ANOTHER UN school is hit by Israeli air strikes - this time killing 10 refugees including women and children as they queued for food handouts
- UN said air-launched missile struck gates of the boys' school in Rafah, killing 10 people inside and out and injuring 35
- It is at least the sixth UN facility to be struck and contained 3,000 Palestinians who were sheltering from strikes
- As 27th day of conflict began the death toll stood at more than 1,700 Palestinians and 67 Israelis including 64 soldiers
- Tanks seen withdrawing from Gaza Strip amid reports tunnel destruction was complete - but attacks renewed today
- British Foreign Secretary declares: 'The situation in Gaza is simply intolerable. We have to get the killing to stop'
Israel
has reportedly attacked another UN school in Gaza, killing 10 people
who were waiting in line for food handouts as the sun rose on a 27th day
of bloodshed.
UN officials said an air-launched missile hit the gates of the school in Rafah this morning, where 3,000 Palestinians were sheltering from a fresh wave of strikes, killing 10 people and injuring 35 inside and outside the compound.
Bodies
lay on the ground in chaotic scenes as injured children and adults were
rushed through the blood-spattered streets in the arms of residents.
The
Associated Press news agency said many of those hit were waiting for
food supplies outside. Israel's military did not immediately comment.
It
is at least the sixth UN facility to be hit in Gaza and comes just four
days after at least 15 Palestinians who sought refuge in a UN school in
the Jabalya refugee camp were killed during fighting, with the UN
saying it appeared Israeli artillery had hit the building.
WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT
Bloodshed: Palestinians aid people
injured this morning in another Israeli attack, reportedly on a UN
school in Rafah, southern Gaza, where hundreds were sheltering. Reuters
reported the attack was on the entrance of the school itself, while the
Associated Press wrote that it hit people who were queuing for food
handouts nearby
With blood on his sandals and on the
ground, a Palestinian man runs with an injured child after the Israeli
military strike on a UN school in Rafah this morning
Blood lay on the ground and women
cried outside the UN school in Rafah after what was reportedly the
second attack on a school in less than a week
Blood-spattered: People carry a
wounded man following a reported Israeli air strike at the gates of a
United Nations-run school sheltering 3,000 Palestinians
Anguish: Palestinians react as wounded
and dead people lie on the ground following what witnesses said was an
Israeli air strike at a UN-run school in Rafah
Robert
Turner, the director of operations for the UN Palestinian refugee
agency in Gaza, said preliminary findings indicated the blast was the
result of an Israeli airstrike near the school, which had been providing
shelter for some 3,000 people.
Adnan
Abu Hasna, spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency in Gaza, said:
'It is believed that there was an air strike that hit outside the gate
of an UNRWA school, a designated shelter for at least 3,000 displaced
residents.
'There were multiple dead and injuries inside and outside the school, including an UNRWA staffer.'
In
a chaotic scene inside the compound of the U.N. school, several bodies,
among them children, were strewn across the ground in puddles of blood.
Bloody footprints stained the ground where people had rushed the
wounded into ambulances.
'Our trust and our fate is only in the hands of God!' one woman cried.
Some
of the wounded, among them children with bloody head bandages, were
transported to the Kuwaiti hospital in Rafah and others were treated in
what seemed to be a makeshift clinic underneath a tent.
Some 3,000 people were sheltering from
Israeli strikes inside the school, said the UN's director of operations
for the Palestinian refugee agency Robert Turner
Hurt: A Palestinian man runs in the
street with an injured child after the reported Israeli military strike
on a UN school in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip
Adnan Abu
Hasna, spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency in Gaza, said: 'It
is believed that there was an air strike that hit outside the gate of an
UNRWA school, a designated shelter for at least 3,000 displaced
residents. There were multiple dead and injuries inside and outside the
school, including an UNRWA staffer'
Several bodies, wrapped in white cloth, were lined up on the floor.
At
least six U.N. facilities, including schools sheltering the displaced,
have been struck by Israeli fire since the conflict began, drawing
international condemnation.
In each case Israel has said it was responding to militants launching rockets or other attacks from nearby.
