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United Nations Condemns Israel Bombing of Palestinian School

Sarah Adams July 30, 2014 12:45 PM EST

Ultra-Orthodox Jews walk through Ramat Shlomo, a religious Jewish settlement in an area of the occupied West Bank Israel annexed to Jerusalem, March 17, 2010. (Photo: Reuters/Amir Cohen)

The United Nations is condemning Israel's military forces for its recent shelling of a Palestinian school that killed at least 15 people on Wednesday.

Israel military forces reportedly used artillery fire to strike the Jabalya Girls Elementary School, which was being used to house Palestinian citizens as a makeshift bomb shelter. The school, located in Jabalya, one of Palestine's largest refugee camps, was reportedly housing 3,000 Palestinians when it came under Israeli fire on Wednesday.

Pierre Krahenbuhl, chief of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, condemned Wednesday's attack, arguing that Palestinians felt safe in the building because it was a United Nations-designated school.

"I condemn in the strongest possible terms this serious violation of international law by Israeli forces," Krahenbuhl said in his statement.

"Children were killed in their sleep," he continued. "This is an affront to all of us, a source of universal shame."

Krahenbuhl added that the United Nations had previously warned Israel's military forces 17 times that there was a school housing thousands of civilians in Jabalya, reportedly providing the country with the school's coordinates a mere two hours before Wednesday's attack.

Israel has argued in the past that the Hamas group should carry the blame for the death of Palestinian civilians, as the Islamic organization often fires missiles or stores ammunition in residential areas or near schools and hospitals, therefore putting residents in danger.

Israel recently launched a new media campaign that accused Hamas of "sacrificing its people on the altar of its radical ideology," releasing photos of Hamas fighters coupled with quotes from Palestinian officials that show Hamas treats civilians as martyrs.

"The Palestinian blood that is spilled is precious, but the goals for which this blood is spilled are even more precious," reads one advertisement, quoting Khalil al-Hayya, the deputy chairman of the Palestinian Legislative Council.

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