Witnesses: Hamas fired from Jebalya school

The unmaking of history. Here is some more about the "massacre" of "40" (or "42") people in the UNRWA school in Jebalya (see Gaza: History in the remaking). IDF fired on the school because it was a source of fire, where two named terrorists had gathered human shields around themselves. The UN insists that nobody fired from the school, but Palestinian witnesses verfy Hamas fired from school:

Two residents of the area near UN school that was shelled by the IDF on Tuesday said that they had seen a small group of terrorists firing mortar rounds from a street close to the school. The two spoke with The Associated Press by telephone on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.

Meanwhile, a UNRWA official denounced on Wednesday the shelling of the UN school, and demanded that an independent investigation be launched to determine the facts of the incident.

Christopher Gunness of the UN Relief and Works Agency, responsible for the school, said the agency was "99.9 percent certain there were no militants or military activity in its school."

Gunness said 1,300 people were taking shelter from the shelling at the school.

At least 30 Palestinians were killed and over 50 wounded in the IDF attack on a Hamas rocket squad based in the UN school, military sources said.

Dr. Bassam Abu Warda, director of Kamal Radwan Hospital, said 34 people were killed by a strike outside the school. The UN confirmed that 30 were killed and 55 were wounded by tank shells.

The school grounds were being used by terrorists to fire mortar shells at troops stationed nearby, and the soldiers responded by firing mortars back, the army said. According to the IDF, the dead included members of the Hamas
rocket cell, including senior operatives Imad Abu Askhar and Hassan Abu Askhar.

Defense officials told The Associated Press that booby-trapped bombs in the school had triggered secondary explosions that killed additional Palestinians there.

The army noted that Tuesday was not the first time Hamas had attacked Israel from within a school. The IDF released a video taken by an unmanned aerial vehicle in late 2007 showing terrorists firing mortars from right outside a school.

"Hamas has in the past fired at Israel and at troops from inside schools, [exploiting] civilians, as is proven by UAV footage," the army said.