Israeli strikes on UN-run schools in Gaza 'unacceptable'

Criticising the Israeli military strikes on three UN-run schools in the Gaza Strip
that claimed dozens of lives, secretary-general Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday said that such attacks were "totally unacceptable and must not be repeated".
     
"The Israeli attacks against UN sites housing civilians seeking refuge are totally unacceptable and must not be repeated," Ban said in a statement.
     
These attacks reinforce the urgent need for a ceasefire to end the mounting casualties, he said adding, "I sincerely hope that for the sake of those who have died, their sacrifice
must not go in vain".

Earlier on Tuesday, the United Nations demanded an investigation into the deadly strikes near UN-run schools and into other civilian deaths in the Israeli onslaught on the
Hamas-run Palestinian state. 

Three artillery shells yesterday landed at the perimeter of a girls' preparatory school in the Jabaliya refugee camp and killed 43 people who had sought shelter there, UNRWA's director of operations John Ging said.
     
Also in Jabaliya, a boys' school was attacked but it was empty, he said. Last night, three Palestinians, who had sought refuge in a small co-educational UN school in Gaza City, died when a missile hit the building's toilet facilities.
    
However, in a separate incident, seven UN staff were injured, three seriously, along with three patients, when a strike on a nearby building caused significant collateral
damage to a UNRWA health centre. 

"The location of all UN facilities have been communicated to the Israeli authorities and are known to its army," Ban said adding, they had also been warned that their
operations were endangering UN facilities.
     
"I was deeply dismayed that despite these repeated efforts  tragedies have ensued," he added. 

He also said that "equally unacceptable were any actions by militants which endanger the Palestinian civilian population".
     
These events highlight the dangers posed by continued and stepped up fighting, he said, reiterating his call for an immediate ceasefire. However, Israel claimed that Hamas deliberately fired rockets from the populated areas and was using Palestinians as
human shields. 

More than two dozen schools run by the UNRWA are serving as temporary shelters to above 15,000 Palestinians whose homes have been destroyed or who are fleeing the violence. 

The agency's education programmes have been suspended since the start of Israeli air attacks on Gaza.  Civilians "are seeking sanctuary in UNRWA schools because they have no other place to go and are not able to flee the Gaza Strip," the UN chief said.