“Unwra decided to suspend all its operations in the Gaza Strip because
of the increasing hostile actions against its premises and personnel,”
a UN spokesman was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.

On Thursday, the UN relief agency Unwra said one person
had been killed and two injured when a fork-lift truck on a UN aid
mission came under Israeli tank fire at Gaza’s Erez crossing.

The Israeli army says it is looking into the matter.

The aid agencies’ concerns come amid fears the conflict with Gaza
militants may spread, with rockets fired on Israel from Lebanon.

 

At least three rockets were fired into northern Israel, prompting Israel to reply with artillery.

The incident followed Israel’s heaviest bombardment so far on Gaza in
nearly two weeks of conflict, with 60 air strikes targeting Hamas
facilities.

Israeli forces observed a three-hour pause in fighting to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.

The first of what was promised to be a daily ceasefire – on Wednesday –
allowed aid agencies into the territory for the first time in days.

Efforts have continued to broker a full ceasefire – a
senior Israeli official is in Cairo to hear details of a plan put
forward by Egypt and France.

A Hamas delegation is expected in the Egyptian capital
at some stage for parallel “technical” talks, Egyptian diplomats said.

‘Access denied’

The International Committee of the Red Cross accused Israel of failing
in its international obligations after its staff were met with
“shocking” scenes.

 

One medical team found 12 bodies in a shelled house, and alongside them
four very young children, too weak to stand, waiting by their dead
mothers, the ICRC said.

Aid workers had been denied access to the site for days, it added.

“This is a shocking incident,” Pierre Wettach, ICRC head for Israel and the Palestinian territories said in a statement.

“The Israeli military must have been aware of the situation but did not
assist the wounded. Neither did they make it possible for us or the
Palestinian Red Crescent to assist the wounded.”

Correspondents say the criticism is unusually strong, coming from an agency considered to be neutral.

The Israeli army told Reuters news agency that any serious allegations
would be properly investigated once a formal complaint was received.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International accused both sides of using civilians as human shields.

“Israeli soldiers have entered and taken up positions in a number of
Palestinian homes, forcing families to stay in a ground floor room
while they use the rest of their house as a military base and sniper
position,” it said in a statement.

While Palestinian families reported that in some cases
Palestinian gunmen agreed to leave areas near civilian homes without
firing at Israeli forces, the statement went on, “in other cases they
have refused the residents’ requests and only left after firing”.

Nursing home

At least three Katyusha rockets were fired from southern Lebanon into
the northern Israeli area of Nahariya early on Thursday.

One of the rockets hit a nursing home where some 25 elderly residents
were eating breakfast in a nearby dining hall, the Jerusalem Post
reports.

At least two people were slightly wounded and a number of others were suffering from shock, Israeli officials said.

 

Israel immediately responded with five artillery shells into Lebanon,
calling it a “pinpoint response at the source of fire”.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora was swift to condemn the attack, and called for the army and UN to investigate.

The rocket attacks from Lebanon have raised concerns about a wider war
in the region, says the BBC’s Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen.

In Gaza, Israel continued its offensive overnight with
60 airstrikes targeting police sites, 10 Hamas tunnels, weapons storage
facilities, launching pads “and a number of armed gunmen”, the Israeli
army said.

Naval and artillery units “continued to support the ground forces” with one soldier lightly wounded, the army added.

About 700 Palestinian and 11 Israeli lives are said to have been lost since the offensive began 12 days ago.

Casualty claims in Gaza have been difficult to independently verify.

While the BBC has had Palestinian producers reporting from Gaza, Israel
only allowed Western TV crews to enter on Wednesday, embedded with its
army.