Israel has been blamed for killing 15 Palestinian civilians sheltering in a UN school as the conflict in Gaza escalates further.
Despite Israeli military being notified 17 times of the exact location of the Jabalia Elementary Girls School, reports on the ground describe three impacts from Israeli strikes on the building.
The school was sheltering 3,300 Palestinians who had fled their homes during the ongoing Israeli bombardment, often after direct telephone warnings by the Israeli Defense Force. However, there was no warning before today’s strikes on the school, and 15 people are believed to have been killed.
A UN shelter targeted by Israeli shelling in #Gaza. 16 people killed here. Over 90 injured. Many women and children. pic.twitter.com/VZr0qiX99x
— Imtiaz Tyab (@ImtiazTyabAJE) July 30, 2014
The Israeli strikes on the Jabalia school is the sixth time that Israeli forces have hit UN schools over the three-week conflict, with UN staff being killed and their shelters overflowing, says UNWRA spokesman Chris Gunness.
In a statement, UNWRA Commissioner Pierre Krähenbühl said:
“I condemn in the strongest possible terms this serious violation of international law by Israeli forces.”
He continued:
“We have moved beyond the realm of humanitarian action alone. We are in the realm of accountability. I call on the international community to take deliberate international political action to put an immediate end to the continuing carnage.”
Meanwhile, neither Israel nor Hamas will agree to ceasefire proposals that would give the civilians of Gaza time to take a breath and recover bodies of their friends and relatives from the rubble.
The most recent ceasefire proposals, developed in secret discussions between US Secretary of State John Kerry and representatives from Turkey and Qatar, was rejected by Israel for offering too many concessions to Hamas, despite it very closely resembling the proposal from Egypt agreed upon by Israel just weeks before.
Hamas has said that they will not agree to any ceasefire that does not end the occupation of Gaza.
1,200 Palestinians and 55 Israelis have been killed in the conflict, which is the longest ever fought between the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) and Hamas.
