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"At least 16 people seeking shelter were killed when a  United Nations-run school in Gaza  were hit on Thursday. \nSee also: 'Am I Going to Die, Daddy?' The Child in Gaza Asked\nInitial reports suggested that Israeli tank shells hit the compound in the Gaza Strip. But the Israeli military suggested Hamas rockets may have been to blame, although it offered no proof. The Israeli military said it was reviewing the incident. \nThe school in Beit Hanoun was run as a shelter by The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). The GPS coordinates of the school was included on a list of UN-run sites that had been given to the Israeli military, UNRWA spokesperson Chris Gunness said in a tweet. \n\nPrecise co-ordinates of the UNRWA shelter in Beit Hanoun had been formally given to the Israeli army RT\n\u2014 Chris Gunness (@ChrisGunness) July 24, 2014\n\nThe Israeli military has assured UNRWA that it will not target U.N.-identified refuge shelters, agency spokesperson Sami Mshasha told Mashable last week. \nU.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday that U.N. staff were among the casualties and demanded that Israel and Hamas abide by international humanitarian law and respect \"the sanctity of civilian life.\"\n\"Today's attack underscores the imperative for the killing to stop \u2014 and to stop now,\" he said.\n\nScores killed in attack on a school being used as a shelter #Gaza. pic.twitter.com/kAJEefoQvA\n\u2014 sean swan (@Irishcamera) July 24, 2014\n\nIt was the fourth time a U.N. facility has been hit in fighting between Israeli forces and militants in Gaza since the conflict began on July 8. UNRWA has said it has found militant rockets inside two vacant schools.\nNearly 150,000 Palestinian civilians are living in U.N. shelters, the agency said in a tweet on Thursday. That number has risen since 20,000 the week before.\n\n#Gaza: 141,338 Palestinian civilians now displaced in 83 UNRWA shelters. Numbers rising constantly. pic.twitter.com/g5cHYb5zUU\n\u2014 UNRWA (@UNRWA) July 24, 2014\n\n\u201CWe are asking [Israeli] authorities to respect the fact that these are centers of refuge and safety,\" Sami said at the time, noting the agency had trained staff who were capable of ensuring that the shelters accepted only accept civilians \u2014 keeping out Hamas and its rockets.\nThe U.N. said the strike occurred as staff members were trying to arrange a humanitarian pause in the hostilities so they could evacuate the civilians from the compound in the northern town of Beit Hanoun. \nKamel al-Kafarne, who was in the school, told The Associated Press that the U.N. was putting people on buses when three tank shells hit.\n\"We were about to get out of the school, then they hit the school. They kept on shelling it,\" he said.\n\nI will never forget the utter shock on these kids faces - they thought they were safe in a UN school #Gaza pic.twitter.com/0YRHVc6pxz\n\u2014 Dan Rivers (@danieljerivers) July 24, 2014\n\nThe IDF on Thursday blamed Hamas for preventing civilians from leaving the area in a post on its blog:\n\nIn recent days, Hamas has fired rockets from an area of Beit Hanoun where an UNRWA shelter is located. Last night, the Israel Defense Forces told the Red Cross to evacuate civilians from UNRWA\u2019s shelter in Beit Hanoun between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. today. UNRWA and the Red Cross received the message.\nHamas prevented civilians from evacuating the area during the window that the IDF gave them.\nToday, July 24, 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.\n\n\"We can't confirm that this is a result of errant fire. In any case, we do not target U.N. facilities,\" military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner told The Associated Press. Lerner said the military had urged the U.N. and the Red Cross to evacuate the school for three days leading up to the incident.\nThe U.N. said it was trying to do just that when the school was hit. The agency's spokesman Chris Gunness said the U.N. had asked the Israeli military for a lull in fighting to allow for the school's evacuation but did not hear back.\nBooks, blankets, cushions and other belongings were scattered about the courtyard in the aftermath of the explosion. \nA sandal with a yellow flower lay beside a puddle of blood, and sheep and a horse that had belonged to those seeking shelter grazed nearby. Dozens of people, including children, were wheeled into a nearby hospital.\n\nThe Associated Press contributed to this report.\n      window._msla=window.loadScriptAsync||function(src,id){if(document.getElementById(id))return;var js=document.createElement('script');js.id=id;js.src=src;document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0].parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);};\n_msla(\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\",\"twitter_jssdk\");"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2014/07/24/gaza-school-un-shelter/>