4PM Gaza Time (+2hrs GMT) The Israeli Occupation Forces has stepped up its attacks on the shelters and installations of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in the Gaza Strip.
Today, the IOF fired artillery and Phosphorus shells onto an UNRWA school that shelters civilians in Beit Lahia, killing children and injuring many civilians.
This was the third attack of this kind.
Dozens of displaced civilians have been killed in the IOF's attacks on UNRWA's shelter since the start of the on-going Operation Cast Lead on 27 December 2oo7, which has also claimed the lives of approximately 1,200 people, most of whom civilians.
The IOF has also attacked eight schools across the Gaza Strip directly.
At least 67 schools have been damaged as a result of IOF's air and artillery attacks as of today.
36 of these schools are UNRWA schools.
Moreover, the IOF has frequently targeted UNRWA's vehicles, personnel and installations, including its HQ in the Middle East which is located in Gaza City causing humanitarian supplies to burn.
According to Al Mezan Center's field workers in North Gaza district, at 6:30am on Saturday 17 January 2009, the IOF fired a shell –believed to be white phosphorus bomb – which landed in the UNRWA Beit Lahia Boys School that shelters displaced civilians.
As the refugees tried to evacuate the school upon instructions from the shelter's administration, an artillery shell struck a classroom, where civilians are sheltered.
The shell broke through the roof and exploded on the ground, spreading its shrapnel into classrooms.
Two children were killed and their mother; Nujoud Sha'ban Al-Ashqar, was injured.
Al Mezan knew that the mother's leg and arm were amputated at hospital as her wounds were severe.
The children were identified as: Bilal Mohammed Al-Ashqar, 5; and Mohammed Mohammed Al-Ashqar, 4.

IOF then fired another shell that hit the school and injured 14 refugees; including 6 children.
The refugees escaped from the school and went to the Kamal Udwan Hospital in Beit Lahia seeking safe refuge.
Al Mezan's field worker reported that UNRWA responded quickly and opened another school for them in the An-Nazla area in Jabalia, which shelters 320 families (1,853 people).
Some refugees; however, returned to the same school.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights strongly condemns this war crime, and for the continued, deliberate targeting of UNRWA's staff and facilities in Gaza.
UNRWA has indicated clearly that the IOF had been informed of the locations and coordinates of all of its facilities and shelters, which leaves no room for errors.
Al Mezan Center asserts that these attacks represent only part of the IOF's willful targeting of civilians and civilian objects in the Gaza Strip since the start of its operations on 27 December 2008, which explains the enormous percentage of casualties and injuries among uninvolved civilians.
These conducts represent systematic and deliberate grave breaches of international law and must be investigated and punished as war crimes.
Under the continued disregard of international law - and of the United Nations - by the IOF, Al Mezan Center calls on UNRWA and the UN to call for international law to be upheld.
Israeli individuals and officials who ordered and/or perpetrated these horrific acts must be pursued and brought to justice in accordance with applicable international law.
Al Mezan Center renews its applauding of the UNRWA for the vital role it has played in aiding Palestinian civilians in Gaza throughout the current crisis.
The Center calls the international community to safe no efforts in providing support and protection for UNRWA, its personnel, facilities and those civilians sheltering inside them.
END