Gaza UN shelter shelled, killing 15 At least 15 people have been killed and more than 200 injured when a UN-run school used as a shelter in Gaza was shelled, the Gaza health ministry says. Hundreds of Palestinians were in the school in Beit Hanoun, fleeing heavy fighting in the area. It is the fourth time that a UN facility has been hit in Israels offensive against Hamas militants. In the past 16 days of fighting, more than 750 Palestinians and 32 Israelis have been killed, officials say. Israel launched its military offensive on 8 July with the declared objective of stopping Hamas firing rockets from Gaza. Earlier on Thursday, UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said that it was vital to have a ceasefire. We have over 118,000 people now who are sheltering in UN schools... people are running out of food. Water is also a serious concern, she said. Baroness Amos: People are running out of food, water is also a serious concern She said the conflict meant 44% of Gaza was a no-go area for Palestinians, and residents were running out of food. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday he regretted each Palestinian civilian death, but said they were the responsibility of Hamas. Correspondents say pools of blood lay on the ground in the courtyard of the school in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza. There was a large scorch mark where it appeared a shell had hit, the Associated Press news agency reports. UN officials said that during the course of the day they had been trying to negotiate a window of time with the Israeli army for civilians to leave the area because of the heaving fighting. But Chris Gunness, a spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees (Unrwa), said it was never granted. He said the Israeli army had been formally given the co-ordinates of the shelter in Beit Hanoun. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that it was in the midst of combat with Hamas terrorists in the area of Beit Hanoun, who are using civilian infrastructure and international symbols as human shields. In the course of the afternoon, several rockets launched by Hamas from within the Gaza Strip landed in the Beit Hanoun area. The IDF is reviewing the incident, it said. The BBCs Chris Morris in Gaza says casualties from the attack have been taken to several local hospitals. A Palestinian man carries a child, wounded in an Israeli strike on a compound housing a UN school in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza, into the emergency room of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, Thursday 24 July 2014 Casualties from the attack on the UN-run school in northern Gaza are being taken to several hospitals A piece of cloth lies in a pool of blood outside a UN-operated school after an Israeli attack in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza - 24 July 2014 The school was hit during a day of heavy fighting in the area Pool of blood in a UN-operated school after an Israeli attack on Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza , 24 July 2014 It is the fourth time a UN facility has been hit during the 16-day Israeli offensive But at the school itself journalists trying to reach the scene have had to pull back, after small arms fire broke out nearby, he says. The UNs Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) says a 1.9 mile (3km) wide strip, encompassing 44% of Gaza, has been designated as a no-go zone by the Israeli military. Meanwhile Khaled Meshaal, leader of Islamist militant group Hamas, said there could be no ceasefire to ease the conflict in Gaza without an end to Israels blockade. Benjamin Netanyahu said UN criticism of Israeli action was a travesty of justice, fairness and common sense Israel imposed restrictions on the Gaza Strip in 2006, after Hamas abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. The measures were tightened by Israel and Egypt in 2007, after Hamas ousted rival Fatah and forcibly took control in Gaza after winning elections the year before. Hamas and Fatah announced a reconciliation deal in April, but the move was condemned by Israel which regards Hamas as a terrorist group. Israels Science Minister Yaakov Peri told Israeli web portal Walla that he did not see a ceasefire being agreed in the coming days, as the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) needed more time to dismantle Hamas underground tunnel network. There have been hundreds of rocket attacks on Israel, and Israeli air strikes on Gaza, since the Israeli offensive began. Palestinian medical sources said the death toll in Gaza had risen to more than 750 on Thursday. Israel says 30 soldiers and two Israeli civilians have been killed since 8 July, along with a Thai worker who was killed when a rocket fired from Gaza landed near the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon on Wednesday.
Posted on: Thu, 24 Jul 2014 16:14:36 +0000
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