Israel kills teacher working with UN agency

An Israeli F-16 warplane (file photo)

Thu Nov 15, 2012 11:51PM GMT

A United Nations agency assisting Palestinian refugees says an Israeli airstrike on the north of the Gaza Strip has killed one of its teachers.

Marwan Abu El Qumsan, the Arabic teacher at UN Preparatory Boys School in the city of Jabalia in the north of the coastal sliver, was killed by an Israeli airstrike on Wednesday while sitting in a car, Chris Gunness, a spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), for which the victim used to work, said on Thursday.

The victim's brother was also injured, the UN official added.

Including the fatality, Israel has killed at least 21 people in a new wave of attacks against the Gaza Strip, which started on Wednesday.

Tel Aviv has called up 30,000 Army reservists for a possible ground invasion of the enclave following an announcement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the military was preparing for a "significant widening" of its attacks against the Gaza Strip.

Palestinians have responded with over 250 rockets, which have hit several spots in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including Tel Aviv.

The Israeli military frequently carries out airstrikes and other attacks on the Gaza Strip, saying the acts of aggression are being conducted for defensive purposes. However, in violation of international law, disproportionate force is always used and civilians are often killed or injured.

The attacks rage on while Israel keeps up its crippling blockade on Gaza, which it imposed on the enclave in 2007.

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