The
sun rose today over another day of violence in Gaza as at least 30
people - nine from the same family in Rafah - were killed in Israeli
shelling despite reports the military's mission was coming to an end.
Israeli
tanks were seen leaving the densely-packed, rubble-strewn Gaza Strip
before the strikes on the 27th day of the conflict, as security sources
said they had destroyed the vast majority of militants' tunnels.
But
few had seen much hope of peace as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
vowed Hamas would pay an 'intolerable price' for any further rocket
attacks.
Artillery shells slammed into two high-rise office buildings in central Gaza City and the town of Rafah came under heavy fire.
Anguish: A relative carries the body
of one of the nine members of the al-Ghol family who were killed in a
strike early today in Rafah, southern Gaza
Mass death: The bodies of the family
were lined up at a morgue in Rafah where the attacks continued this
morning, including at the gates of a UN school
Death: Palestinians carry the body of a
girl who was found this morning under the rubble of a house where at
least nine members of the al-Ghol family died in Rafah
Wounded: A boy is evacuated from the
rubble of the house. At least 40 people were inside the home at the time
when it was reportedly hit by Israeli jet fighters
Injuries: This boy was injured in
shelling on a house in the Gaza Strip this morning as a renewed assault
killed at least 30 Palestinians, many of them civilians
Rescue: A wounded boy cries under the
rubble of the house in Rafah which was destroyed today in a reported
airstrike, killing at least nine members of the same family
Help: The boy was evacuated from under the rubble on a fresh day of attacks which saw the sixth Israeli attack on a UN facility
Even
though IDF forces were seen withdrawing from parts of Gaza yesterday
and this morning amid reports the Hamas tunnel network had been mostly
destroyed, Netanyahu emphasised Israel was determined not to back down.
He
said: 'The military will prepare for continuing action in according to
our security needs. We promised to return the quiet to Israel and that
is what we will do.
'We
will continue to act until that goal is reached, however long it will
take and with as much force needed. Hamas needs to understand that it
will pay an intolerable price as far as it is concerned for continuing
to fire.'
The
death toll stands at more than 1,700 Palestinians and 67 Israelis,
including 64 soldiers, as it emerged that a 23-year-old Israeli soldier
who had been feared kidnapped by Hamas - shattering a 72-hour ceasefire -
was killed in action instead.
Tensions
had been heightened on Friday after Israel declared 23-year-old Hadar
Goldin had been kidnapped by Hamas, shattering a 72-hour ceasefire in
less than 72 minutes.
But
in the early hours today a spokesman for the Israeli Defence Force
(IDF) said he was killed when Hamas soldiers attacked his unit -
contrary to the previous assertions that he could have been captured.
A military panel reached the conclusion that he must have died based on evidence at the scene of the attack, the IDF said.
Rescue workers search for victims
after this home in Rafah was destroyed in an Israeli air strike that
reportedly killed at least nine members of the al-Ghol family
Apocalyptic: The sun rose today on
another day of bloodshed in Gaza as dozens of Palestinians were killed
in dawn shelling with little sign of a truce. Pictured: Beit Lahia
Hunched: An elderly woman carrying a
bucket walks past bombed-out buildings in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza.
There were some signs the offensive was scaling back
The
confirmation of Lieutenant Goldin's death came as Gaza lay in ruins,
with Palestinians ravaged by the conflict burying yet more of their
dead, amid reports of Israeli forces withdrawing after achieving their
objectives.
Across the territory men clustered round hastily-constructed graves dug into the sand as the sun beat down - while not far away bloodied bodies were piled high in a walk-in vegetable fridge for emergency storage.
British
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said he had received thousands of
emails from the British public expressing horror at the scenes in Gaza
as protests raged outside Parliament and the Israeli embassy in
Kensington, west London.
The
Foreign Secretary, who only began his role three weeks ago, told The
Sunday Telegraph: 'It's a broad swathe of British public opinion that
feels deeply, deeply disturbed by what it is seeing on its television
screens, coming out of Gaza.
