At least 40 people have been killed in an Israeli air strike on an United Nations-run school in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian medical sources have said.
A number of children were among those who died when the al-Falluj school in the Jabaliya refugee camp took a direct hit, doctors at nearby hospitals said.
People inside had been taking refuge from the Israeli ground offensive.
Earlier, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned of a "full-blown humanitarian crisis" in Gaza.
Speaking on the 11th day of the Israeli assault, a senior ICRC official, Pierre Kraehenbuhl, said life in Gaza had become intolerable.
Palestinian medical sources say up to 600 people have been killed since the attacks began, and Mr Kraehenbuhl said much more needed to be done to protect civilians.
At least 70 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday, while four Israeli soldiers were killed by fire from one of their own tanks.A UN-run school? Was this a facility harboring terrorists? For Christ's sake! Can someone explain at this point what possible defense there can be for Israel's actions. 600 people dead. This is shameful. Shameful that Israel continues to conduct itself in this manner, shameful that the Bush admin is doing nothing but supporting it, and increasingly shameful that Obama has made no official statement.
While understanding the need to combat terrorism, Israel cannot conduct itself like this. It is immoral and ineffective. Please, I ask everyone who stops by to visit this blog to email their senators and representatives to ask that they (at the very least) call on Israel to make a greater effort to avoid civilian casualties. Better yet, ask them to pressure Israel to end the siege of Gaza, correct the humanitarian crisis, and work to find a lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel cannot just have a free hand and full US support to undertake tactics that kill 100s of civilian bystanders. What is the value of fighting terrorism when you kill scores of innocent people to do it?
