Israeli strike kills 40 in UN school in Gaza

Posted: 06 January 2009 2325 hrs

JERUSALEM: An Israeli strike on Tuesday killed at least 40 people who had taken refuge inside a UN school in the Gaza Strip, the third such attack in a day, medics said.

The strike hit near a school run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, in the northern town of Jabaliya, they said.

People inside the building had taken refuge from the raging conflict in the territory, witnesses and medics said. The toll quickly rose as rescuers struggled through the rubble.

Earlier in the day, two people were killed when an artillery shell slammed into a school in the southern town of Khan Yunis and three people were killed in an air strike on a school in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, medics said. - AFP/de

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/400613/1/.html


At least 30 people were killed and 55 injured when Israeli artillery shells landed outside a United Nations-run school in Gaza, UN officials have said.

A number of children were among those who died when the al-Fakhura school in the Jabaliya refugee camp was hit, doctors at nearby hospitals said.

Israel said its soldiers had come under fire from militants inside the school.

Earlier, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned of a "full-blown humanitarian crisis" in Gaza.

Speaking on the 11th day of the Israeli assault, a senior ICRC official, Pierre Kraehenbuhl, said life in Gaza had become intolerable.

Palestinian medical sources say up to 600 people have been killed since the attacks began, and Mr Kraehenbuhl said much more needed to be done to protect civilians.

Some 70 Palestinians and five Israeli soldiers were killed on Tuesday.

One soldier was killed in an exchange of fire with militants in Gaza City, while four others were killed by shellfire from their own tanks earlier in the day, Israeli military officials said.

Israel says its offensive is stopping militants firing rockets, but at least five hit southern Israel on Tuesday, with one reaching the town of Gedera, about 40km (25 miles) from Gaza, and injuring a baby.

Three Israeli civilians and one soldier have been killed by rocket fire from the Gaza Strip since the offensive began 10 days ago.

'Mortar fire'

The UN aid agency in Gaza, Unrwa, said three artillery shells had landed close to the al-Fakhura school on Tuesday afternoon, spraying shrapnel on people both inside and outside the building.

About 350 people had sought refuge at the school in effort to escape the fighting between Israeli soldiers and militants on the outskirts of the refugee camp, to the east of Gaza City.

Television footage showed bodies scattered on the ground amid pools of blood.

Palestinian doctors at nearby hospitals had earlier said that at least 40 people had been killed. The Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya said 30 people had died there. A further 10 people died at the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, doctors said.

The UN officials said they regularly provided the Israeli military with exact co-ordinates of their facilities, and that the school was in a built-up area.

An Israeli military spokesman said that, according to initial checks, its soldiers had come under mortar fire from militants inside the school.

"In response, the forces fired a number of mortar rounds into the area," he told the Reuters news agency.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said militants regularly hid among civilians inside such facilities or used them to launch attacks.

"According to our values and the instructions that we have in the army, the targets are Hamas targets. We try to avoid any kind of civilian casualties," she told reporters.

This was the second Israeli strike on a UN-run school in a day. Earlier, at least three Palestinians were killed when a school was hit in the Shati camp, UN officials said.

After the first attack, the director of operations for Unrwa, John Ging, said the conditions in Gaza were "horrific".

"Nowhere is safe for civilians here in Gaza at the moment. They are fleeing their homes and they are right to do it when you look at the casualty numbers."

"It's very, very dangerous, and even the 14,000 who have sought refuge in our schools and shelters, they are not safe either."

Mr Ging said international leaders had a responsibility to act to protect civilians.

"You cannot conduct huge military operations in such densely-populated places without killing hundreds and injuring thousands of civilians," he added.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces have pushed further south on the Gaza Strip and clashed with militants near Gaza City.

Skirmishes were also reported on the edges of the Deir al-Balah and Bureij refugee camps in central Gaza, and witnesses said Israeli tanks and infantry were advancing on Khan Younis.

Information about what is happening inside Gaza is limited as Israel has barred foreign reporters from entering.

'Time against us'

Diplomatic efforts to try to end the violence are gathering pace.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he had asked his Syrian counterpart, Bashar Assad, to help convince Hamas to co-operate with efforts to end the Israeli offensive. Syria is regarded as a main backer of Hamas.

The loss of civilian life in Gaza and Israel is a source of deep concern for me

US President-elect Barack Obama

When later asked about the deaths at UN school in Gaza, Mr Sarkozy said: "It reinforces my determination for all this to stop as quickly as possible. Time is working against us. We must find a solution."

US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the US would like to see "an immediate ceasefire" in Gaza.

