Majed Hamdan , an AP photographer , who rushed to the scene shortly after the attacks , said many children were among the dead .
Majed Hamdan
majed hamdan ap photographer rush scene shortly attack say child dead
<m> Majed Hamdan </m> , an AP photographer , who rushed to the scene shortly after the attacks , said many children were among the dead .
The civilian death toll in Gaza increased dramatically today , with reports of more than 40 Palestinians killed after missiles exploded outside a UN school where hundreds of people were sheltering from the continuing Israeli offensive .
Two Israeli tank shells struck the school in Jabaliya refugee camp , spraying shrapnel on people inside and outside the building , according to news agency reports .
The medical director of the hospital in Jabaliya told the Guardian 41 bodies had been brought in so far and more could be on the way .
Reuters journalists filmed bodies scattered on the ground amid pools of blood and torn shoes and clothes .
In addition to the dead , several dozen people were wounded , hospital officials said .
The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports .
A United Nations official in Gaza said the school was clearly marked with a UN flag and its location had been reported to Israeli authorities .
John Ging , director of operations in Gaza for UNRWA , the United Nations Relief and Works Agency , said that three artillery shells landed at the perimeter of the school where 350 people were taking shelter .
`` Of course it was entirely inevitable if artillery shells landed in that area there would be a high number of casualties , '' he said .
Asked whether there were Hamas militants in the area at the time of the attack , Ging said it was the scene of clashes `` so there 's an intense military and militant activity in that area . ''
He said UN staff vetted Palestinians seeking shelter at their facilities to make sure militants were not taking advantage of them. `` So far we 've not had violations by militants of our facilities , '' he said .
Ging called for an independent investigation of the strikes near UN facilities .
`` I saw a lot of women and children wheeled in , '' Fares Ghanem , a hospital official told the Associated Press .
`` A lot of the wounded were missing limbs and a lot of the dead were in pieces . ''
<m> Majed Hamdan </m> , an AP photographer , who rushed to the scene shortly after the attacks , said many children were among the dead .
`` I saw women and men parents slapping their faces in grief , screaming , some of them collapsed to the floor .
They knew their children were dead , '' he said .
`` In the morgue , most of the killed appeared to be children .
In the hospital , there was n't enough space for the wounded . ''
Elsewehere , at least 12 members of an extended family , including seven young children , were killed in an air strike on their house in Gaza City .
The bodies of the Daya family were pulled from the rubble of a house in Gaza city 's Zeitoun district after it was hit by two Israeli missiles .
The dead included seven children aged from one to 12 years , three women and two men .
Nine other people were believed to be trapped in the rubble .
Hours earlier , three young men - all cousins - died when the Israelis bombed another UN school , the Asma primary school in Gaza City .
They were among about 400 people who sought shelter there after fleeing their homes in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza .
The UN , which said the school in Jabaliya was clearly marked , said it was `` strongly protesting these killings to the Israeli authorities and is calling for an immediate and impartial investigation '' .
`` Where it is found that international humanitarian law has been violated , those responsible must be held to account .
Under international law , installations such as schools , health centres and UN facilities should be protected from attack .
Well before the current fighting , the UN had given to the Israeli authorities the GPS co-ordinates of all its installations in Gaza , including Asma elementary school . ''
The killings take the total toll in Palestinian lives since the Israelis launched their assault on the Gaza Strip 11 days ago to above 600 .
Doctors at Gaza hospitals say that at least one-fifth of the victims are children and a large number of women are among the dead .
Israel continues to insist that the bulk of those killed are Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters , although its claim to be going to extraordinary lengths to target only `` terrorists '' has been undermined by one of its own tanks firing on a building being used by Israeli troops , killing four .
The sharp spike in the number of civilian casualties came as Israeli troops and tanks moved into Gaza 's second largest city , Khan Younis , for the first time today , supported by intensive artillery strikes as the military pledged to press on with its attack .
In a separate attack earlier in the day , three Palestinians were killed in an air strike on another school run by Unwra , the UN relief agency .
Nine Israelis , including three civilians hit by rocket fire , have been killed in the conflict .
At least five rockets fired from Gaza landed in Israel today , including one that hit the town of Gadera , 17 miles from Tel Aviv , police said .
A three-year-old girl was wounded .
The heaviest fighting has been in northern Gaza , with witnesses reporting wave after wave of bombing strikes across the north of the territory accompanied by gunfire from helicopters and artillery from land and sea .
Thousands of Palestinians have been ordered to leave their homes or forced to flee the fighting .
In Shajaiyeh , east of Gaza City , Israeli troops seized control of three apartment blocks and set up gun positions on the rooftops .
Residents were locked in their homes and soldiers confiscated their mobile phones , neighbours said .
Three of the four Israeli soldiers killed by friendly fire died when a tank mistakenly fired on a building where the soldiers had taken up positions .
There was heavy artillery fire to cover the evacuation of 24 soldiers who were injured , including the commander of the Golani infantry brigade , one of Israel 's key fighting forces .
Israel 's defence minister , Ehud Barak , said his country 's troops would continue their operation despite mounting Palestinian casualties and growing international calls for a ceasefire .
`` Hamas has so far sustained a very heavy blow from us , but we have yet to achieve our objective , and therefore the operation continues , '' Barak said .
The Israeli foreign minister , Tzipi Livni , said the offensive was intended to change permanently the shape of Israel 's conflict with Hamas .
`` When Israel is targeted , Israel is going to retaliate , '' she said .
Israel has rejected calls for a ceasefire .
The military said it had bombed more smuggling tunnels across the border with Egypt , in the south , and hit more than 40 other sites across Gaza including buildings storing weapons and rocket launching areas .
In Gaza , Mahmoud Zahar , the most senior leader of Hamas in the strip and a hardliner in the movement , appeared on the party 's al-Aqsa television station and gave a defiant speech threatening attacks not only in Gaza but elsewhere .
`` The Zionists have legitimised the killing of their children by killing our children .
They have legitimised the killing of their people all over the world by killing our people , '' Zahar said .
He urged Hamas fighters to `` crush your enemy '' .
Another Hamas figure , a recognised military spokesman called Abu Ubaida , said thousands of Hamas fighters were waiting in Gaza to take on the Israeli military , and that rocket attacks would increase .
More than 40 were fired into southern Israel yesterday , including one that landed in an empty kindergarten , which , like all schools near the Gaza border , has been closed since the conflict began .
Israeli police said a total of 520 rockets had been fired in the past 11 days of fighting .
Israeli troops are now deployed in and around the major urban areas of Gaza , particularly to the north , in Beit Hanoun , Beit Lahiya and Jabaliya .
Using leaflets , telephone calls and radio announcements , they have ordered residents in many areas to leave their homes , forcing at least 15,000 Palestinians to flee to safety elsewhere .
At least 5,000 are staying in 11 different UN schools and shelters .
The UN said more than 1 million Gazans were still without electricity or water and that it was increasingly difficult for staff to distribute aid or reach the injured .
It said more industrial diesel was needed to reopen the strip 's sole power plant , which has been shut for a week .
Ten transformers have been damaged in the fighting .
More wheat grain is needed for food handouts , and the UN said Karni , the main commercial crossing , should be reopened to allow it in .
Four ambulances and three mobile clinics were destroyed when bombs hit the headquarters of the Union of Health Care Committees in Gaza City .
John Holmes , the UN emergency relief coordinator , said Gaza represented an `` increasingly alarming '' humanitarian crisis , and that the territory was running low on clean water , power , food , medicine and other supplies since Israel began its offensive .
Israeli leaders claim there is no humanitarian crisis .