Israel, Palestinians trade blame for deadly strikes on Gaza hospital and park

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Palestinian medics say a strike on a Gaza park killed 10 people Monday, nine of them children, as a three-week-old conflict in the territory continued on the first day of a major Muslim holiday.

Israeli and Palestinian officials are blaming each other for that attack and a separate one at a nearby hospital outpatient clinic.

Initially, the Israeli military said rockets misfired by Palestinian militants hit the park and Gaza City's main al-Shifa Hospital. The military later described what happened as a mortar attack.

Palestinian health official Ayman Sahabani said 46 people were wounded in the strikes. He said the children who were among the dead were playing on a swing in the Shati refugee camp on the edge of Gaza City,

The strike at the park occurred a few minutes after the clinic was hit, leaving several people wounded. Camera crews were prevented from filming the area of impact at al-Shifa.

Gaza's police operations room, Civil Defence and Sahabani said the deaths and injuries were caused by Israeli airstrikes.

Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli army spokesman, denied Israel was involved. "This incident was carried out by Gaza terrorists whose rockets fell short and hit al-Shifa Hospital and the Beach (Shati) camp," he said.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/gaza-conflict-israel-says-palestinian-rocket-misfire-hit-al-shifa-hospital-1.2719818?cmp=rss...

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Israel admits mortar shell hit U.N. school


Israel acknowledged Sunday that its military fired a mortar shell into the courtyard of a U.N. school in Gaza but says its attack wasn't responsible for the 16 deaths at the school.

Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli army spokesman, said Sunday that a military probe shows that "a single errant mortar landed in the courtyard." He said the shell was not fired intentionally.

Palestinians contend three Israeli tank shells struck the U.N. school in Beit Hanoun in Gaza last Thursday, killing 16 people and wounding dozens.
The school was being used as a refuge for Palestinians forced from their homes by deadly fighting between Hamas militants and the Israeli military.
STORY: Gaza war rages despite truce pledges (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/07/27/gaza-hamas-israel-palestinians/13234561/)

U.N. officials called for an investigation, saying their own efforts were cut short by incoming fire.

"It is important in a case like this where a U.N. school in which hundreds of people took refuge is hit in this way, that there should be full transparency and accountability," Chris Gunness of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, told Associated Press.

Gunness, spokesman for the agency, said the school was clearly marked as a U.N. shelter, and that the Israeli military was aware of its location. He said U.N. officials made telephoned the Israeli army requesting a pause for the evacuation of civilians.

However, Lerner, the Israeli army spokesman, said it is "extremely unlikely that anybody was killed as a result of this mortar." He said aerial images released Sunday showed the courtyard was empty at the time the mortar was fired.

AP said by the time its photographer arrived at the school, the wounded had been evacuated. Its photos showed blood on the edges of the courtyard and belongings strewn about.

Lerner said it was possible shell fragments may have injured some but suggested that wounded people were brought to the school after being injured.
Saed al-Saoudi, the commander of the Civil Defense in Gaza, said "all the testimonies of the wounded, witnesses, paramedics and doctors confirm that the Israeli shells are the cause of this massacre."...

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