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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
7/27/2014 5:11:51 PM

Ukraine launches offensive to retake Donetsk

Associated Press

Two military cargo planes, one Dutch and the other Australian, flew 38 coffins carrying victims to the Netherlands on Saturday for identification and investigation. (July 26)


DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian officials said their forces advanced to the outskirts of a key town north of Donetsk on Saturday as they try to retake the stronghold held for months by pro-Russia rebels.

The move comes as Ukrainian forces appear to have gained some momentum recently by retaking control of territory from the rebels. But Russia also appears to becoming more involved in the fighting, with the U.S. and Ukraine accusing Moscow of moving heavily artillery across the border to the rebels.

Ukrainian national security spokesman Andriy Lysenko said Ukrainian forces were outside Horlikva, just north of the regional center of Donetsk.

Once they can take Horlivka, "the direct route is open for the forces of the anti-terrorist operation to the capital of the Donbass region — the city of Donetsk," Lysenko said. "The approaches to Donetsk are being blocked so that the terrorists do not get the chance to receive ammunition, reinforcements or equipment."

Donetsk, a city of about 1 million people, is a major center of the separatist uprising that has battled Ukrainian government forces for five months.

An Associated Press reporter found the highway north of Donetsk blocked by rebels and heard the sound of artillery to the north. Explosions were heard in the direction of the town's airport, on the northwest edge of the city, an area frequently contested by Ukrainian forces and rebels. Black smoke rose from the direction of Yakovlikva, a northern suburb of Donetsk.

About 35 miles (60 kilometers) to the east, the site where Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down was still eerily empty except for the parents of one of the 298 people killed in the July 17 disaster. A full-fledged investigation still hasn't started because of the security risks posed by the nearby fighting.

But Jerzy Dyczynski and Angela Rudhart-Dyczynski, parents of 25-year-old Fatima, travelled from their home in Perth, Australia to honor their daughter. They crossed territory held by pro-Russian rebels to reach the wreckage-strewn fields outside the village of Hrabove, where they sat together on part of the debris, his arm around her shoulder.

Fatima "was for peace. She will be forever for peace," her father said.

U.S. and Ukrainian officials say the plane was shot down by a missile from rebel territory, most likely by mistake.

Two military cargo planes, one Dutch and the other Australian, also flew 38 more coffins carrying victims to the Netherlands for identification and investigation.

Later, the Dutch government said the first formal identification of a victim had taken place. The name and sex of the victim, a Dutch national, were not released.

The planes took off Saturday from Kharkiv, a government-controlled city where the bodies have been brought from the wreckage site in territory held by pro-Russian separatists fighting the Ukrainian government. They landed later in the afternoon in Eindhoven, where the coffins were transferred to a fleet of hearses in a solemn ceremony.

Officials said the flights took the last of the 227 coffins containing victims that had been brought to Kharkiv by refrigerated train. Officials say the exact number of people held in the coffins is still to be determined by forensic experts in the Netherlands, where Ukraine agreed to send the bodies. International observers have said there are still remains at the wreckage site. Access has been limited due to rebel interference and security concerns.

The disaster sparked hopes in the West that Russia would scale back its involvement in the uprising in Ukraine's east, but nine days later the opposite seems to be the case.

Russia launched artillery attacks from its soil into Ukraine on Friday, while the United States said it has seen powerful rocket systems moving closer to the Ukraine border.

Those accusations sparked a strong denial from Moscow, which accuses the U.S. of a smear campaign.

The Russian Foreign Ministry accused the United States on Saturday of conducting "an unrelenting campaign of slander against Russia, ever more relying on open lies."

The ministry took particular issue with comments Friday by White House spokesman Josh Earnest, who said Washington regards Moscow as involved in the shooting down of the airliner because it allegedly has supplied missile systems to the rebels and trained them on how to use them.

The ministry complained that these allegations have not been backed up with public evidence and it sneered at Earnest for saying they are supported by claims on social media.

"In other words, the Washington regime is basing its contentions on anti-Russian speculation gathered from the Internet that does not correspond to reality," it said.

Russia also lashed out at the latest round of Ukraine-related sanctions imposed by the European Union, saying they endanger the fight against international terrorism.

