Damien McElroy in Jerusalem – Telegraph.co.uk January 9, 2009
The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has called it "one of the gravest incidents since the beginning of operations" by Israeli forces in Gaza on December 27.
It said that "according to several testimonies, on 4 January Israeli foot soldiers evacuated people into a single-residence house in Zeitun, half of whom were children, warning them to stay indoors.
But 24-hours later, Israeli forces shelled the home repeatedly, killing between 30 and 60 people.
"Those who survived and were able walked two kilometres to Salah Ed Din road before being transported to hospital in civilian vehicles. Three children, the youngest of whom was five months old, died upon arrival at the hospital," OCHA said in a report on the situation in the battered Gaza Strip.
Asked for comment an Israeli military spokesman said the allegation was being investigated as were other claims that civilians were fired upon and that troops failed to help wounded civilians.
An estimated 770 Palestinians and 14 Israelis have died in nearly two weeks of Israel's air and ground offensive against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
It came as Israel carried out a series of intensive bombardments over Gaza early today despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.
Palestinian officials said a family of seven was killed when tanks shelled a house in Beit Lahiya in the north of the Gaza Strip. A Gaza health official said a Ukrainian woman was been killed by an Israeli tank shell, the first foreign national to die in nearly two weeks of fighting.
Funerals were due to be held later in the day for the three soldiers killed in fighting Thursday. The ceremonies were set to form a grim backdrop to a meeting of Israel's cabinet at which ministers would be asked to chose between an expanded ground operation and compliance with the UN resolution.
Leading humanitarian agencies have frozen activities in the strip in the wake of attacks by the Israeli military on personnel on the ground.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced it had restricted aid operations to Gaza City after one of its convoys came under Israeli fire at the Netzarim crossing during the three-hour lull in fighting on Thursday. One driver was lightly injured. The UN has also suspended operations after four of its relief workers were killed, Agency local staff have been killed in the conflict.
The overnight resolution "condemns all violence and hostilities directed against civilians," calls for "unimpeded" humanitarian access to Gaza while welcoming the initiative to open "humanitarian corridors."
Gaza's human suffering has seen increasing criticism directed at Israel. Simon Horner, of the European Commission aid department, said 60 per cent of Gaza's 1.4 million people have no electricity, and fewer people every day have access to clean water. The sewage system is in danger of a failing, which could lead to an outbreak of disease, and medical services were under severe stress.
"The inability of the UN to provide assistance in this worsening humanitarian crisis is unacceptable," said Michele Montas, a spokeswoman.
Israeli officials have yet to respond to the UN resolution but military commanders have pressed for permission to pursue the ground offensive to try to secure more gains.
Hamas said it would not recognise the resolution as it had not been consulted on it.
Ten soldiers have been killed in the campaign launched by Israel to crush Hamas forces and halt the firing of rockets from Gaza into Israel. Israel says it is doing what it can to avoid civilian casualties but accuses Hamas of deliberately placing its fighters close to homes and mosques.
About 20 rockets hit Israel on Thursday, fewer than at the start of the war but not the total halt it has set as the objective of the campaign.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/4206913/Israel-bombed-Gaza-safe-house-full-off-evacuees-says-UN.html
Last updated 12/01/2009
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