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IDF Says Bombing, Deaths at Gaza UNRWA School May be From Hamas Rocket Falling Short
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by Dave Bender
Gaza. Photo: David Berkowitz
One or more munitions that slammed into a UNRWA school in southern Gaza on Thursday killing at least 15 and wounding dozens of others may have been fired by Hamas, and not the IDF, as Palestinians are claiming.
“That’s one of the possibilities that is being investigated,” an Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson told The Algemeiner.
“During the afternoon a battle took place between Hamas terrorists and IDF forces in the Beit Hanoun area. Besides that, we indeed have indications that rockets fell in the vicinity, fired by Hamas from within Gaza in the Beit Hanoun vicinity,” the spokesman said.
Later in the evening, the IDF tweeted that “Last night, we told Red Cross to evacuate civilians from UNRWA’s shelter in Beit Hanoun btw 10 am & 2 pm. UNRWA & Red Cross got the message.”
“Hamas prevented civilians from evacuating the area during the window that we gave them,” they army said in a second tweet, adding that “Today Hamas continued firing from Beit Hanoun. The IDF responded by targeting the source of the fire.”
“Also today, several rockets launched from Gaza toward Israel fell short and hit Beit Hanoun,” the IDF contended in a separate tweet.
UNRWA also acknowledged on Thursday that Hamas fired into the Beit Hanoun area, where the agency’s school was hit, according to Israel’s Channel 2 News.
The Israel Defense Forces has counted at least 100 rockets fired by Hamas as striking within Gaza.
“Have you heard? #Hamas are launching rockets at…..#Gaza over 100 times in 9 days,” IDF Spokesman, Lt.-Col. Peter Lerner, said last week.
Meanwhile, Palestinian and foreign reports at the site describe a “scene from a horror movie,” with wounded children being brought for medical treatment while others are seen huddling in building stairwells to avoid further shelling – whatever the source.
Richard Engel of NBC News tweeted: The “Unrwa chief in gaza tells @NBCNews initial assumption is school was hit by #israeli fire.”
ABC News’ Jon Willams said the IDF says it “asked UNRWA to evacuate compound & offered humanitatian ‘window’. UN says IDF refused UNRWA request for ceasfire.”
Williams said United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was “appalled by news of attack on @UNRWA school in #Gaza. Many killed – including women & children, as well as UN staff.”
BBC video Journalist Kelvin Brown noted that “Some of the survivors of the blast at the school in #BeitHanoun have taken shelter in the local hospital.”
IDF map showing 100 Hamas rockets striking within Gaza. Photo: IDF / Twitter.
An analysis by blogger Elder of Ziyon showed that of the 192 rockets fired last Tuesday by Hamas and counted by the Gaza NGO Safety Office, the IDF said 122 rockets struck Israel and 26 were intercepted by the Iron Dome, leaving 44 Hamas rockets striking within Gaza.
The blogger said, “Of course, 44 rockets can do a lot of damage and kill a lot of people. Reporters on the scene in Gaza have yet to talk about this or even admit the possibility that some of the casualties they are highlighting may have been killed quite directly by Hamas or other terror groups.”
