Palestine: UN School Hit By Israeli Shells; More than 40 Killed

At approximately 6:00 p.m. (GMT+2), Al Jazeera English reported that a UN school was hit when two tank shells exploded outside of the school. The school, located in Jabaliya, had been set up days ago as a shelter for Gaza residents who had lost or evacuated their homes. According to Al Jazeera English, more than 40 people were killed. On Al Jazeera English‘s television station (accessible globally via Livestation.com), it was reported that the IDF had been given GPS coordinates to all UN schools.

The Philistine reported quickly on the incident:

Medical officials say the death toll from an Israeli airstrike outside a United Nations school in the Gaza Strip has risen to 30.

The attack occurred about 10 yards (meters) outside the school in northern Gaza. It was the second deadly Israeli attack to strike a UN school in the past few hours.

Hospital director Bassam Abu Warda confirmed the 30 deaths from the second airstrike.

In both cases, the schools had been used as shelters for people displaced by Israel’s offensive

A top U.N. humanitarian official has condemned the violence and demanded an investigation.

Israel isn’t commenting.

Syria News Wire also reported quickly, stating:

40 people have now died after Israel’s bombing of a UN school in Gaza. 400 Palestinians were being given shelter there by the UN.

Twitter user dominiccampbell, from London, reacted strongly to the news as well:

Finnish Twitter user haloefekti expresses shock at the lack of outcry:

85 comments

  • VN Vet

    Stop the Rockets – save the children. Don’t start a war and then cry foul. Man up, fight in the open, get out from behind schools, Mosques, hospitals, women and children.

  • I hate israil. that is a savageness.

    i call all of the world. please make something to stop this massacre.

  • The people of Gaza are clearly in need of immediate humanitarian aid. Safe havens and shelters are under siege and food, medicine and fuel is running out. Mercy Corps, a non-profit humanitarian aid organization is actively trying to help Gazans affected by the recent violence.

    Mercy Corps is calling for immediate humanitarian access to Gaza to deliver food and other essential supplies. You can sign their petition by clicking here. This petition urges the U.S. government to push for aid to be allowed in now.

    And, you can help Mercy Corps get the humanitarian items they need once the border is open by donating to Mercy Corps’ Gaza Crisis Fund. Mercy Corps has a four-ton shipment of food that’s supposed to enter Gaza tomorrow, and they’re deploying additional aid workers to Jerusalem and Egypt to prepare to do more.

  • harvey

    If Isreal is so right in attacking Gaza because of the missle fire, why don’t Isreal open up Gaza for all the world media to see whats going on. Anytime a missle lands in Isreal, Isreal invites the US and world media all access. The World media should refuse to cover any news in Isreal as long as Isreal refuses to allow the world to witness what is going on in Gaza and then maybe all the world news outlet may see it through their own lens. It is simply pathetic that the world news media accept the war in the eyes of Isreal. Isreal may be right in defending its people. They really may be right. However, there is no right in refusing the world to make its own decision in whose right or wrong based upon an independent and unbiased news media that is allowed free and I mean free and unfettered access to all the people of the middle east which includes the people of Gaza. Shame on all the media in the world and especially the United States media for blindly accepting Isreal images of this war, massacare, fight, invasion, prosecution or whatever one calls it as the sole truth.

  • Friends of Global Voices, Give your comment to request an european diplomatic action in Middle East.
    In Spanish: Amigos y amigas de Global Voices, secundad la iniciativa de los europeos por la paz en Oriente Próximo.
    http://lacomunidad.elpais.com/periodismo-global

  • Nathan

    I have sent an email to my members of congress to tell them to send NO money to Israel. They blocked the borders trying to starve the people of Gaza and so it was started by Israel.

  • Arabs.. Keep sending them food, keep sending them aids.. we must feed them well before they die..it’s not human to send them up to heaven feeling hungry!!

    let’s feed them ..

  • Israel’s reason for this and other atrocities is that wherever a rocket or Hamas is located, they will attack with impunity, regardless of what stands in the way.

    Hamas knows this well, yet they still use civilians and civilian areas as cover for their attacks. Their military strategy right now is build around this philosophy, and the Israelis know it well. However, they decline to cede to this bottleneck and attack anyway.

    If one is to consider the opinion of the ‘other side’, this proves that Israel is willing to kill everyone that threatens it many times over in order to protect it’s citizens and it’s existence. The Israelis don’t need to change this mentality, since it’s the only one that saves them from oblivion.

    Hamas, on the other hand, need to realize that world opinion is against them as much as it is against the Israelis. While they position themselves to be the guardians of the Palestinian people, they use these same people to their own ends in order to obtain international recognition as the true defenders of the Palestinian cause.

    The UN, on the other hand, needs to re-consider how VETO powers are to be used. Israel is relying on the US VETO vote to override any statements of condemnation by the world community, and is milking this advantage to the very last drop, while hapless people like Ban Ki Moon issue statements of ‘disappointment’.

  • Enough

    Again and again these Hamas cowards hide themselves among innocent people. The school that was hit today was a retaliatory attack which lead to the death of innocent civilians, However the so called govt. organization (terrorist organization) Hamas sets up a rocket launching site within a school. this has been done before. they have taken refuge in hospitals, mosques, and residential building therefore putting the Palestinians in harms way. I can Confidently say that no military or government would ever hide amongst innocent people during a time of war. These terrorist must be stopped for the sake of the world and for the sake of the Palestinian people, we can no longer let them take innocent people and use them as human shields, and we can no longer let them attack innocent people. I would like to end my post with a quote. “There will be peace when Arab mothers love their children more then they hate Jews” – Golda Mayer

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