Lethal toll in Gaza keeps rising and victims are routinely children after UN school bombed

As the Israeli onslaught on Hamas militants claims its most deadly toll yet on civilians, Kim Sengupta reports from the battleground where young and old are in the frontline... even at a UN school where they had sought refuge
School attack: children injured in the Israeli shelling (Picture: REX)
25 July 2014

There were accusations and recriminations over who was responsible for which set of killings, but there was no respite for the people of Gaza: the numbers of dead and the maimed, so many of them now routinely children, continued to pile up.

The lethal toll, by the end of the day, was 119, making it the deadliest so far in the war. The attack claiming the most lives took place at a UN school in the town of Beit Hanoun, with 15 killed and around 70 injured. Hundreds had taken refuge there in an attempt to escape the violence in the surrounding area.

The immediate vicinity had come under air strikes and plans had been made to evacuate, with families gathered in the school compound when the blasts came.

Chris Gunness, a spokesman for UNRWA, the organisation’s agency for refugees, pointed out that “precise co-ordinates of the shelter had been formally given to the Israeli army. Over the course of the day, UNRWA tried to co-ordinate with the Israeli army.

“We spent much of the day trying to negotiate a window so that civilians, including our staff, could leave. That was never granted. The consequences appeared to be tragic.”

Unrest: A Palestinian protester holds a Palestinian flag as he runs past burning tyres (Picture: Reuters)

Ragdha Ibrahimi, 28, ran carrying her two-year-old son Mahmoud to the Beit Hanoun hospital. He had been hit in the chest and stomach by shrapnel and was later moved by ambulance to hospital in the next town, Beit Lahiya.

His mother said: “We were told it wasn’t safe at the school, and buses were going to take us from there. Rockets started arriving while we were waiting. Mahmoud was hit, he started screaming.

“I picked him up and ran to the hospital, and told my mother to look after the other children.” Ragdha’s husband Mohammed had stayed behind at the family home. “I don’t know if he is safe, I don’t know if he’s alive,” she said quietly.

The Israeli military suggested at first that Hamas rockets, being fired in the area, may have been responsible for the school carnage.

This appeared to have changed later in a tweet which said: “Today Hamas continued firing from Beit Hanoun. The IDF responded by targeting the source of the fire.”

The Israelis also insisted, however, that they had told the Red Cross to evacuate civilians from the shelter between 10am and 2pm and claimed: “UNRWA & Red Cross got the message. Hamas prevented civilians from evacuating the area during the window that we gave them.”

Temporary ceasefires to move residents out of dangerous areas and collect the dead and injured have been organised on several occasions.

But they are surrounded by un- certainty and the Israeli military reserve the right to take “appropriate action” if they deem a truce to have been broken.

We headed into Khozaa, where there had been heavy fighting, yesterday during what was meant to be a six-hour ceasefire but soon turned back because of sudden shooting nearby.

Ambulance crews claimed later that Israeli troops had targeted them when they attempted to collect the wounded.

Paramedic Wissan Nabhan said: “Tanks were firing and shells were landing next to us. There is no doubt they were shooting at us, it was not crossfire.” Residents also accused the Israelis of ordering them to leave their homes and then opening fire.

One said: “We were in a group of 18, only two of them were men, my husband and brother, who were carrying white flags. We ran into a field, but my brother was hit in the back.”

The Israeli military say that Hamas fighters have been trying to get among evacuating civilians to escape, sometimes with their weapons: the blame game continues into the 18th day of the bloodletting.

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