Updated Aug. 3, 2014 7:32 a.m. ET
Palestinians carry an injured man following an Israeli military strike on a U.N. school in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Sunday. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
GAZA CITY—A United Nations shelter for displaced Gazans was hit by a deadly assault Sunday, the third such strike on buildings housing people fleeing the monthlong war between Israel and Hamas.
The Gaza Health Ministry said 10 people died and dozens were injured after the strike on the school in the southern border town of Rafah. Ashraf Al Kidra, a spokesman for the ministry, said the injured had been transferred to local hospitals but it was "beyond their capabilities to treat them."
The U.N. Relief and Works Agency, or Unrwa, confirmed the shelling of the school and said 260,000 of Gaza's 1.8 million residents were now living in its shelters. A spokesperson for the Israeli forces said the military was looking into the reports of the incident.
Israel continued airstrikes across the Gaza Strip Friday and early Saturday, after a cease-fire that went into effect Friday morning fell apart. Israel targeted Gaza's Islamic University, which it says housed a weapons manufacturing research center. Photo: Getty
As eruptions of violence shake the Gaza Strip, Syria and Iraq, how has the U.S.'s position changed, and what might the next years look like? WSJ's Matt Bradley joins Paul Vigna on the News Hub. Photo: Getty Images.
The alleged strike would be the third to hit a U.N. school sheltering displaced people. It pushed the death toll in Gaza from the 27-day conflict to 1,766 by Sunday afternoon, according to the ministry. Israel has said 64 of its soldiers have died in the Gaza fighting, along with three civilians killed by rocket fire into Israel.
The last assault on a U.N. base occurred on July 30 in the town of Jabalia where 15 people were killed, according to the ministry. The U.N. blamed Israel for that attack.
Hani Gunaim, a teacher who reached the U.N. school shortly after hearing the explosion on Sunday, said the target appeared to be two men riding a motorbike in front of the school.
The men were killed along with seven or eight people in a classroom, he said. "I saw only pieces of bodies when I got inside, there were no entire bodies left," he said.
Mr. Gunaim said Israelis had been hitting Rafah since about 10 a.m. Sunday morning, forcing most residents indoors. "They are bombing everywhere now," he said. "In the west, the middle, everywhere in Rafah."
Meanwhile, attacks continued around the northern town of Beit Lahiyeh after the Israeli military announced yesterday that it was safe for residents to return. Two reporters heard explosions throughout the area where the streets had emptied again.
"I took a risk to come back and wanted to come check my home," said Salah Al Masri, who had returned. "People are right not to trust the Israeli instructions."
Some there said they never left the town. Abu Raed Al Najar, a resident, said he plans to stay until a cease-fire is reached. "We've gotten used to it, this is our fourth war," he said. When attacks resume, he said, the 20 people of his extended family gather to the safest part of the home and clap when they hear explosions to pass the time.
The recent assaults came as Israel began a broader plan to redeploy its forces and removed some of its soldiers from Gaza. The government is now considering how next to approach the conflict with Hamas, the Islamist group that governs the territory.
Israel has said it has destroyed the majority of Hamas tunnels used to launch attacks into the country, and crippled the Islamist organization's rocket capabilities.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that the military, after plugging up the tunnels, "will prepare for continuing action according to our security needs."
"We promised to return quiet to Israel and that is what we will do," Mr. Netanyahu said in a televised speech. "We will continue to act until that goal is reached, however long it will take and with as much force as needed."
Officials in Mr. Netanyahu's government have voiced conflicting views on how now to confront Hamas. Some are pushing for an all-out offensive to knock out the group's leadership, while others favor ending the offensive, keeping Gaza's border tightly restricted and mobilizing international pressure on Hamas to disarm.
A former Israeli security official who is close to the military said army units scattered across Gaza would finish destroying the tunnels, and then redeploy to border areas while Mr. Netanyahu and his security advisers deliberate their next move.
"They have three days to make a decision," the former official said late Saturday.
Two days after the disappearance and presumed capture of an Israeli officer during a militant ambush that shattered a U.S.-brokered truce, Israel announced Sunday that the officer had in fact been killed.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon also announced on Sunday that the killed soldier, 2nd Lt. Hadar Goldin, was his relative. "I knew him since he was born," Mr. Ya'alon said in a tweet from his official account.
The defense minister didn't mention exactly how he was related to the soldier. After word of Lt. Goldin's disappearance, information about a family link between Lt. Goldin and Mr. Ya'alon had been censored from publication by Israel's military.
—Joshua Mitnick in Tel Aviv and Rory Jones in Jerusalem contributed to this article.
Write to Nicholas Casey at nicholas.casey@wsj.com
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