Israel again attacks UN shelter at school in Gaza; UN told Israel shelter's position 17 times

Media reports and statements from the United Nations say that Israel has attacked a designated civilian shelter for the second time since its invasion of the Gaza Strip.

A United Nations statement about the matter begins with the haunting sentences, "Last night, children were killed as they slept next to their parents on the floor of a classroom in a UN designated shelter in Gaza. Children killed in their sleep; this is an affront to all of us, a source of universal shame. Today the world stands disgraced." 

The statement goes on to say that the school was one of the few designated sheltering places in the Gaza Strip. The facility was housing 3,300 people.

The New York Times reports that at least 20 people have been confirmed dead in the incident.

After the attack took place UN investigators arrived on the scene to take photographs and collect evidence to try and determine the source of the explosion.

The UN said that the investigation determined Israeli forces fired the explosive round despite the UN having provided the exact GPS coordinates of its shelters to the Israeli Defense Forces.

The UN says that they communicated the information to the I.D.F at least 17 times.

The UN also claims the last time they communicated that crucial information was ten minutes before 9 p.m. local time the previous night. The attack is said to have taken place at 5 a.m. local time.

The school was the Jabalia Elementary Girls School.

Israel has argued that Hamas uses UN schools to store rockets. While this is true, reports have said that the schools where Hamas rockets were discovered were empty and not being used as UN shelters, although they were UN built and operated schools.

Israel used this excuse about rockets to justify a previous attack on a different UN school. That attack killed 16 people as they tried to protect themselves from aerial and naval bombardment by Israeli forces.