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Palestinian children at a UN school in Rafah, southern Gaza
Palestinian children take refuge from Israeli bombardments at a UN school in Rafah, southern Gaza. Photograph: Ashraf Amra/Zuma Press/Corbis
Palestinian children take refuge from Israeli bombardments at a UN school in Rafah, southern Gaza. Photograph: Ashraf Amra/Zuma Press/Corbis

UN dragged into conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza

This article is more than 9 years old
Neutrality of UN violated by apparent Israeli attacks on six schools and discovery of Palestinian weapons caches in three

The UN has been dragged unwillingly into the war between Israel and Hamas after six of its schools were hit in two weeks and weapons caches found in three, violating the organisation's neutrality.

The attacks on UN schools sheltering people fleeing bombardment have reverberated around the world, with unusually strong condemnation from Washington, and UN demands for an international inquiry into "gross violations of international law". The most recent attack, on Sunday, was described by the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, as "a moral outrage and a criminal act".

Israel, however, has accused Hamas and other militant groups of firing rockets from positions close to UN premises, and the UN has made three separate discoveries of weapons caches in its schools. Each time the UN has denounced such use of its buildings as a "flagrant violation" of its neutrality.

On top of the shelling and rocket fire and the accompanying war of words, 11 UN workers have been killed in the four-week conflict, including at least five teachers and a school principal. The UN says 95 of its installations in Gaza have been damaged since the start of the conflict, in 135 strikes that include at least 10 direct hits.

It says its operations on the ground are at breaking point as it tries to accommodate and care for more than 260,000 people squeezed into the makeshift shelters. It has warned of a humanitarian disaster with a looming risk of disease spreading through the overcrowded schools.

"The UN is a humanitarian organisation, and can only operate as it does in battle zones because of our neutrality," said Chris Gunness, spokesman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. "We remain adamant about maintaining our neutrality, whichever side we are dealing with. The UN is helping disadvantaged and desperate civilians, and we are appalled to be treated like this. Most humanitarian organisations would have withdrawn long ago, but given the overwhelming humanitarian imperative, we will stay and fulfil our mandated work."

The first UN school was hit on 21 July. One child was injured when what the UN believes was Israeli "explosive ordnance" struck a girls' school in Magahzi in central Gaza, which was housing around 300 displaced people. The school was struck again the following day, killing a UN worker.

The three most deadly incidents were the shelling of a school in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza on 24 July; a school in Jabaliya on the edge of Gaza City on 30 July; and a school in Rafah, close to the Egyptian border in the south, on 3 August. Dozens of people were killed and hundreds injured in the three attacks.

Each time, according to the UN, precise coordinates of schools' location were given to the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) along with information that the schools were accommodating large numbers of displaced families.

UNRWA, which manages the premises, notified the IDF 12 times of the coordinates for the Beit Hanoun school, including four hours before it was struck. It told the IDF of the coordinates for the Jabaliya school 17 times, including at 9.50pm the night before it was hit at around 4.30am. Coordinates for the Rafah school were passed on 33 times before Sunday's attack.

UNRWA sent the details to Israel's co-ordination and liaison administration (CLA), which handles communication between the international community and the IDF. The CLA keeps a list of UN premises in Gaza, which are clearly identified with UN flags and blue markings. The CLA could not be reached for comment.

According to UN sources, examination of evidence at the three schools following the attacks indicated Israeli munitions had hit the buildings. In each case, the IDF said it was investigating to establish whether its forces were responsible. It said that Hamas or other militants had fired missiles from the vicinity of the first two schools. In the third case in Rafah, it said it had targeted three Islamic Jihad militants on a motorcycle near the school.

In a statement after Sunday's bombing, the US state department said: "The suspicion that militants are operating nearby does not justify strikes that put at risk the lives of so many innocent civilians."

UN property is designated as civilian under international law, and as such cannot be targeted for attack. It could, however, be defined as a military target if at the time in question it was making an effective contribution to the military action of a party, in this case Hamas. Even in those circumstances, civilian deaths cannot be disproportionate to any military advantage gained by the other party. In case of doubt, the property should be presumed to be civilian.

Israel's claims that Hamas uses UN premises to store weapons has been given substance by the discovery of arms caches at three UN schools on 16, 22 and 29 July. The UN says the schools had been closed up for the summer holidays, and condemned their appropriation by militants as "flagrant violations of international law". It said it immediately informed all relevant parties about the discoveries.

It categorically denies claims that it handed some weapons back to Hamas, saying its own internationally-trained weapons experts dealt with the munitions.

The UN's strained relationship with Israel is not new. In Operation Cast Lead, the three-week war in Gaza in 2008 and 2009, Israel accused UNRWA of transporting Hamas rockets in a UN ambulance, a charge it later retracted. After the war, Israel paid compensation for the destruction of an UNRWA warehouse.

Israel has regularly accused the UN of being overly sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. It refused to cooperate with a UN investigation, known as the Goldstone report, into Operation Cast Lead, which concluded that both Israel and Palestinian militants may have carried out war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Hamas has also attacked the UN, describing Ban as an accomplice in the "massacre" at the UN school on Sunday. "He is particularly so because of his silence towards the Israeli attacks while expressing sadness for the killing of Israeli troops," spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said.

Hamas has previously threatened UN staff in Gaza, and militants have firebombed mixed-gender summer camps hosted by UNRWA for Palestinian children. The former UNRWA chief in Gaza, John Ging, survived two assassination attempts.

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