Faiza Al-Tanboura had not spoken for 21 days since a missile strike destroyed her home. In the early hours of this morning she found her voice: “The children. Don't let them kill the children,” she shouted as she ran out into the playground of a UN school under Israeli tank fire.
Today's attack on the Jabaliya Elementary Girls School has been described as a possible war crime by the UN. The Israeli authorities, it said, had been told no less than 17 times that it was full of refugees, the last warning message delivered on 8.50 on Tuesday evening.
But, seven and half hours later, a series of shells smashed into the building, destroying two of the classrooms, killing 19 and injuring more than a hundred others. Pierre Krahenbuhl, the commissioner for UN agency for Palestinian refugees, described the killings as “a source of universal shame”. Investigations clearly showed, he maintained, that Israeli fire was to blame, condemning “in the strongest possible terms this serious violation of international law by Israeli forces.”
The Israeli military stated that militants had been firing mortar rounds from the vicinity of the school and troops had returned fire; a spokeswoman added that an investigation was under way to ascertain what had happened. Hamas and Islamic Jihad had been accused repeatedly of storing and using weapons in civilian areas; and the Israelis have produced photographs showing, they said, rockets being stored in mosques.
The White House condemned the shelling of the school, saying it was “extremely concerned that thousands of internally displaced Palestinians who have been called on by the Israeli military to evacuate their homes are not safe in UN designated shelters in Gaza”.
In pictures: Israel-Gaza conflict
In pictures: Israel-Gaza conflict
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A Palestinian boy peaks from behind Palestinian militants of the Ezzedine al-Qassam brigade, the armed wing of Hamas, during a rally to commemorate the 27th anniversary of the Islamist movement's creation
AFP
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A Palestinian man carries the body of his daughter, who was killed during Israeli shelling, outside the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City
AFP/Getty
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Palestinian girls play inside their school which was destroyed during the 50 days of conflict between Israel and Hamas last summer, in the Shejaiya neighborhood of Gaza City
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Members of Hamas security forces march during their graduation ceremony at the fisherman's port in Gaza City
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An Israeli soldier gestures in relief as he walks with comrades near the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip after returning from the Hamas-controlled Palestinian coastal enclave
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An Israeli Merkava tank moves along a road near the border with the Gaza Strip, Southern Israel
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Palestinians attend Friday noon prayers next to a destroyed mosque was hit by Israeli strikes in Gaza City
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Palestinians attend Friday noon prayers in a destroyed mosque that was hit by Israeli strikes, in Gaza City, as Israel and Gaza militants resumed cross-border attacks after a three-day truce expired and Egyptian-brokered talks on a new border deal for blockaded Gaza hit a deadlock
AP Photo
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Palestinians attend Friday noon prayers in the shadow of a toppled minaret at a mosque that was hit by Israeli strikes in Gaza City, as Israel and Gaza militants resumed cross-border attacks after a three-day truce expired and Egyptian-brokered talks on a new border deal for blockaded Gaza hit a deadlock
AP
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Relatives mourn during the funeral of 10-year old Ibraheem al-Dawawsa. According to medics the child died in an Israeli airstrike on a mosque which is under construction. The boy is the first dead in Gaza after a 72-hours ceasefire
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A relative of Palestinian boy Ibrahim Al-Dawawsa, 12, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike, grieves during his funeral in Gaza City
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Palestinians attend Friday noon prayers in a destroyed mosque that was hit by Israeli strikes, in Gaza City
AP
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Smoke rises following Israeli air strikes in northern Gaza City. The Israeli army hit targets in the Gaza Strip in response to rocket attacks by Palestinian militants, after a three-day ceasefire ended and Egypt-mediated indirect talks failed to secure a longer truce
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A Palestinian man stands on the rubble of a home destroyed by an Israeli air strike in Rafah
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Israeli soldiers embrace each other as they sing at a staging area at an unspecified location near the Gaza border
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A shell lies on the ground at the heavily damaged Sobhi Abu Karsh school in Gaza City
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A shrapnel-holed wall in the Sobhi Abu Karsh school in Gaza City’s al-Shejaea neighbourhood
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Israeli soldiers celebrate after returning to Israel from Gaza
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Palestinian men ride a donkey cart past destroyed buildings in the northern Gaza Strip
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A Palestinian inspects destroyed houses and the area where the Al-Wafaa hospital used to stand
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A Palestinian man holds his child in his destroyed home in Beit Hanoun
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Palestinian brothers sit on the rubble of their house in front of an apartment block in part of the northern Beit Hanun district of the Gaza Strip after a 72-hour truce accepted by Israel and Hamas came into effect
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A general view shows destruction in part of the northern Beit Hanun district of Gaza Strip at the beginning of a 72-hour truce accepted by Israel and Hamas
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A Palestinian carries his belongings from rubble of his destroyed house in Khoza-a neighbourhood in the east of Khanyounis town in the southern Gaza Strip
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Backdropped by the damaged minaret of the Al-Azba mosque, Palestinians inspect the damage to the Nada Towers residential neighborhood in the town of Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip
AP
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Palestinians used pieces of cardboard as protection from the sun while queuing up in front of a bakery in Gaza City. A seven-hour humanitarian ceasefire called by Israel went into effect in most of the Gaza Strip, after an attack that killed 10 people at a UN-run school
