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At Least 40 Killed in Israeli Attack at UN School
Palestinian medics say at least 40 people have been killed in an Israeli attack at a United Nations-run school in Gaza.
It was the second of three Israeli attacks at U.N. schools in the territory Tuesday, the 11th day of Israel’s offensive against Hamas militants. Medics say two people died in the first attack, while there were no reports of injuries in the third.
Palestinians say civilians were seeking shelter in the buildings from Israeli bombardment.
Israel has accused Hamas militants of using schools, mosques and other civilian places to hide. And in the case of the school with the most casualties, Israeli officials said their forces were responding to fire from the U.N.-run building.
U.N. official John Ging with the Relief and Works Agency says that building was clearly marked with a U.N. flag. He said he was told 30 people were killed and five more critically injured. Ging said the world body is asking Israel for an explanation and is demanding full accountability in accordance with international law.
The massive air and ground assault has claimed more than 600 lives, and the United Nations estimates that one quarter of the victims were civilians. Many children are among the dead. Another 2,500 people have been wounded.
Pierre Kraehenbuehl, operations director with the Geneva-based International Red Cross, says the situation in Gaza has become a “full-blown” humanitarian crisis.
A Red Cross spokesman in Gaza says the situation is dire, and that hospitals are overwhelmed with civilian casualties. Power, medicine and water are in short supply.
Witnesses say Israeli forces are moving deeper into urban areas. They say troops have moved into the southern city of Khan Younis, and that fighting has intensified on the outskirts of Gaza City and around the northern refugee camp of Jabaliya.
Israel says it has killed 130 militant fighters since it began a ground offensive Saturday.
Hamas has continued to fire rockets into southern Israel throughout the campaign, killing at least four Israelis in the south of the country.
At least four Israeli soldiers have been killed by so-called “friendly fire” since the offensive began late Saturday. Three of them were killed and 24 others wounded when they were accidentally hit by an Israeli tank shell. The fourth solider – a paratroops officer – was killed in a separate incident in northern Gaza.
Source: VOA