The EU sanctions, announced on Friday, impose travel bans and asset freezes on 15 people, including the head of Russia's Federal Security Service and the head of the agency's department overseeing international operations and intelligence. Four members of Russia's national security council are also on the list.

The Foreign Ministry said the sanctions show the EU is taking "a complete turn away from joint work with Russia on international and regional security, including the fight against the spread of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism (and) organized crime."

"We are sure the decisions will be greeted enthusiastically by international terrorists," the ministry said.

Meanwhile, CNN reported that a Ukrainian freelancer who had been detained by separatists was freed on Saturday. The journalist, Anton Skiba, was seized Tuesday in the rebel-controlled city of Donetsk when he and other members of a TV crew returned to a hotel after working at the site of the downed Malaysian airliner.

A day earlier, the anti-Kremlin newspaper Novaya Gazeta ran a full front-page photo of a cortege of hearses with the headline in Dutch and Russian saying: "Forgive us, Holland."

____

McHugh contributed from Kiev. Associated Press writers Jim Heintz in Moscow, Nicolas Gallariga in Hrabove, and Lucian Kim in Donetsk also contributed to this report.








Government forces advance to the outskirts of an area held for months by pro-Russia rebels.
Moscow moving heavy artillery




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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
7/27/2014 5:24:51 PM

Israeli Arabs caught in the middle of Gaza war

Associated Press

FILE - In this Friday, March 30, 2012, file photo, Arab Israeli protesters wave Palestinian flags as they gather to mark the annual Land Day event in the Arab Village of Dir Hana, northern Israel. With their loyalties divided and having a unique perspective of seeing both sides of the conflict, Israel’s Arab minority is caught in the middle of the Gaza war. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)

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TIRA, Israel (AP) — Facing the threat of rocket fire along with the rest of Israel, residents in this central Israeli Arab town have found themselves caught in the middle between Jewish neighbors and their fellow Palestinians who are dying in growing numbers in the Gaza Strip.

The people of Tira, a town of some 25,000 people known for their warm relations with nearby Jewish communities, have Jewish friends, speak Hebrew fluently and are largely integrated into Israeli society. But with relatives in Gaza and the West Bank, they also empathize with the Palestinians.

That internal strain becomes especially hard during times of violence, and tensions have risen since the latest round of fighting between Israel and Hamas militants began on July 8.

"The Jews look at us like Arabs and the Arabs look at us like Jews," said Ahmad Nasser, 21. "We are in the middle."

The markets in Tira are usually packed on the weekend with Israeli shoppers. But business has slowed down to a trickle in the weeks since the conflict began, perhaps because Israeli-Arab relations have soured or simply because no one feels like going out in such times, said Mohammed Abdulchai, 52. He said the war has been bad for business, with the fear of rockets shared by everyone.

"The rocket doesn't know if you are a Jew or an Arab," he said.

Arab towns are just as vulnerable as those of Jews, perhaps even more so because they have less means of protection. Of the three civilians killed by rocket fire since the war began, one has been a Jew, one has been an Arab and one has been a Thai worker.

Arabs make up about 20 percent of Israel's 8 million residents and, unlike their Palestinian brethren in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, hold citizenship rights. But they often complain of being treated as second-class citizens. Most don't serve in the military, which is mandatory for Jews, and many Jews consider them disloyal for sympathizing with the country's enemies.

The fighting in Gaza has brought the tensions out in the open. Israelis have been outraged by some Israeli Arabs staging pro-Palestinian protests in which they have thrown rocks and blocked streets. Arabs say they have encountered increasing racism and violence from hawkish Israelis as well as calls for Arab businesses to be boycotted and for those who have posted support for Gaza on Facebook to be fired.

More than 1,000 Palestinians, mainly civilians, have been killed and more than 6,000 wounded over the past 19 days, Palestinian health official Ashraf al-Kidra said. Israeli strikes have destroyed hundreds of homes and forced tens of thousands of people to flee, according to Palestinian rights groups.

Israel says it started the military operation and sent ground forces into Gaza to stop the relentless rocket fire and to destroy a sophisticated network of Hamas tunnels that could be used to infiltrate into Israel.