EPA
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Palestinians carry bags as they return to check on what is left of their homes and businesses following the Israeli military offensive, close to the Rafah refugee camp, in southern Gaza Strip
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Civil defence workers and medics are searching the neighborhood looking for victims of the ongoing Israeli military operation which has killed some 1,829 Palestinians, mainly civilians in nearly one month
AFP
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A Palestinian man picks through rubble in a classroom inside a UN school that was hit by shelling
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A Palestinian man inspects the damage at a UN school at the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip
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Palestinian civilians wounded during Israeli shelling in a UN school wait at the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia
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Damage inside a classroom caused by Israeli shelling of the Abu Hussein UN school
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Palestinians walk next to the collapsed minaret of a destroyed mosque in Gaza City. It was destroyed in an overnight Israeli airstrike on Tuesday
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Palestinians who lost relatives in an Israeli strike on a compound housing a UN school in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, mourn outside the Kamal Edwin hospital in Beit Lahia where victims from the attack were brought
AFP/Getty Images
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35/123 Israel-Gaza conflict
Smoke and fire from the explosion of an Israeli strike rise over Gaza City amid Israel's heaviest air and artillery assault in more than three weeks of Israel-Hamas fighting
AP Photo
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Palestinians who lost relatives in an Israeli strike on a compound housing a UN school in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, mourn outside the Kamal Edwin hospital in Beit Lahia
AFP
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Flames engulf the fuel tanks of the only power plant supplying electricity to the Gaza Strip after it was hit by overnight Israeli shelling, in the south of Gaza City
Getty Images
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Palestinians from a damaged apartment building inspect the damage to a neighboring building, the offices of the Hamas movement's Al-Aqsa satellite TV station, in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, destroyed by an Israeli strike
AP
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An Israeli soldier prays on the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip as smoke billows from a power plant following overnight Israeli shelling in the coastal Palestinian enclave. The only power plant supplying electricity to the Gaza Strip was knocked out of commission by Israeli shelling, deputy director of the energy authority in the Palestinian territory said
AFP
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A building within the Gaza port is seen on fire after several strikes
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The rubble of the house of the Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, – pictured in the poster, hit by a pre-dawn Israeli strike, in Gaza City
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Smoke rises from Tuffah neighbourhood after Israeli air strikes in the east of Gaza City. Relentless bombardment has crippled the city’s infrastructure
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A woman wounded in an Israeli strike is taken to hospital in Beit Lahia, Gaza
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A Palestinian man walks in front of a fire raging at the Gaza's main power plant following an overnight Israeli airstrike, south of Gaza City
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Horses belonging to internally displaced Palestinians look for eatable things in the rubbish outside a UN school, which was transformed into a shelter in the Jabalia district, northern Gaza Strip
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A Palestinian girl poses while playing during the first day of Eid al-Fitr in a United Nations school.Muslims usually start the day by visiting cemeteries, to pay their respects to the dead, and then exchange family visits
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Palestinian Abir Shamaleh, left, sits next to the grave of her son Saher, a civilian according to the family, who was killed in an Israeli strike during the war, as members of the family visit a cemetery in Gaza City. Monday marked the beginning of the three-day Eid al-Fitr holiday, which caps the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan
AP
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An Israeli army Merkava tank rolls along the border between Israel and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. The UN Security Council joined US President Barack Obama in calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, after Israel and Hamas ignored calls for a truce despite mounting civilian casualties
AFP
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A wounded Palestinian woman runs in the street after Israeli airstrikes in Al Tufah neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City
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A Palestinian man cries after identifying the body of his loved one, killed in an Israeli strike, inside the morgue of Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip
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Palestinian Ahmed Jadallah, center, 75, prepares a body for burial at the morgue of Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip
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A Palestinian mother mourns over the body of her son, Abd al-Karim al-Shibari, who was killed after a UN school in the northern Beit Hanun district of the Gaza Strip was hit by an Israeli shell, at the morgue of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya
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Palestinian medics run carrying children, wounded in an Israeli strike on a compound housing a U.N. school in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip, into the emergency room of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya
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A Palestinian wounded in an Israeli strike on a compound housing a UN school in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip, flashes the V-sign for "Victory" as he arrives on a stretcher at the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City
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A Palestinian helps a relative, wounded in an Israeli strike in Gaza City
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Palestinians inspect the rubble of a destroyed house after Israeli airstrikes in Al Tufah neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City
