UNITED NATIONS: An official of a United Nations agency broke down in tears when Al Jazeera television interviewed him about the killing of 16 people in the shelling of a UN school in Gaza by Israel on Wednesday.

“The rights of Palestinians, even their children, are wholesale denied and it’s appalling,” Chris Gunness, who represents the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Gaza Strip, said in a voice choked with emotion, before burying his face in his hands and sobbing uncontrollably.

In another incident, 17 Palestinians were killed by Israeli shelling near a produce market.

The UN agency has declared a state of emergency and launched an appeal for funding.

UN Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon was incensed at the attack on the school. The institution’s UN administrator was hit by Israeli artillery, according to some accounts.

“It is outrageous. It is unjustifiable. And it demands accountability and justice,” Ban said.

On the other hand, Israel came up with a hackneyed explanation, saying its forces were attacked by guerillas near the school, in northern Jabalya, and had fired back.

“Such a massacre requires an earthquake-like response,” said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum, whose group has kept up dozens of daily rocket launches deep into Israel.

DESTRUCTION OF TUNNELS : Israel pressed ahead with its offensive on Thursday, claiming it was days from achieving its goal of destroying all cross-border tunnels, but a soaring Palestinian civilian toll triggered international alarm.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet on Wednesday approved continuing the assault launched on July 8. But Israel also sent a delegation to Egypt, which has been trying, with Washington’s blessing, to broker a ceasefire.

Gaza officials say at least 1,361 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have now been killed in the battered enclave. Israel has lost 56 soldiers and three civilians.

The Israelis have kept casualties from the salvoes low with nine Iron Dome interceptor batteries and air-raid sirens that send people to shelters.

Rolling Israeli ground assaults on residential areas, prefaced by mass-warnings to evacuate, have displaced more than 200,000 of Gaza’s 1.8 million Palestinians. The tiny territory’s infrastructure is in ruin, with power and water outages.

Both sides have voiced openness to a truce, but their terms diverge dramatically. Israel wants Gaza stripped of tunnels and rocket stocks. Hamas rules that out, and seeks an end to a crippling Gaza blockade enforced by Israel and Egypt, which view Hamas as a security threat.

The negotiations are further complicated by the fact Israel and the United States shun Hamas as a terrorist group, while the go-betweens — Egypt, Qatar and Turkey — disagree on Gaza policy.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2014