It says it is doing its utmost to prevent civilian casualties, including by sending evacuation warnings to residents in targeted areas, and blames Hamas for putting civilians in harm's way. Israel has lost 43 soldiers. Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system has kept the number of casualties from rocket fire low, but air raid sirens are a constant reminder of the threat to Israeli communities.

"What's happening in Gaza is just pushing us apart and adding fuel to the fire," said Ahmad Daas, a 27-year-old from Tira. "We don't want to ruin our good relations with Jews, but on the other hand, emotionally, we are Arabs. It's only human that we hurt when we see the images from Gaza of people getting killed ... war is not the solution."

He and a group of friends were watching coverage of the fighting on Al-Jazeera, they said, to get a better sense of the carnage in Gaza than they would on Israeli TV.

Mohammed Hamed Abed said he worries both about the safety of an Israeli friend called up to the reserves and Palestinians living in Gaza. He feels a part of Israel and equally targeted by the rocket fire from Gaza. But the 27-year-old said that unlike some Arabs who identified more closely with the Israeli position, he couldn't accept the alarmingly high number of children being killed and placed the blame on Israel.

"At the end of the day we are Arabs and we are sensitive to this. Those are our brothers in Gaza," he said. "If they are firing rockets from there it is self-defense."

Jafar Farah, director of Mossawa, the advocacy center for Arab citizens in Israel, said Israeli Arabs had a particularly hard time because they could see the suffering and growing extremism on both sides.

"What the army is doing in Gaza is just creating more enemies," he said. "Our identification is not with Hamas, it is with the Palestinian people."

He said Israelis and Palestinians had to learn to live together and that after all the killing was over they would still come back to the only real formula that could work: an end to occupation and two states living side by side in peace and prosperity.

"I don't want my Jewish neighbors to live in fear, in sadness and in war," he said. "I don't want Hamas to fire rockets and I don't want to see people killed in Gaza."

"We are the normal ones here and our message is just stop all of this," he said.


Israeli Arabs caught in the middle of Gaza war


They have Jewish friends, Muslim relatives in Gaza, and an especially hard time reckoning with the violence.
'We are the normal ones'

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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
7/27/2014 11:20:37 PM

Fighting intensifies near MH17 disaster site

Associated Press

Ukrainian Ministry Emergency officer, left, Donetsk People's Republic fighter, 2nd left, and members of the OSCE mission in Ukraine examine a map as they discuss the situation around the site of the crashed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in the city of Donetsk, eastern Ukraine Sunday, July 27, 2014. A team of international police officers that had been due to visit the site of the Malaysian plane disaster in eastern Ukraine cancelled the trip Sunday after receiving reports of fighting in the area. Alexander Hug, the deputy head of a monitoring team from the OSCE in Europe, said it would be too dangerous for the unarmed mission to travel to the site from its current location in the rebel-held city of Donetsk. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)

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DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian armed forces mounted a major onslaught against pro-Russian separatist fighters Sunday in an attempt to gain control over the area where a Malaysia Airlines plane was downed earlier this month.

Reports of the intensifying unrest prompted a postponement of a trip to the site by a team of Dutch and Australian police officers who had planned to started searching for evidence and the remaining bodies.

In the Netherlands, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said his government has rejected the idea of deploying armed troops to secure the crash site because there is no way they could achieve "military superiority" in a region where heavily armed pro-Russian rebels are battling Ukrainian government forces.

"The option we looked at was a military option in which you could secure the area so you can work in a stable environment," Rutte said. But "that the option would be such a provocation to the separatists that it could destabilize the situation."

The U.S. State Department released satellite images that it says back up its claims that rockets have been fired from Russia into eastern Ukraine and heavy artillery for separatists has also crossed the border.

A four-page document released by the State Department seems to show blast marks from where rockets were launched and craters where they landed. Officials said the images, sourced from the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, show heavy weapons fired between July 21 and July 26 — after the July 17 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.

Ukraine's National Security Council said Sunday that government troops have encircled Horlivka, a key rebel stronghold, and that there had been fighting in other cities in the east. Horlivka lies around 20 miles (30 kilometers) north of the main rebel-held city of Donetsk.