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Members of the El Ajramy family salvage some of their belongings from their house, which was destroyed by an overnight Israeli strike in the Jebaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip
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Palestinians inspect the wreckage of a car following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City
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A Palestinian helps his son who got injured when a UN school for refugees was allegedly hit by an Israeli tank shell in the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip
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A Palestinian man carries a child, wounded in an Israeli strike on a compound housing a U.N. school in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip, into the emergency room of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya
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Palestinian girls cry after their father was killed in a UN-operated school after an alleged Israeli attack in Beit Hanun town, northern Gaza strip
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Palestinian children, wounded in an Israeli strike on a compound housing a U.N. school in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip, cry as they lay on the floor at the emergency room of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya
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A Palestinian man cries over the body of his son who died when a UN school for refugees was, according to medics, hit by an Israeli tank shell in the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip
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A Palestinian youth carries a child, wounded in an Israeli strike on a compound housing a U.N. school in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip, into the emergency room of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya
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A pool of blood in a UN-operated school after an Israeli air strikes in Beit Hanun town, northern Gaza strip
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A Palestinian medic carries a wounded injured to a treatment room of Nasser hospital, following an Israeli airstrike at their family house in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip
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A relative of two-year old Palestinian Salma Radiya killed by shrapnel from an Israeli tank shell in the north of the Gaza Strip holds her body at the morgue of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia
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A Palestinian man carries his father as he and others run to take cover during an Israeli air strike in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip
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Palestinians paramedics run for cover from Israeli air strike during their search for injured people in the damaged area in Al Shejaeiya neighbourhood, during an Israeli military operation in the east Gaza City
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Palestinians flee during a two hour temporary ceasefire in Gaza City's Shijaiyah neighborhood
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A Palestinian man holds a copy of the Koran, Islam's holy book, near a heavily damaged mosque following an Israeli military strike in Gaza city
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Palestinian relatives of Tawfiq al -Aga, who medics said was killed in Israeli shelling, mourn during his funeral in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip
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Red cross staff arrive to the damaged area in Al Shejaeiya neighbourhood, during an Israeli military operation in the east Gaza City
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A Palestinian mother lies on the ground as she mourns the death of her son, who medics said was killed by Israeli shelling, at a hospital in Gaza City
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A relative of two-year old Palestinian Salma Radiya who was killed by shrapnel from an Israeli tank shell in the north of the Gaza Strip holds her body in the street outside the morgue of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia
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A mourner touches a wreath placed on the grave of fallen Israeli soldier Natan Cohen, killed during fighting in Gaza, during his funeral in the town of Modi'in, between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv
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A mourner reacts during the funeral for Israeli soldier Natan Cohen, killed during fighting in Gaza on Tuesday, in the town of Modi'in, between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv
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Soldiers carry the coffin of Sergeant Max Steinberg during his funeral in Jerusalem, Israel
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The parents of Sergeant Max Steinberg grieve at his coffin during his funeral in Jerusalem, Israel
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A Jewish worshipper takes part in a special prayer at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City for the well-being of Israeli soldiers in Gaza
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A banner depicting the names of Palestinians killed in Israel's ongoing assault on the Gaza Strip hangs on the landmark Pigeon Rock in Beirut's Rawshe seafront
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An Israel officer with a bird on his shoulder speaks to his soldiers after they returned from a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, at an army deployment area near Israel's border with the besieged Palestinian territory, as the conflict entered its third week with neither side showing any sign of willingness to pull back
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Palestinian families who fled their homes from east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip ride on a car in their way to the city of Khan Younis
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Smoke from an Israeli strike rises over Gaza City
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An Israeli 155mm self-propelled howitzer fires from southern Israeli into the Gaza Strip
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The morgue attendant hands over the body to a relative of two-year-old Palestinian Lamar Radiya killed by shrapnel from an Israeli tank shell in the north of the Gaza Strip
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A Palestinian man, in clothes stained with the blood of his father, who medics said was killed by Israeli shelling, mourns as he disembarks an ambulance transporting his father's body, at a hospital in Khan Younis
Reuters
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Israeli soldiers carry the coffin of Sgt. Max Steinberg, during his funeral at the Mount Herzel military cemetery in Jerusalem. Steinberg, a 24-year-old American citizen who grew up in Southern California's San Fernando Valley, was killed while fighting in Gaza
