Region | Palestinian Territories
More than 45 killed in strike on Gaza school
660 Palestinians, including 215 children, killed so far as Israel targets UN schools.
- Gulf News Report
- Published: 20:34 January 6, 2009
- The attack occurred about 10 yards outside the school in northern Gaza.
- Image Credit: AP
Dubai: Israeli tank shells and missiles killed more than 45 Palestinians at a UN school where civilians had taken shelter, medical officials said, in a carnage that could prove to be a turning point in Israel's "Operation Cast Lead" in Gaza.
A senior UN official in Gaza said 350 people had been sheltering at the school and the United Nations regularly gave the Israeli army exact geographical coordinates of its facilities to try to keep them safe from attack.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, asked by reporters about the deaths, said she was "not familiar" with the incident.
People cut down by shrapnel lay in pools of blood on the street. Witnesses said two Israeli tank shells exploded outside the school, killing those who had taken refuge there and residents of nearby buildings.
In a separate incident earlier in the day, three people were killed in an air strike on another school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. The deaths in Gaza raised to 75 the number of Palestinian civilians killed on Tuesday alone. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, more than 660 Palestinians, including 215 children, have been killed and more than 3,000 wounded since Israel began its offensive. The UN Human Rights Council is expected to convene on Friday in Geneva for a special session, a European diplomat said on Tuesday.
Among those sheltered at the Asma school in Jabaliya refugee camp were Rawhi, 21, Abed, 19, and Hussain Al Sultan, 20. "The three cousins went to get some water from the toilet taps outside when the attack took place. A couple of minutes later, we found them ripped to shreds," cried Ziyad Zayyad.
With inputs from agencies
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