The armed forces "have increased assaults on territory held by pro-Russian mercenaries, destroyed checkpoints and positions and moved very close to Horlivka," the council said in a statement.

A representative of the separatist military command in Donetsk confirmed that there had been fighting in Horlivka, but said that rebel fighters were holding their positions.

Elsewhere, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported Sunday that a column of Ukrainian armored personnel carriers, trucks and tanks had entered the town of Shakhtarsk, 10 miles (15 kilometers) west of the site of the Boeing 777 crash.

Shakhtarsk is a strategic town in the area. By controlling the town, the Ukrainian army would cut off vital rebel supply lines.

Local media reported fighting also taking place in the towns of Snizhne and Torez, the two nearest mid-sized towns to the crash site.

The government accused rebel forces of firing rockets Sunday on residential apartment blocks in Horlivka in what they said was an attempt to discredit the army and whip up anti-government sentiment. The separatist self-declared "Donetsk People's Republic" has accused the army of being responsible for that and other rocket attacks in nearby cities.

The Donetsk regional government — which is loyal to Kiev and based elsewhere since rebels took over the area — said Sunday in a statement that at least 13 people, including two children aged 1 and 5, were killed in fighting in Horlivka. It said another five people were killed as a result of clashes in a suburb north of Donetsk.

New York-based Human Rights Watch last week condemned what it said was the Ukrainian government forces' practice of using unguided rockets in populated urban areas. It said that use of the rockets was a violation of international humanitarian law that "may amount to war crimes."

Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 was shot down with a surface-to-air missile over a part of eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatists on July 17, killing all 298 people on board. U.S. and Ukrainian officials say it was shot down by a missile from rebel territory, most likely by mistake.

Ten days after the disaster, a full-fledged investigation still has not begun at the crash site, with some bodies still unrecovered and the site forensically compromised. Concerns about the integrity of the site were raised further when a couple that had flown from their home in Perth, Australia, visited the site Saturday outside the village of Hrabove and even sat on part of the plane's wreckage.

It remained unclear when the forensic experts from the Netherlands and Australia would be able to begin their work at the site.

Alexander Hug, the deputy head of a monitoring team from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said it was too dangerous for the unarmed officers to travel there from their current location in Donetsk.

"We reassess the situation continuously and we will start to redeploy tomorrow morning back to the site if the situation changes," Hug said.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott had said earlier Sunday that unarmed Australian police would be part of the Dutch-led police force to secure the area and help recover victims' remains.

Abbott said that by using unarmed police, Ukraine's parliament won't need to ratify the deployment as it would if the security force were to be armed.

"This is a risky mission. There's no doubt about that," Abbott told reporters. "But all the professional advice that I have is that the safest way to conduct it is unarmed, as part of a police-led humanitarian mission," he said.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said in a statement that his country would send dozens of police and that his country had received assurances from pro-Russia separatists that they would provide protection for investigators.

Flights from Ukraine to the Netherlands have taken 227 coffins containing victims of the plane disaster. Officials say the exact number of people held in the coffins still needs to be determined by forensic experts in the Netherlands.

The Malaysia Airlines disaster prompted some expectations in the West that Russia would scale back its involvement in the uprising in Ukraine's east, but the opposite seems to be the case.

In addition to producing evidence that rockets have been fired into Ukraine from Russia, the U.S. has said it has seen powerful rocket systems moving closer to the border.

In Warsaw, about 250 people marched through the city to protest what they called the "terror" imposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine. Some of the demonstrators carried Ukrainian flags, and there were banners that proclaimed "Putin is a Sponsor of Terror" and "Europe, Stop Just Talking. Start Taking Action! Stop Terror in Ukraine."

_________________

Leonard reported from Kiev; Associated Press writers Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow, Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, and Vanessa Gera in Warsaw contributed to this report.





Ukrainian forces mount an onslaught against separatists in an attempt to gain control over the disaster area.
Forensic experts wait



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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
7/27/2014 11:33:30 PM

Gaza war rages despite Hamas, Israel truce pledges

Associated Press

Thousands of people gathered in Tel Aviv for a peace rally on Saturday evening, calling for an end to Israel's military campaign in Gaza. (July 26)


GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel and Hamas launched new attacks Sunday in the raging Gaza war, despite going back and forth over proposals for a temporary halt to nearly three weeks of fighting ahead of a major Muslim holiday.

