15 dead as Israel shells UN school in Gaza
Print Edition
ISRAELI tank shells hit a compound housing a United Nations school in the Gaza Strip yesterday, killing at least 15 people and wounding dozens who were seeking shelter from fierce clashes on the streets outside, Palestinian officials said, as Israel pressed forward with its 17-day war against the territory’s Hamas rulers.
Pools of blood stained the school courtyard in the northern town of Beit Hanoun, amid scattered books and belongings. Dozens of people including children were wheeled into a nearby hospital as sirens wailed.
The strike occurred during a day of heavy fighting throughout the coastal territory. Israel says the war is meant to halt rocket fire from Palestinian militants in Gaza and destroy a sophisticated network of cross-border tunnels. International efforts to bring about a truce appeared elusive, with the violence continuing and Hamas reiterating its demand for a cease-fire that a crippling Egyptian and Israeli blockade on Gaza be lifted.
Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra said the dead and injured in the school compound were among hundreds of people seeking shelter from heavy fighting in the area.
It was the fourth time a UN facility has been hit in fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, since the Israeli operation began on July 8. UNRWA, the Palestinian refugee agency, has said it has found militant rockets inside two vacant schools but the target of yesterday’s strike was not immediately clear.
The Israeli military said it was reviewing the incident, saying that rockets launched by Hamas had landed in the Beit Hanoun area during fighting with its forces, and those rockets may be responsible for the deaths.
The deaths raised the overall Palestinian death toll in the conflict that began on July 8 to at least 751, al-Kidra said. Israel has lost 32 soldiers, all since July 17, when it widened its air campaign into a full-scale ground operation. Two Israeli civilians and a Thai worker in Israel have also been killed by rocket or mortar fire.
On Wednesday, the Federal Aviation Administration lifted its ban on United States flights in and out of Israel, which the agency had imposed out of concern for the risk of planes being hit by Hamas rockets.
The FAA had instituted a 24-hour prohibition on Tuesday in response to a rocket strike that landed about two kilometers from Ben Gurion airport.
The European Air Safety Agency said yesterday it was about to follow suit and lift its own recommendation to avoid flying to Tel Aviv. Some European flights have been diverted to Cyprus’s Larnaca airport, where passengers took Israeli carriers to Ben Gurion in Tel Aviv.
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