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11/22/2024 02:07:29 am

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U.N. Probe Points to Israel for Latest U.N. Facility Shelling; Death Toll Over 1, 400

Gaza war

Palestinians collect bodies from a United Nations-run school sheltering Palestinians displaced by an Israeli ground offensive, that was hit by Israeli shelling, in Jebalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip July 30, 2014.

United Nations said it was Israel who shelled a U.N.-run refugee camp in Gaza strip that killed at least 15 people on Wednesday, calling on international community to help bring an end to the three-week long "carnage" of civilians.

The accusation was based on the initial investigation conducted by U.N. officials who visited the Jabalya refugee camp, which came under attack on Wednesday night, where its over 3, 3000 refugees were sleeping.

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The latest violence of the Israel-Hamas war brings the death toll in Gaza at 1, 346, mostly Palestinian civilians and children. Israel has 59 fatalities, three of them were civilians.

"Our initial assessment is that, it was Israeli artillery that hit our school," United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) chief Pierre Krahenbuhl said in a statement.

Krahenbuhl condemned the latest attack and said Israel continued its deadly assaults in U.N. facilities in the Gaza strip despite its protection under international law.

He said it was the sixth time that one of U.N.-run schools has been struck by the deadly assaults following the last week's shelling of a U.N. school in Beit Hanoun that killed another 15 people, including U.N. staff, and injuring hundreds of refugees.

Krahenbuhl said Israeli army has been notified for at least 17 times regarding the U.N. facilities' precise location for Israel to avoid the schools in its assaults. The last reminder was made just hours before the shelling, he said.

"Children killed in their sleep; this is an affront to all of us, a source of universal shame. Today the world stands disgraced," he said.

But Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said its army had only fired back against militants who launch mortar bombs against its troops from the vicinity of the school.

IDF has intensified its ground, naval and aerial offensives against the Hamas militants who controlled the Gaza. IDF said its operation will only stop until it defeated the militants, who continue to launch rockets in Israel.

Meanwhile, the United States has also sent its outrage to the shelling of U.N. facility, but was quick to clarify that it was condemning the attacks itself and not Israel, its long-time ally.

In a statement, White House said it is "extremely concerned" over the situation of refugees seeking shelter in the UN designated shelters in Gaza, and said it condemns the people who hide weapons in the said facilities.

Israel earlier said it has evidence that Hamas militants hid weapon cache in U.N.-run facilities in an effort to use civilians as human shields.

After several attempts to broker cease-fire, no truce is in sight to stop the 21-day war that put the Gaza strip community into rubbles. 

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