He
said: 'The military will prepare for continuing action in according to
our security needs. We promised to return the quiet to Israel and that
is what we will do.
'We
will continue to act until that goal is reached, however long it will
take and with as much force needed. Hamas needs to understand that it
will pay an intolerable price as far as it is concerned for continuing
to fire.'
Grief-stricken: Members of Lieutenant
Goldin's family, including his brother Zur, right, address the media
outside their home in Kfar Saba after his death was confirmed
Mourning: Lieutenant Goldin's sister,
Ayelet, left, and his fiancée Edna, right, are seen with tears in their
eyes after the announcement was made
Family: Lea
Goldin, Lieutenant Goldin's mother, is comforted by Haimi, the soldier's
brother, as the family address reporters outside their home
A
row broke out between Ed Miliband and Downing Street after the Labour
leader accused the Prime Minister of getting it 'wrong' on Gaza.
He
condemned Israel's military offensive as 'wrong and unjustifiable', and
attacked the Government's apparent silence, prompting accusations by
Downing Street that he was 'playing politics' and misrepresenting David
Cameron's position.
Mr
Miliband said that the Prime Minister was 'right to say that Hamas is
an appalling terrorist organisation' whose 'wholly unjustified' rocket
attacks and construction of tunnels for terrorist purposes had shown its
murderous intent towards Israel.
But the Labour leader added: 'The Prime Minister is wrong not to have opposed Israel's incursion into Gaza.
'His
silence on the killing of hundreds of innocent Palestinian civilians
caused by Israel's military action will be inexplicable to people across
Britain and internationally.'
A
Downing Street spokesman said in response: 'The PM has been clear that
both sides in the Gaza conflict need to observe a ceasefire.
'We are shocked that Ed Miliband would seek to misrepresent that position and play politics with such a serious issue.'
Dawn on another day of war: An Israeli
soldier stretches early this morning near the border with Gaza as it
emerged another 30 Palestinians had been killed by shelling
Morning: An Israeli tank returns to
base just outside Gaza this morning. There were hopes the operation was
winding down, but another 30 people were killed
Convoy: Israel's tanks began
withdrawing from the Gaza Strip after military tunnels were destroyed,
but there was no clear end in sight to the bloodshed in the region
Praying: An Israeli soldier prays this
morning near the border with Gaza as it appeared the military incursion
would be scaled back - but air strikes continued
Tanks
and troops were filmed rolling out of the Gaza strip yesterday and this
morning, while Israeli military sources said their mission to destroy a
network of tunnels into Israel built by Hamas was mostly complete.
The
conflict has claimed more than 1,700 Palestinian lives - including 300
children - since in began on July 8, and has also cost the lives of more
than 60 Israeli soldiers, and three civilians killed by an unrelenting
stream of rockets fired into Israel.
Britain
is providing a further £3million for aid workers in Gaza, where there
is what International Development Secretary Justine Greening described
as 'nothing short of a humanitarian catastrophe'.
The
activation of Britain's Rapid Response Facility brings the total amount
of British aid given in the current crisis to £13million.
Priority
is being given to projects to provide clean water and sanitation
following extreme water shortages, as well as emergency healthcare,
clearance of unexploded bombs and counselling and care for civilians,
particularly women and children.
The
Department for International Development said that since the Israeli
offensive began on July 8, 136 schools - some serving as shelters - 24
hospitals and clinics and 25 ambulances have been damaged or destroyed.
Distressing: This image circulating
heavily on social media showed a newborn baby - with hospital tags still
attached - wounded by shrapnel. Gazan photographer Samar Abu Alouf told
New York Magazine it was taken on Monday and the baby's name was
Shaima, after her mother. A baby with that name reportedly died two days
later
Bloodied: A medic stands among bodies
which have been placed hastily in a walk-in vegetable fridge in Rafah,
Gaza. Other images are too graphic to publish in full
Horror: A Palestinian relative stands
in the fridge among the mass of bodies, which have been bound up in
blood-stained white sheets after Israeli strikes
Eight UN aid workers and at least two Palestinian Red Crescent volunteers have now been reported as killed.
