|
| WORLD NEWS - WORLD NEWS - Gaza shelling |
|
 06 Jan Thirty killed in Gaza as Israel shells hit school
At least 30 people were killed and 55 injured today when Israeli artillery shells landed outside a United Nations-run school in Gaza, UN officials have said.
According to UN reports, a number of children were among those who died when the al-Fakhura school in the Jabaliya refugee camp took a direct hit.
Israel said its soldiers had come under fire from militants inside the school.
Earlier today, Pierre Kraehenbuhl, a senior International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) official warned of a "full-blown humanitarian crisis" in Gaza.
Palestinian medical sources say up to 600 people have been killed since the attacks began, and Kraehenbuhl said much more needed to be done to protect civilians.
Some media reports said some 70 Palestinians and five Israeli soldiers were killed today, including one soldier who was killed in an exchange of fire with militants in Gaza City. Four other Israel soldiers were apparently killed by shellfire from their own tanks earlier in the day.
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.
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.
Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts to try to end the violence are gathering pace.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy (pictured) said he had asked his Syrian counterpart, Bashar Assad, to help convince Hamas to co-operate with efforts to end the Israeli offensive.
|
|
|
|
|
)
