Gaza’s death toll passed 800 on Thursday in the 16-day war with Israel, as the Israelis killed at least 15 people in a United Nations shelter.

Meanwhile, in escalating protests in the West Bank, two Palestinians were slain.

More than 200 people, mostly women and children, were wounded in the Israeli strike on the shelter, a converted school in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip.

The UN facility is the fourth hit by Israeli attacks in the conflict.

Israel claimed — as it did in the 2008/9 Gaza War when shelters were struck — that the deaths and damage were caused by a Hamas rocket which fell short, but journalists were clear that the fire had come from the Israelis. Peter Beaumont of The Guardian wrote:

Although missiles belonging to Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups in Gaza do sometimes fall short, there was no visible evidence of debris from broken Palestinian rockets in the school. The injuries and the number of fatalities were consistent with a powerful explosion that sent shrapnel tearing through the air, in some cases causing traumatic amputations.

The surrounding neighbourhood bore evidence of multiple Israeli attacks, including smoke from numerous artillery rounds and air strikes. One building was entirely engulfed by flames.

Dan Rivers of Britain’s ITV spoke of “child after bloodied child” arriving at a hospital:

Chris Gunness of the UN’s refugee agency UNRWA said on Twitter:

He added that the UN agency had given the Israeli army the precise coordinates of the school.

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United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said, before talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Cairo,
“I was shocked and appalled by what has happened in Beit Hanoun. It is totally unacceptable.”

Two Israeli civilians have been killed by Gazan rockets since July 8. Israel has lost 32 troops since the ground invasion because on July 17, and one soldier is missing.

There was no movement on the diplomatic front, and indications of growing frustration with the efforts to establish a ceasefire. A “senior US official” said that Secretary of State Kerry might soon leave the region:

Gaps remain between the parties, so his focus is on finding a formula that both sides can accept. But he isn’t here for an indefinite amount of time and in the near future he will determine whether there is a willingness to come to an agreement on a ceasefire.

A “senior Israeli official” said Kerry had drafted a new ceasefire proposal which would be discussed by the Cabinet on Friday morning.

An “unnamed senior Israeli source said, “If Hamas accepts the American proposal it is not impossible that there could be an Israeli decision to accept it also.”


Al Jazeera’s Nicole Johnston reports from the outskirts of Gaza’s Khuzaa, near the southern city of Khan Younis, where ambulances and two Red Cross vehicles entered the area after it came under heavy Israeli fire on Wednesday night.

A pause in the fighting was negotiated and medical teams were given one hour to go in to recover the dead and wounded.