GAZAN officials said today that at least 15 people were killed when Israeli tank shells hit a compound housing a UN school in the northern Gaza Strip.

Health official Ashraf al-Kidra said the dead were among hundreds of people seeking shelter from heavy fighting in the area. 

Reports said that between 150 and 300 people were also injured in the attack.

The Palestinian Red Crescent confirmed the tank attack at the school in the northern town of Beit Hanoun.

It was the fourth time that a UN facility had been hit in the Israeli assault on Gaza.

A UN official confirming “multiple dead and injured.”

The school was being used by the UN humanitarian organisation in Gaza, UNWRA

UNWRA spokesman Chris Gunness said that the Israelis definitely knew the school was being used as a refuge for civilians and confirmed that the precise GPS co-ordinates of the building had been communicated to the Israeli army.

And UNRWA director Robert Turner said there had been no warning from the Israelis before the shells landed. 

He confirmed that UNRWA had been in contact with Israeli forces about opportunities to evacuate the school before the attack happened.

“This is a designated emergency shelter,” he said. “The location was conveyed to the Israelis.

“This is the fourth strike on our installations in three days.”

Israel has attacked UN schools before, claiming that they were safe havens for armed Palestinians.

But Mr Turner said he had no information that there was military activity around the school.

“This was an installation we were managing, that was monitored to ensure that our neutrality was maintained.

“We always call on all parties to ensure that civilians are not harmed.”

A witness at the Kamal Adwan hospital said after the attack: “We were sitting in the school because we were told it was safe.

“By God, there was not a single fighter, not a single shot was fired from the school. Why did they shoot at the school? Why? Can someone explain that to me? Why would they shell the school?”