AP
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89/123 Southern Gaza Strip
Palestinian paramedics carry a six-month-old baby into the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia after he was injured in an Israeli strike in the norhtern Gaza Strip
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A relative of Shahed Qishtah, a nine-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed in an Israeli strike while playing, left the Kamal Adwan hospital where he brought her in Beit Lahia in the norhtern Gaza Strip
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A Palestinian child screams in pain at the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip after she was hit by shrapnel during an Israeli military strike near her family house
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The father of a nine-year-old girl, Shahed Qishtah, leads a relative carrying her to hospital in Beit Lahia, Gaza; she died of her injuries
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An injured Palestinian at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah
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Mourning relatives of the Kelani family cry as they attend the funeral in Beit Lahiya, Gaza
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Brothers and family members of Ibrahim al-Kelani, the father and husband of a family of seven with dual Palestinian-German citizenship, attend his funeral in Beit Lahiya town in the northern Gaza Strip
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Relatives of Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant Abduallah El-Buhasi, who medics said was killed in an Israeli air strike, mourn during his funeral in Deir El-Balah in the central Gaza Strip
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A Palestinian woman runs to seek cover from tear gas fired by Israeli soldiers during clashes at a protest against the Israeli attacks on Gaza Strip, at Howwara checkpoint near the west bank city of Nablus
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Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike in Al Shejaeiya neighbourhood during a military operation in eastern Gaza City
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A member of Palestinian Selam family is rescued under the wreckage of their house, destroyed by an Israeli airstrike within the 'Operation Protective Edge'
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Firemen cut Palestinians free from the wreckage of the building, in which 11 Palestinians died and others injured following an Israel assault in Rimal, in Gaza City
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One member of Palestinian Selam family is is killed and 8 others get wounded after an Israeli airstrike, hit their hose and destroyed it within the 'Operation Protective Edge'
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A Palestinian man is helped to flee Gaza City's Shijaiyah neighborhood, after an Israeli strike in the area
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Palestinians inspect the rubble of the destroyed Al Aqsa Martyrs' mosque in Gaza City
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Palestinian rescuers inspect the damage of Al-Shalam (Peace) tower, destroyed by an Israeli strike
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A Palestinian inspects the damage of the Al-Shalam (Peace) tower, destroyed by an Israeli strike
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A Palestinian walks inside the Al Aqsa Martyrs mosque destroyed by an Israeli strike in Gaza City
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Palestinians look at the remains of a mosque, which police said was hit in an Israeli air strike, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip
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Palestinian firefighters extinguish fire at a house destroyed by an Israeli air strike in Gaza City
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A Palestinian man stands on the wreckage of a car as he searches the rubble of his destroyed apartment for belongings following an Israeli air strike in the center of Gaza City
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Smoke rises as flames spread across buildings after Israeli strikes in the Shijaiyah neighborhood in Gaza City
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Israeli riot police arrest an Arab Israeli man during clashes that followed a protest against Israel's military offensive on the Gaza Strip, in the northern city of Nazareth
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Israeli riot police keep watch during clashes that followed a protest against Israel's military offensive on the Gaza Strip, in the northern city of Nazareth
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Palestinians inspect a destroyed house after an Israeli air strike in the Gaza City
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Palestinian medics tend to a boy who they said was wounded in an Israeli shelling, at a hospital, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip
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Palestinian medics from Gaza City's al-Shifa hospital react while body bags with the remain of ten children arrive after an Israeli air strike in Gaza City
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Israeli soldiers stand near their tank while smoke due to airstrikes and shelling rises from Gaza near Sderot
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Israeli soldiers of the 155mm artillery cannons unit fire towards the Gaza Strip from their position near Israel's border with the coastal Palestinian enclave
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An Israeli tank manoeuvres outside the northern Gaza Strip
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Israeli cannon fires artillery shells from an artillery unit near the Israeli border with Gaza
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The parents of 32-year-old Israeli army captain Tzafrir Bar-Or, a commander of the Golani Brigade killed the previous day fighting a group of Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, mourn over his coffin during his funeral in the central town of Holon, near Tel Aviv
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An Israeli female soldier mourns during the funeral of 32-year-old Israeli army captain Tzafrir Bar-Or, a commander of the Golani Brigade killed the previous day fighting a group of Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, in the central town of Holon, near Tel Aviv
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Family members of Major Tsafrir Bar-Or mourn and cry during his funeral in Holon. Major Tsafrir was killed during the operation 'Protective Edge'
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An Israeli soldier inspects an Israeli home allegedly hit by a Hamas rocket in Sderot
This evening, after Israel had declared a four hour humanitarian ceasefire, came another attack, on a busy market in Shijaiyah, between Gaza City and the Israeli border, leaving 15 dead and 150 injured.
