Carnage in Gaza as UN schools hit
Updated on 06 January 2009
At least 30 people are killed as Israeli shells explode outside a UN school in Gaza where hundreds of civilians were sheltering. Is this a turning point in the Gaza conflict?
It is the deadliest single incident since Israel launched its assault on Gaza: dozens of civilians killed at a UN school as Israeli missiles exploded outside.
Israel insisted it was trying to avoid civilian casualties, accusing Hamas of firing rockets from the building.
Reports suggest that hundreds of civilians had been sheltering from the fighting at the al-Fakhora UN school in Jabaliya refugee camp when it was struck by Israeli shells, killing at least 30 people. Earlier three men died in an air strike on another UN school in Gaza City.
In the south, meanwhile, one report says two people were killed in a strike on a third school in Khan Yunis, as Israeli tanks moved into Gaza's second largest city for the first time.
Despite the military strikes, Hamas fired at least 30 rockets into southern Israel. One hit the town of Gadera, injuring a three-year-old girl.
Warning: Jonathan Rugman's report contains distressing images
What happened at Jabaliya?
The Israeli attack on the UN school in Jabaliya, which killed 30 people, has provoked strong reaction. Alex Thomson interviews all sides for their view of events.
Read more
The view from the West Bank
In the West Bank, scenes of death and destruction in Gaza are provoking rising sympathy for Hamas and anger with the Palestinian authority there, controlled by the rival Fatah party.
Protests against the Israeli assault have turned violent, while Israeli forces have detained some 25 Palestinians in the territory accused of links to Hamas.
So with the West Bank separated geographically and politically from Gaza, the popular mood is growing closer, as Alex Thomson found when he went to Ramallah earlier today.