"An immediate ceasefire that is durable, sustainable and not time-limited," he told reporters in Washington, according to the Reuters news agency. "We want, obviously, to be constructive," he added.

US President-elect Barack Obama meanwhile broke his silence about the conflict, telling reporters that "the loss of civilian life in Gaza and Israel is a source of deep concern for me".


Mr Sarkozy wants Syria to persuade Hamas to co-operate with peace efforts

However, he also reiterated that he would adhere to his principle that only President George W Bush would speak for US foreign policy at this time.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is to hold talks in New York with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who is going to the UN with several Arab foreign ministers to lobby for a ceasefire.

The BBC's Laura Trevelyan in New York says the contours of an agreement are taking shape - international monitors along the Egypt-Gaza border to stop Hamas smuggling weapons and firing rockets at Israel, and the creation of a humanitarian corridor in southern Gaza to ensure that aid goes to the Palestinians.

The question now is whether Hamas will accept such a deal and if a call for a ceasefire will be heeded by Israel, our correspondent says.

Hamas has said that Israeli attacks on Gaza must stop and the crossings into the territory, which Israel controls, must be fully opened, before it agrees to a ceasefire.

Israeli Prime Miniser Ehud Olmert said on Tuesday that the military campaign in Gaza would continue until Israel had completely wiped out Hamas's ability to fire rockets into Israel.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7814054.stm


Massacre: 42 killed by Israeli shelling at UN school in Jabaliya Refugee Camp

Updated 18:07

Gaza – Ma’an – Israeli forces killed at least 42 Palestinians at a UN school that was sheltering displaced people in Jabaliya Refugee Camp in the northern Gaza Strip late on Tuesday afternoon, medical officials confirmed to Ma’an.

According to initial reports, the school was destroyed, collapsing on top of Palestinians who took shelter inside from the intense bombardment by Israeli air and ground forces.



According to another report, broadcast by Al-Jazeera television, Israeli tank shells hit the front gate of the school. UNRWA Spokesperson Christopher Gunness confirmed that at least one shell landed near the school.

Children are also said to be among the dead. Hundreds of people were reported to be in the area of the school at the time of the shelling.

Ma’an’s reporter said that dozens more, all civilians, were injured in the attack on the Al-Fakhoura School. The death toll is expected to rise as a number of the wounded are said to be in critical condition. Ambulances were initially unable reach the school.

The school is operated by UNRWA, the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees. UNRWA has been using its schools to house some of the 15,000 Gazans who have fled their homes due to Israel's ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, which began on Saturday.

UNRWA says it handed over the GPS coordinates of all UN installations throughout the Gaza Strip to the Israeli military. The school was clearly marked as a UN facility.

Earlier on Tuesday, the United Nations confirmed that three refugees had been killed at 11:30 on Monday night when Israeli forces fired directly on a UNRWA school in Gaza City. Another UNRWA school also came under fire in the city of Rafah.

"There's nowhere safe in Gaza. Everyone here is terrorized and traumatized," said John Ging, the top UN official in Gaza. He also said that people in Gaza are "entitled" to action by the international community to stop the Israeli invasion.

"I am appealing to political leaders here and in the region and the world to get their act together and stop this," he said, speaking at Gaza's largest hospital. "They are responsible for these deaths."

Tuesday's attack has drawn comparisons to the 1996 Israeli shelling of a UN compound in Qana, southern Lebanon, in which 106 civilians were killed.

Homepage: http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34678


UN chief calls Israeli school raids unacceptable
Wed, 07 Jan 2009 02:29:43 GMT

Israel's military strikes on a school in Jabaliya killed 43 civilians.

The UN secretary general has said he is "deeply dismayed" by the Israeli attacks on three UN-run schools in the Gaza Strip that killed dozens of civilians.

Ban Ki-moon made the remarks in reponse to Israel's military strikes on a school in Jabaliya in northern Gaza on Tuesday that killed 43 civilians and wounded 100 more.

Ban said the act is "totally unacceptable."

Gaza medics say 660 Palestinians, including 215 children and 98 women, have been killed in the Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip that began on December 27.

"These attacks by military forces which endanger UN facilities acting as places of refuge are totally unacceptable and must not be repeated," Ban said in a statement.

He went on to say that the Israeli government was warned that its operations were endangering UN compounds.

"I am deeply dismayed that despite these repeated efforts, today's tragedies have ensued."

"I call once again for an immediate ceasefire," he added.

He also spoke of his imminent trip to the region, noting, "I intend to travel next week to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, and to regional capitals," in order to discuss the future realities of the Middle East.

DB/ARQN/HGL

http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=80910§ionid=351021701