Israel moved quickly to explain the attack on the Jabalya school , saying its forces had been fired on first .
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israel move quickly explain attack jabalya school say force fire
Israel moved quickly to explain the attack on the Jabalya school , saying <m> its </m> forces had been fired on first .
THE UN has disputed claims that Hamas militants fired mortars from the Gaza school that has suffered the deadliest attack of the war with Israel .
Three shells hit Fakhura , a girls elementary school in the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza , at about 3pm on Tuesday ( 12am yesterday ) , according to UN Relief and Works Agency spokesman Christopher Gunness .
At least 43 people were killed and 55 wounded in the school , where hundreds of Palestinians had sought refuge from the fighting , pushing the Palestinian death toll above 680 since the conflict began on December 27 .
Two people were killed when an artillery shell hit a UN school in the southern city of Khan Younis .
Three people also died in an air strike on another UN school in Gaza City 's Shati refugee camp in the centre of the strip .
The carnage appeared to intensify international efforts to arrange a ceasefire - just as deadly strikes on civilians in previous conflicts in Lebanon raised pressure on Israel to halt hostilities .
Israel moved quickly to explain the attack on the Jabalya school , saying <m> its </m> forces had been fired on first .
The casualties included Hamas militants Imad and Hassan Abu Askar , both of whom had fired mortar shells at troops from the school , military officials said .
However , John Ging , the top UN refugee official in Gaza , said UN staff and Palestinian families in the school compound had been screened for weapons , and he disputed Israel 's claim that mortars were fired from inside .
`` As far as we are concerned , that is not true , but if Israel has evidence of that they need to provide it to an independent inquiry , '' Mr Ging said .
He added : `` There 's nowhere safe in Gaza .
Everyone here is terrorised and traumatised . ''
Speaking after an initial investigation last night , Mr Gunness denied militants were at the school:
`` We are 99.9 per cent sure that there were no militants or militant activities in the school and the school compound . ''
Mr Gunness said earlier that schools were clearly marked with a UN flag and that the GPS co-ordinates of all UN installations in Gaza had been given some time ago to the Israelis .
He said UNRWA wanted an impartial probe of the Israeli shelling that could also determine whether militants had used the school for a mortar attack .
Mohammad Awad , in hospital with shrapnel wounds to the legs and face , said he had come to the school with his family after his house was destroyed in the bombing of a neighbouring home of a Hamas leader .
He and other men had been sitting in the schoolyard when shells hit the compound .
`` I saw bodies flying and people torn to pieces , '' he said .
Umm Ibrahim said she had lost an eight-year-old daughter and two sons , 11 and 14 .
She had come to the school after a phone warning from the Israelis that the family house would be struck because one son was a Hamas militant .
`` We escaped death in our house , but it pursued us to the school , '' she said .
`` What can we do ?
Where should we go ? ''
Although Israel said its return fire landed outside the school , witnesses described a series of blasts , which Israeli officials said suggested militants had rigged the building with explosives .
`` We face a very delicate situation where Hamas is using the citizens of Gaza as a protective vest , '' said military spokesman Brigadier General Avi Benayahu .
The incident renewed questions about Israel 's ability to wage a precision war in densely populated Gaza even as its forces pushed deeper into the narrow coastal territory .
Heavy clashes continued in the north yesterday and airstrikes across the densely populated coastal strip .
An airstrike in the Gaza City neighbourhood of Zeitun , where much of the heavy fighting has taken place since ground forces invaded on Saturday , left one armed militant dead and three wounded , medics said .
Clashes were continuing in Zeitun , and there were reports of airstrikes on the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah .
One rocket made the deepest strike yet into Israel - about 32km from Tel Aviv .