GAZA CITY: Israeli tank shells hit a compound housing a U.N. school
in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing at least 15 people and
wounding dozens who were seeking shelter from fierce clashes on the
streets outside.
Pools of blood soiled the school courtyard, amid scattered books and
belongings. There was a large scorch mark in the courtyard marking the
place where one of the tank shells hit.
The strike occurred during a day of heavy fighting throughout the
coastal territory as Israel pressed ahead with its ground invasion.
Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra says 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 U.N. facility has been hit by Israeli
military in Gaza since the Israeli operation began July 8.
The strike came on a day of heavy fighting throughout the Gaza Strip
as Palestinian militants stuck to their demand for the lifting of an
Israeli and Egyptian blockade amid international efforts to broker a
cease-fire.
Six members of the same family and an 18-month-old infant boy were
killed when an Israeli airstrike hit the Jebaliya refugee camp in the
early morning hours. Twenty others were injured in the strike, they
said, and rescuers were digging through the rubble of flattened homes,
looking for survivors.
An airstrike on a home in the southern Gaza town of Abassan killed
five members of another family, said Gaza health official Ashraf
al-Kidra. Abassan is near Khan Younis, in an area that saw intense
fighting on Wednesday.
The 16-day conflict has claimed the lives of more than 700
Palestinians, most of them women and children, Palestinian health
officials say. Israel has lost 32 soldiers, all since July 17, when it
widened its air campaign into a full-scale ground operation it says is
aimed at halting rocket fire from Gaza.
Israel has carried out more than 200 air strikes in the last 24 hours
and over 3,250 since its offensive had begun against innocent
Palestinians on July 8.
Quoting Lt. Colonel Peter Lerner of the Israeli military, the New York
Times has revealed in its recent edition that the Palestinians have
launched 2,159 rockets in the same 16-day period, 97 of them the day
before on July 22.
Gaza faces food, water shortage: UN
UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos has expressed deep concern
over shortage of food and water in the Gaza Strip as Israel continues
its offensive in the besieged enclave for the 17th day.
Amos said on Thursday that 44 percent of Gaza has become a no-go area
for Palestinians due to Tel Avivs ongoing military operations, and
residents were facing shortage of food.
“We have over 118,000 people now who are sheltering in UN schools…
people are running out of food. Water is also a serious concern,” she
said.
The UN official further noted that the situation in Gaza is dire and
terrible, adding that brokering a ceasefire to end the violence in
the enclave is absolutely vital.
Amos also said that the majority of fatalities in Gaza are women,
children, men who have nothing to do with the fighting.
She also called for major changes in the delivery of humanitarian aid
as funding fell short because of a growing number of conflicts across
the globe.
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