The failure to reach even a brief humanitarian lull in the fighting illustrated the difficulties in securing a more permanent truce as the sides remain far apart on their terms.

After initially rejecting an Israeli offer Saturday for a 24-hour truce, Hamas said Sunday that it had agreed to hold fire ahead of the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. But as Israel's Cabinet met to discuss the offer and the ongoing war, rockets rained down on southern Israel and Israeli strikes could be heard in Gaza.

Each side blamed the other for scuttling the efforts.

Hamas said that "due to the lack of commitment" by Israel, it resumed its fire. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Hamas showed it could not be trusted after it violated other cease-fire efforts.

"Israel is not obliged and is not going to let a terrorist organization decide when it's convenient to fire at our cities, at our people, and when it's not," Netanyahu said in satellite interviews from Israel carried on U.S. network Sunday news programs.

In a phone call later Sunday, President Barack Obama told Netanyahu the United States is growing more concerned about the rising Palestinian death toll and the worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza. The White House said Obama reiterated that Israel has a right to defend itself and condemned Hamas rocket attacks that have killed Israelis, but pushed for an immediate cease-fire.

International diplomats had hoped a temporary lull could be expanded into a more sustainable truce to end the bloodshed and U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon urged the sides on Sunday to accept a 24-hour break in fighting.

However, both sides were holding out for bigger gains in the Gaza war.

Hamas wants to break the seven-year blockade of Gaza and believes the only way to force serious negotiations on ending the closure is to keep fighting. Israel, which launched the war on July 8 to halt relentless Hamas rocket fire on its cities, wants more time to destroy Hamas' rocket arsenal and the military tunnels the Islamic militants use to infiltrate into Israel and smuggle weapons.

The 20-day war has killed more than 1,030 Palestinians, mainly civilians, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Israel has lost 43 soldiers, as well as two Israeli civilians and a Thai worker killed by rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza, the Israeli military said.

Following Hamas' call for a break in fighting, an Israeli airstrike killed one person in Gaza when it hit a vehicle carrying municipal workers on their way to fix water pipes, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.

Police said Israeli tanks fired shells on densely populated areas south of Gaza City. One shell hit an apartment building and several shells struck a building. Navy boats also resumed firing on Gaza's coast, police said. The Israeli military said it hit some 40 sites throughout Sunday.

In southern Israel, one person was injured and a house was damaged by a rocket launched from Gaza, Israeli police said. The Israeli military said more than 50 rockets were fired Sunday.

Ahead of the three-day Eid al-Fitr holiday, which begins Monday, families in Gaza ordinarily would be busy with preparations, with children getting new clothes, shoes and haircuts, and families visiting each other.

But business was slow in the outdoor market of the Jebaliya refugee camp, where vendors set up stands with clothes and shoes. Hamed Abul Atta, 22, a shoe salesman, said he hadn't made a single sale in the first three hours after opening.

Abul Atta said he and his family were staying with relatives after fleeing the Shijaiyah district of Gaza City, which has seen heavy fighting. He said a cousin and three other relatives were among dozens of people killed there last week.

"We can't feel any joy right now," he said when asked if he would mark the holiday.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military acknowledged firing a mortar shell that hit the courtyard of a U.N. school in Gaza last week, but said the yard was empty at the time and that the shell could not have killed anyone.

Palestinian officials have said three Israeli tank shells hit the school in the town of Beit Hanoun on Thursday, killing 16 people and wounding scores. The school served as a shelter for Palestinians displaced by the Gaza fighting. At the time of the incident, witnesses said they were being urged to evacuate because of nearby clashes.

Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli army spokesman, said Sunday that a military probe shows that "a single errant mortar landed," but that it is "extremely unlikely that anybody was killed as a result of this mortar."

Thirty seconds of footage released by the military showed what it said was the empty courtyard and a blast, apparently from the mortar. It was impossible to determine exactly when the footage was filmed.