Two-fifths
of the sixth-most densely populated area on Earth is now a war zone,
with a quarter of the Gazan population displaced.
Yesterday
Israel unleashed a fresh wave of air strikes which completely destroyed
Gaza City's Imam Al Shafaey mosque and damaged the historic al-Omeri
mosque in the nearby city of Jabalia.
Dozens of Palestinians were killed in bombardment and shelling in and around Rafah, where Lieutenant Goldin had gone missing.
Elsewhere
in Gaza, Palestinian officials reported more than 150 airstrikes
including several against mosques and one against the Hamas-linked
Islamic University in Gaza City.
The
Israeli military insisted it had attacked five mosques because they
were concealing weapons and the Islamic University was being used as a
research and weapons manufacturing site for Hamas.
Senior
Israeli politicians said they would not attend proposed truce talks
because Hamas had ignored so many ceasefires that there is 'no point'
negotiating.
But
international pressure continued to mount yesterday as protest groups
and politicians the world over pushed for a solution and an end to the
killing.
Protests: Activists turned out to a
pro-Palestinian rally today in Sydney, Australia, holding bloodied dolls
and calling for an end to Israel's military action
The protesters in Sydney held banners
which declared 'Zionism = Apartheid' and featured heavily the red,
green, white and black colours of the Palestinian flag
Pressure: A protester in Sydney.
International condemnation has grown as Britain's Foreign Secretary
called for an immediate end to the bloodshed with no conditions
Counter-rally: Elsewhere in Sydney, at
the Dudley Page Reserve, thousands of pro-Israeli protesters gathered
today calling on the world to stand by the offensive
The supporters of Israel gathered to
condemn rocket attacks by Hamas, hundreds of which have been intercepted
by Israel's Iron Dome missile defence system
Entrenched: Both sides show no sign of
backing down in the current conflict as Israel's Prime Minister vows
swift and 'intolerable' action after every attack by Hamas
Protesters
around the world voiced their fury at the rising toll, with
demonstrations in France, Germany and Arab parts of Israel seizing on
the motif of dead children, holding up red-spattered dolls, or stained
shrouds, to drive home their point.
It came as the UN confirmed that at least 296 Palestinian children have been killed since the offensive began on July 8.
UNICEF,
the UN children's agency, said it only included deaths it could
definitely verify in the total, which is around a third of its total
reported casualties.
They broke the total down to 187 boys and 109 girls, 203 of whom were under 12.
When
governments sell weapons into war zones they cannot absolve themselves
of responsibility for what happens when they are used
Yesterday
new data showed that £42million of 'military list' equipment exports to
Israel were approved by the British Government since 2010, with
£10million in the last 12 months.
Andrew
Smith, of the Campaign Against Arms Trade, told the Independent: 'There
must be an immediate embargo on all arms sales and military
collaboration with Israel. When governments sell weapons into war zones
they cannot absolve themselves of responsibility for what happens when
they are used.'
A
government spokesman said: 'We are currently reviewing all existing
export licences to Israel. All applications for export licences are
assessed on a case by case basis against strict criteria.
'We
will not issue a licence if there is a clear risk that the equipment
might be used for internal repression, or if there is a clear risk that
it would provoke or prolong conflict.'
The
U.S. Congress, meanwhile, voted almost unanimously to pledge another
$225million to restocking Israel's Iron Dome rocket defence system.
One
of the most advanced missile defence systems in the world, the Iron
Dome has been credited by Israel's authorities with shooting down dozens
of Hamas rockets.
Just eight members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted against providing the funding while 395 voted in favour.
On
Thursday, a group that advises Britain's 260,000 Jews on security
matters said anti-Semitic incidents in Britain had risen to a
near-record level since the start of the Israeli offensive.
The
current conflict, among the most lethal in recent decades, began after
three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and found dead in the West Bank.
Israel accused Hamas of the kidnapping, which Hamas denied.
Israel
launched a Gaza air and naval offensive on July 8 following a surge of
cross-border rocket salvoes which later escalated into ground operations
involving heavy tanks.
