Adnan Abu Hasna, a spokesman for a UN aid agency, says tank shells hit the Abu Hussein UN school in the Jabaliya refugee camp around 4:30am.
Reuters said 20 people had been killed at the school, while AP claimed just 13 deaths and AP put the number of victims at 15.
The Israeli military said mortar shells had been fired from near the school and that soldiers fired back.
The army said the lull would not apply in areas where the army was "currently operating" and warned those who had fled their homes not to return.
The announcement came as the Israeli security cabinet was meeting in Tel Aviv to discuss an Egyptian proposal for a more permanent ceasefire, Israeli army radio reported.
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza issued a furious denunciation of the Israel strike.
"I condemn in the strongest possible terms this serious violation of international law by Israeli forces," said UNRWA commissioner general Pierre Krahenbuhl, saying the school's location had been communicated to the Israeli army 17 times.
"This is the sixth time that one of our schools has been struck," he said, adding that some 3,300 people had been sheltering in the school at Jabaliya refugee camp.
Hamas is known to have used UN schools and hospitals as weapons depots. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last week expressed “outrage and regret” that rockets had again been found inside a UN school for refugees.
Ban said storing the rockets in this way “turned schools into potentially military targets, endangering the lives of innocent children”, along with those of UN employees and the tens of thousands of sheltering Palestinians. He urged an investigation into the practice.
Israeli airstrikes and shelling killed 40 Palestinians elsewhere across the Hamas-ruled coastal territory on Wednesday.
The strikes on the school came a day after Israel unleashed its heaviest air and artillery assault yet in the bloodiest day of the three-week Gaza war, destroying key symbols of Hamas control and shutting down the territory’s only power plant.
(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP, REUTERS)
http://www.france24.com/en/20140730-gaza-un-school-israel-palestinian-deaths/
30/7/14
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Israel agrees to 4-hour ceasefire in Gaza, 16 killed in attack on UN school...
ReplyDeleteGAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Israel agreed on Wednesday to observe a four-hour lull in Gaza several hours after a deadly strike on a school killed 16, drawing a furious response from a UN refugee agency.
In a statement, the army said it had agreed to a humanitarian pause which was to begin at 1200 GMT.
But it said the lull would not apply in areas where the army was "currently operating" and warned those who had fled their homes not to return.
The announcement came as the Israeli security cabinet was meeting in Tel Aviv to discuss an Egyptian proposal for a more permanent ceasefire, army radio reported..................http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Israel-agrees-to-4-hour-ceasefire-in-Gaza-16-killed-in-attack-on-UN-school/articleshow/39304520.cms
Israel 'deeply disappointed' at El Salvador, Peru, Chile for recalling envoy...
ReplyDeleteIsrael on Wednesday expressed “deep disappointment” over El Salvador, Peru and Chile's decision a day earlier to recall their ambassadors for consultations in protest against Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip.
Foreing Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor issued a statement saying that the move “constitutes encouragement for Hamas, a group recognized as a terror organization by many countries around the world.”
http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Israel-deeply-disappointed-at-El-Salvador-Peru-Chile-for-recalling-envoy-369445
16,000 more Israeli soldiers mobilize for Gaza...
ReplyDelete16,000 additional reservists have been mobilized by the Israeli army Thursday, bringing the total number of soldiers in the military operations in the Gaza strip to 86,000, Agence-France Presse reported.
"The army has issued 16,000 additional mobilization orders to allow troops on the ground to rest, which takes the total number of reservists to 86,000," said an army spokeswoman.
The United States confirmed Wednesday it had restocked Israel's supplies of ammunition, hours after issuing a strong condemnation of an attack on a United Nations school in Gaza.
The Israeli military requested additional ammunition to restock its dwindling supplies on July 20, the Pentagon said. The U.S. Defense Department approved the sale just three days later.................http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2014/07/31/16-000-more-soldiers-mobilize-for-Gaza.html
31/7/14