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Israel’s military has carried out air strikes in Gaza even as it begins redeploying ground troops along its border with the Gaza Strip.
Yesterday’s attacks came despite signals from the Israeli government that it would reassess its operations amid reports of tanks and other vehicles leaving the war-scarred Palestinian territory.
Gaza’s Health Ministry officials said nine Palestinians were killed in one of the air raids while another 10 died, witnesses said, in an attack on a UNRWA school in Rafah. It was the second strike on a UN shelter in less than a week. Israeli military officials said they were aware of the reports of the attack on the school and were looking into them.
Chris Gunness, the UNRWA spokesman, confirmed that there was a shelling incident in the vicinity of the UNRWA school at about 10.50am local time.
“We can confirm, tragically again, multiple deaths, multiple injuries,” he said.
“It’s an appallingly unacceptable situation. We are an unarmed organisation.”
Gunness said he would not speculate on whether the shelling was from Israel until an investigation was held, adding that Israeli authorities had been supplied with the precise coordinates of the school’s location and were aware that it was being used as a shelter.
The previous night, in a televised address Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, suggested Israeli troops would reassess the 27-day operation after completing the demolition of Hamas military tunnels under the border.
But Hamas would pay an “intolerable price” should there be more attacks, he said.
Israeli security officials have said the tunnel-demolition mission is winding down but as of yesterday, Israel was still carrying out air strikes in southern Gaza.
Al Jazeera’s Imtiaz Tyab, reporting from Beit Lahiya, said the Israeli ground presence “seems to be easing off to a large degree but what we are seeing a lot of is air strikes”.
“I have heard consistent sound of artillery shelling in Beit Lahiya, not far from Gaza City,” he said.
“So it would appear that although Israel publicly said it will start scaling back the ground operation, it is clearly continuing. There’s a lot of devastation in several areas, there have been attacks, in Rafah and Jabaliya, but there seems to be some kind of shift in Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip.”
Al Jazeera’s James Bays, reporting from West Jerusalem, said it did appear that Israel was “winding up some of its operations and pulling troops out of Gaza”.
But he said Israel’s stance in ignoring ceasefire negotiations with Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general, and John Kerry, the US secretary of state, indicated that it was only willing to proceed “on its own terms” and at “a time of its own choosing.” “They’ve decided to do it on their own,” he said.
“The problem with that is that those that have been mediating on both sides have made it clear they also want to deal with the substantial problems behind this, including [lifting the blockade] on Gaza. It’s not acceptable that this situation occurs every 18 months or so but it’s clear that Israel wants to deal with this on its own terms.”
Earlier yesterday, the Israeli army said that it had determined that Hadar Goldin, the 23-year-old soldier it said was captured by Hamas yesterday, was killed in action.
The army had previously said that Goldin went missing when its soldiers, two of whom were killed, were attacked while trying to destroy a Hamas tunnel in southern Gaza.
In a statement, the army said Goldin “was killed in battle in the Gaza Strip on Friday”.
There were reports that the military had come to the conclusion after examining DNA evidence.
Meanwhile, thousands of people took to the streets in several cities across France on Saturday to protest Israel’s deadly offensive in the Gaza Strip. “Israel murderer, Hollande partner in crime,” shouted demonstrators at a rally in Paris, while others gathered in several cities throughout the country, including Marseille, Lyon and Lille, to voice their support for the Palestinians.
“We are here to declare our total support for the Palestinian resistance and denounce this shameful government [of French President Francois Hollande] for backing the Israeli line,” Omar Alsoumi of the Palestinian Youth Movement told the crowds in Paris.
There have been weeks of pro-Palestinian protests in Paris, some marred by clashes, arrests and allegations of anti-Semitism in which synagogues were targeted and Israeli flags burnt.
Saturday’s demonstrations come as the death toll in Gaza rose to more than 1 660 after a failed humanitarian truce.
The conflict has stirred up huge passions in France – home to the largest Muslim and Jewish communities in western Europe with around five million Muslims and half a million Jews. – AFP
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