The Guardian
"The United Nations Relief and Works Agency has strongly condemned an Israeli strike on a UN school being used as a shelter in the Jabaliya refugee camp, which killed at least 19 people and injured 90.
The agency appeared hit out at a lack of international action to end the violence with the words: “[T]his is an affront to all of us, a source of universal shame. Today the world stands disgracedToday the world stands disgraced.”
In a statement UNRWA Commissioner-General, Pierre Krähenbühl said:
“I call on the international community to take deliberate international political action to put an immediate end to the continuing carnage.”
Here is the statement in full:
Last night, children were killed as they slept next to their parents on the floor of a classroom in a UN designated shelter in Gaza. Children killed in their sleep; this is an affront to all of us, a source of universal shame. Today the world stands disgraced.We have visited the site and gathered evidence. We have analysed fragments, examined craters and other damage. Our initial assessment is that it was Israeli artillery that hit our school, in which 3,300 people had sought refuge. We believe there were at least three impacts. It is too early to give a confirmed official death toll. But we know that there were multiple civilian deaths and injuries including of women and children and the UNRWA guard who was trying to protect the site. These are people who were instructed to leave their homes by the Israeli army.The precise location of the Jabalia Elementary Girls School and the fact that it was housing thousands of internally displaced people was communicated to the Israeli army seventeen times, to ensure its protection; the last being at ten to nine last night, just hours before the fatal shelling.I condemn in the strongest possible terms this serious violation of international law by Israeli forces.This is the sixth time that one of our schools has been struck. Our staff, the very people leading the humanitarian response are being killed. Our shelters are overflowing. Tens of thousands may soon be stranded in the streets of Gaza, without food, water and shelter if attacks on these areas continue.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......"
In this video grieving relatives and injured children are seen after a night of intense Israeli air strikes on Gaza in the Jabaliya neighbourhood of Gaza City
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