Inquiry after Israelis shell civilian shelter

More details have emerged of the UN humanitarian report released today which claims that Israeli forces killed 30 Palestinian civilians when they shelled a house where they had only recently ordered the people to take shelter. The attack is described as "one of the gravest incidents since the beginning of operations" in the report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The incident happened in Zeitoun, a southern suburb of Gaza City. A total of 110 people, half of them children, had been evacuated from their homes and shepherded into the house on January 3. Only 24 hours later it came under fire from Israeli tanks. Approximately 30 died, half of them believed to be children.

Allegra Pacheco, of OCHA in Jerusalem, said they were not accusing the Israelis of a deliberate act, but said the incident needed to be investigated.

A spokesman for the IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) said today the army was conducting an investigation and looking into further reports that Israeli gunmen have opened fire on unarmed civilians during the campaign in Gaza and refused to give medical assistant to wounded civilians.

The UN Human Rights Council is to hold a special session today to examine a motion put forward by Egypt, Pakistan and Cuba seeking condemnation of the Israeli offensive in Gaza and of "grave" human rights violations. The motion calls on Israel to bring an immediate end to the conflict and to stop targeting civilians.

FIRST POSTED JANUARY 9, 2009