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At least 20 Palestinians were killed and dozens others injured early Wednesday in an Israeli artillery shelling of a school run by the U.N.'s Palestinian refugees agency (UNRWA) in the northern Gaza Strip, sheltering dozens of displaced Palestinians who had fled their homes due to the ongoing Israeli offensive in the enclave.
"At least 20 Palestinians were killed and dozens injured - with wounds ranging between moderate to serious – in the Israeli shelling of UNRWA's Abu Hussein school," Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qodra told Anadolu Agency. "Most of the victims are women and children."
Eyewitnesses said that body parts of women and children were strewn across the site that used to house dozens of families that had their houses destroyed by the Israeli army earlier this month.
This is the second UNRWA school that was hit by the Israeli army within one week. On Thursday, at least 15 Palestinian civilians were killed when the Israeli army shelled the Beit Hanoun school, also in northern Gaza Strip.
The latest fatalities brought up to 1261 the number of Palestinians killed in the ongoing Israeli military operation in Gaza, al-Qodra added.
Since July 7, Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip – from air, land and sea – with devastating bombardments with the ostensible aim of halting rocket fire from the strip.
Israel claims that the offensive, now in its fourth week, aims at halting rocket fire from the blockaded Palestinian territory.
At least 56 Israelis – 53 soldiers and three civilians – have been killed since the hostilities began.
Israel's military operation, dubbed operation "Protective Edge," is the self-proclaimed Jewish state's third major offensive against the densely-populate Gaza Strip – which is home to some 1.8 million Palestinians – within the last six years.
In 2008/9, over 1500 Palestinians were killed in Israel's three-week-long operation "Cast Lead."
By Mustafa Haboosh
englishnews@aa.com.tr
www.aa.com.tr/en - Gazze
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