Earlier, Mr Krahenbuhl wanted to stress that those at the school had been placed in the line of fire after they “were instructed to leave their homes by the Israeli military. The precise location of the school and that it was housing thousands of people was communicated to the Israeli army 17 times to ensure its protection.”
The Independent met some of the families at the shelter 10 days ago. “I told you that you would come back here,” said Mohammed Abu Jarad this morning amid the destruction. “You remember me saying something like this would happen? Many of us felt this way, but we stayed on, where else could we go? There's nowhere safe”, he added as we watched UN workers gather body parts and remove fragments of ordnance.
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Eight members of the Abu Jarad family had been killed in a missile strike at their home in the town of Beit Hanoun 10 days ago. Four of them were children, the youngest Moussa, a baby of seven months. At the funeral his body, and that of two and half year old Hania, with blood on their shrouds and faces, were carried by relays of men. Mahmoud Abu Jarad, an uncle had said: “We want the Israelis to see what they have done. Perhaps they will feel some pity and stop this slaughter.”
The Jabaliya shelter was already full and overflowing when 10 members of the Abu Jarad family arrived there on 19 July, to move into a classroom already hosting 30 people. One of the other families there were the Al-Tanboura, they were deeply worried about Faiza, a woman in her mid-30s, who had barely uttered a word since fleeing her burning house in the town of Al-Atrat. “We will have to take her to a doctor when all this is over, they are busy treating the wounded now”, Somaya, a cousin, had observed.
“Our capacity is around 700, now we are having to cope with more than 1,600,” the UNRWA director of the school, Nassar Al-Jadiyan had said at the time; now it stands at 3,300. The total death toll for Palestinians on the day was 340, it stands today at around 1,210.
There had been an attack on a UN school in Beit Hanoun last week in which 15 were killed with recriminations afterwards between the UN and Israel over the failure to carry out an evacuation. “Here there was no warning from the Israelis and I am very surprised this has happened” said Mr Jadiyan. “I thought Beit Hanoun, well it was closer to the border, but I don't understand why this should happen here.
“Having an attack was always going to lead to a lot of casualties. We have had the numbers build up here, people were very frightened so they kept coming in, we couldn't turn them away.”
The pressure of numbers meant that many, all of them men, were sleeping outside in a courtyard which was used as the playground when the school was open. Among them were Talal al-Ghamayem and his three sons, five-year-old Ahmed, Younis, 15, and Mohammad, 11, a family from Beit Hanoun who had spoken in previous meetings about how eager they were to get back home and then discovered, on returning during a temporary ceasefire, that there was no home left to go back to.
When the first explosion came, demolishing a classroom at the front of the building where the majority of the deaths had taken place, Halima al-Ghamayem had run out to look for her husband and sons. The next shell landed in the courtyard, hitting her with flying shrapnel and also injuring five-year-old Ahmed.
Ghader, 17, had tried to stop her mother running out. “But I couldn't, she was so desperate. We managed to pick her up after she was injured and drag her inside. She just wanted to know about Ahmed. But, very luckily, he wasn't too badly hurt. But what will happen next time?”
Ola Abu Jarad lay on her mattress on the floor listening to the approaching sound of shells landing thinking, she said, of members of her family who had already died. At one point she heard what she thought were cries of pains and feared that an attack had already taken place on the school.
What had happened, in fact, was that paddock nearby had been hit and the screams were from injured donkeys and horses. They had been used by refugees to bring them to the shelter, fuel for cars having long run out in some of the border areas.
The school was hit minutes later; the Abu Jarads spent the next hour trying to find each other in the smoke and confusion. This afternoon Mohammed Abu Jarad was desperately trying to find somewhere else to stay. “We need to get out of here, everyone needs to get out of here. Otherwise you and the other journalists will have to come back here, they will hit this place again. But we can't find anywhere, it's impossible.”
People were rushing in and out of the classrooms, asking about the injured, anxiously wondering whether there was any place at all in Gaza which was safe. Faiza al-Tanboura was oblivious to it all, sitting in a corner, hands clasped around her knees, gently rocking to and fro. “She has stopped talking again,” said a cousin.
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