damage Republicans’ chances up and down the ballot in November, including Trump’s. 

“If some people feel that the Republican brand is stained enough that they’d rather stay home, then that’s going to matter,” Cooper said. “It doesn’t take a big difference to flip the state.”

Thom Tillis, a Republican U.S. senator from North Carolina, responded to the allegations against Robinson by telling voters on X that “we must focus on the races we can win,” citing the presidential contest but omitting the gubernatorial vote.

“If Harris takes NC, she takes the White House,” Tillis wrote. “We can’t let that happen.”