Wednesday 30 July 2014 16.37 The head of the main UN relief agency in Gaza has denounced an Israeli strike on one of its schools, which killed 16 people.
"I condemn in the strongest possible terms this serious violation of international law by Israeli forces," said UNRWA commissioner General Pierre Krahenbuhl.
"This is the sixth time that one of our schools has been struck," he said.
Dozens of Palestinians were killed in Gaza today as Israel said it targeted Islamist militants at dozens of sites across the coastal enclave.
Israeli tank shells and air strikes hit houses and the UN-run school in Jebalya in northern Gaza.
The Israeli military, in an initial response, said militants near the UN facility had fired mortar bombs and Israeli forces had shot back.
Mr Krahenbuhl said about 3,300 people had been sheltering in the school at the moment it was struck.
Medics this afternoon said at least 15 people were killed with another 150 wounded in an Israeli air strike on a market near Gaza City.
An emergency services spokesman said the strike hit a busy market in the battered Shejaiya neighbourhood, which lies between Gaza City and the Israeli border.
The strike came shortly after the Israeli army said it was observing a humanitarian lull that would be in force for four hours from 1200 GMT (1pm Irish time).
But it said the lull would not apply in areas where troops were "currently operating" in a move denounced as a publicity stunt by Hamas.
After 23 days of violence, the Palestinian death toll has risen above 1,300, most of them were civilians.
On the Israeli side, 53 soldiers and three civilians have been killed since the start of the offensive on 8 July.
Elsewhere, eight people, including five members of the same family in Jebalya, were killed in other strikes, Gaza officials said.
Seven other people were killed in Israel tank shelling in Khan Yunis and Deir al-Balah.
Jebalya, which has been under Israeli fire for the past 24 hours, is the largest refugee camp in Gaza.
Its population of 120,000 has been swollen by Palestinians trying to escape the fighting.
Residents were warned not to return to areas which they had evacuated.
Israel launched its offensive in response to rockets fired by Gaza's dominant Hamas Islamists and their allies.
UNRWA, the main UN relief agency in Gaza, said it was at "breaking point" with more than 200,000 Palestinians having taken shelter in its schools and buildings following calls by Israel for civilians to evacuate whole neighbourhoods before military operations.
The agency acknowledged that it had found a cache of rockets in one school but blamed no particular party.
UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said the initial assessment was that the school was hit by Israeli artillery.
He said the location of the school was given to the Israeli army 17 times.
Mr Gunness tweeted: "UNRWA condemns in the strongest possible terms this serious violation of international law by Israeli forces.
"Tens of thousands may soon be stranded in the streets of Gaza, without food, water and shelter if attacks on these areas continue.
"[The] international community must take deliberate international political action to put an immediate end to the continuing carnage in Gaza."
The Israeli assault intensified after the deaths of ten soldiers in Palestinian cross-border attacks on Monday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of a long conflict ahead.
The Israeli security cabinet convenes again today to assess the situation in the conflict and consider future steps.
The army said it needed about a week to complete its main mission of destroying cross-border infiltration tunnels and there has been strong Israeli public support for holding course.
Diplomatic pressure also mounted, with Chile and Peru saying they were recalling their ambassadors to Israel.
Chile, a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, is home to one of the world's largest Palestinian communities outside the Middle East, as well as a sizeable Jewish community.
Hamas TV aired footage it said showed the group's fighters using a tunnel to reach an Israeli army watchtower on Monday.
They are seen surprising an Israeli sentry, opening fire and storming the watchtower compound to surround a soldier.
Mohammed Deif, the leader of Hamas's armed wing, said in a recorded message on television that Palestinians would continue confronting Israel until its blockade on Gaza, which is supported by neighbouring Egypt, was lifted.
"The occupying entity will not enjoy security unless our people live in freedom and dignity," Mr Deif said.
"There will be no ceasefire before the [Israeli] aggression is stopped and the blockade is lifted. We will not accept interim solutions."
Israel has baulked at freeing up Gaza's borders under a de-escalation deal unless Hamas disarmament is also guaranteed.
Egypt said yesterday it was revising an unconditional truce proposal that Israel had originally accepted but Hamas rejected, and that the new offer would be presented to a Palestinian delegation.
An Israeli official said Israel might send its own envoy to Cairo.
"We are hearing that Israel has approved a ceasefire but Hamas has not," an Egyptian official told Reuters, an account that the Netanyahu government neither confirmed nor denied.
The administration of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the Israeli-occupied West Bank voiced support yesterday for a 24-72 hour ceasefire. It said it was also speaking for Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri disputed that statement but confirmed there were "intensive, ongoing contacts" on a truce.
Few Israelis want the operation to end now
A Tel Aviv University poll published yesterday found 95% of Israel's Jewish majority felt the offensive was justified. Only 4% believed too much force had been used.
Both US President Barack Obama and the UN Security Council have called for an immediate ceasefire to allow relief to reach Gaza's 1.8 million Palestinians, followed by negotiations on a more durable end to hostilities.
Efforts led by US Secretary of State John Kerry last week failed to achieve a breakthrough.
The explosion of violence appeared to dash international hope of turning a brief lull for the Muslim Eid al-Fitr festival into a longer-term ceasefire.
Hamas preaches Israel's destruction, but has been open to long-term ceasefires.
Since it is shunned by the US and Israel as a terrorist group, Mr Kerry's mediation has been facilitated by Egypt, Turkey, Qatar and Mr Abbas.
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