Israel said it had warned people to leave the area for days ahead of time. The U.N. said it had been trying to achieve a humanitarian pause in the fighting to allow the evacuation of civilians from the area.

Photos from the scene shortly afterward showed bloodstains and people's belongings strewn about.

Despite the high death toll, the Israeli military says it is doing its utmost to prevent civilian casualties, including by sending evacuation warnings to residents in targeted areas, and blames Hamas for putting civilians in harm's way.

More than 160,000 displaced Palestinians have sought shelter at dozens of U.N. schools, an eight-fold increase since the start of Israel's ground operation more than a week ago, the U.N. said.

Hamas and other militants in Gaza have fired more than 2,400 rockets at Israel since hostilities began on July 8, many deep into the Israeli heartland and toward most of the country's major cities.

Israeli airstrikes have destroyed hundreds of homes, including close to 500 in direct hits, according to Palestinian rights groups. Entire Gaza neighborhoods near the border have been reduced to rubble.

A 12-hour lull Saturday — agreed to by both sides following intense U.S. and United Nations mediation efforts — saw Palestinians return to neighborhoods reduced to rubble and allowed medics to collect close to 120 bodies, Palestinian health official Ashraf al-Kidra said.

___

Goldenberg reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Aron Heller and Yousur Alhlou in Jerusalem and Karin Laub in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, contributed to this report.








The Islamic militant group fires a barrage of rockets hours after agreeing to a humanitarian cease-fire.
Muslim holiday ahead



"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
7/28/2014 10:04:36 AM
'Errant' mortal shell fired

Israel acknowledges mortar shell hit UN school

Associated Press

FILE - In this Thursday, July 24, 2014, file photo, blood and and discarded belongings are left behind at a U.N. school in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip. Israeli tank shells hit the compound, killing more than a dozen people and wounding dozens more who were seeking shelter from fierce clashes on the streets outside, Palestinian officials said, as Israel pressed forward with its 17-day war against the territory's Hamas rulers. (AP Photo/Adel Hana, File)


JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel acknowledged Sunday that troops fired a mortar shell that hit the courtyard of a U.N. school in Gaza last week, but said aerial footage shows the yard was empty at the time and that the shell could not have killed anyone.

The shell was not fired at the school intentionally, an army spokesman said.

Palestinian officials have said three Israeli tank shells hit the school in the town of Beit Hanoun last Thursday, killing 16 people and wounding dozens. It was one of the single deadliest incidents during three weeks of Israel-Hamas fighting.

The school was one of dozens used to house tens of thousands of Palestinians displaced by heavy fighting, especially in areas of Gaza bordering Israel.

The U.N. aid agency that operates the schools called for a full investigation.

"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, a spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, said Sunday.

Gunness noted that when the U.N. agency attempted to conduct its own investigation, "the mission was aborted after a firing incident at the school." He did not say who he believed was responsible for that fire.

He said the school had been clearly marked as a U.N. shelter, and that the Israeli military was aware of its location. On Thursday, the U.N. made numerous phone calls to the army to request a pause for the evacuation of civilians, but that the request was not granted.

Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli army spokesman, said Sunday that a military probe shows that "a single errant mortar landed in the courtyard."

It is "extremely unlikely that anybody was killed as a result of this mortar," he said. Lerner pointed to aerial footage released Sunday that he said showed the courtyard was empty at the time the mortar was fired.

AP photos from the scene shortly after the incident showed large spots of blood on the edges of the courtyard and people's belongings strewn about.

By the time the photographer arrived at the school, the wounded had already been taken to the hospital. At the hospital they told an AP reporter that they had been wounded at the U.N. school.

Lerner raised the possibility that shrapnel from the shell might have wounded some at the school. He also offered other scenarios — that the wounded were "brought to the compound after injury" or were caught in a crossfire between Israeli troops and Gaza militants.

Saed al-Saoudi, the commander of the Civil Defense in Gaza, said Sunday that "all the testimonies of the wounded, witnesses, paramedics and doctors confirm that the Israeli shells are the cause of this massacre."






Israel says the weapon was not fired at the school intentionally and could not have killed anyone.
What aerial footage showed



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