Camera captures moment of deadly Gaza air strike video

Israeli strikes have killed 17 people, authorities say, in a Gaza market as a TV crew was filming a crowd gathered around an ambulance. The area of Shejaia has seen some of the heaviest bombardments from Israeli forces with the declared aim of curbing rocket fire. Residents say shells and two missiles hit the area as a crowd gathered to observe a fire at a petrol station. In the footage, people can be heard praying to God in between the blasts which strew rubble across the area.

WARNING: This video contains images some readers may find distressing.

Australian PM calls for Gaza ceasefire immediately, by both sides

Tony Abbott has called for a ceasefire in Gaza “immediately, by both sides” but says Palestinians must accept Israel’s right to exist behind secure borders.

With Israel facing strong condemnation overnight over accusations that it bombed a UN shelter, killing 15 sleeping women and children, the Australian prime minister was asked on Melbourne radio 3AW whether it was time for Israel to back off.

Abbott said there needed to be a ceasefire “because plainly, too many people are dying”.

He said the conflict was “just wrong” and the world needed to work towards achieving a durable two-state solution “where the Palestinians do accept Israel’s right to exist behind secure borders”.

Abbott said the Australian government supported Palestinian statehood but that support had to go “hand in hand” with the recognition of Israel’s right to secure its borders. Australia, he said, supported Israel’s right to exist and its “right to self-defence”.

He suggested the Israeli government’s decision-making was not flawless, but contended that seemingly intractable opposition to the state of Israel was the source of the tension and conflict.

“The problem in the Middle East is that in the end so many people are not prepared to accept Israel’s right to exist.”

The communications minister, Malcolm Turnbull, also mounted a pro-Israel argument during a separate ABC radio interview.

Turnbull said he was not comfortable with the current conflict, but he argued Israel had no choice but to repel attacks in its territory. “Israel risks extinction, Israel faces an existential threat every day. Israel ... can barely afford to lose a battle let alone a war,” the communications minister said.

“The battle, the problems between Palestinians and Israel, are immense and complex, but right here and now the fundamental issue that Israel faces is its fights to defend the safety of its people,” Turnbull said on Thursday.

“As long as Hamas is firing rockets into Israel, the Israeli defence force has to defend its own population. I mean, that’s what we’d expect the Australian army to do for us.”

In Sydney, the Labor leader Bill Shorten also called for a ceasefire. He said the events overnight were “deeply disturbing”.

Asked whether Australia should use its position on the UN security council to push for a halt to hostilities, Shorten said the “government has had its hands full pursuing, appropriately, the disaster in Ukraine”.

Shorten later issued a joint statement with his deputy leader and foreign affairs spokeswoman, Tanya Plibersek, calling on the government to “use its position on the United Nations security council to push for an immediate ceasefire in Israel and the Palestinian territories”.

“With reports of more than 1,300 dead, including many children, the fighting must end now. Labor is appalled by the recent shelling of a UN school in a Gaza refugee camp, and attacks on similar facilities,” the joint statement said.

The statement said Labor deplored the “abuse of civilian facilities for military purposes, including a Gaza school that was used to hide rockets”. It called on both sides to cease hostilities and show restraint.

“The scale of human suffering has shocked the world. Australia needs to work urgently with the international community to bring this terrible conflict to an end.”

U.N. Chief in Gaza: Israel Spurring 'Humanitarian Crisis'

U.S. Has Sold Ammunition to Israel Since Start of Gaza Conflict

Morning Mail: Gaza school shelled; Ebola outbreak

Good morning folks, and welcome to the Morning Mail – sign up here to get it straight to your inbox before 8am every weekday.

Gaza

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon on the shelling of a school in Gaza.

Israel has been accused of a serious violation of international law after shelling a UN school in Gaza that was being used to shelter Palestinian families in a refugee camp, killing at least 15 people.

Thousands of people had moved into the school for protection after Israel warned Palestinians to leave their homes or risk death.

Both Hamas and Israel have released video footage which they say shows activities in the tunnels which are the focus of Israel’s offensive.

We have live updates on the situation overnight.

Australian news and politics

• Jobseekers’ welfare payments will be cut if they spam employers with “unsatisfactory” applications, the Abbott government has warned.

• Asylum seekers in detention on Nauru have begin peaceful protests amid anger over the resettlement program.

• Australia’s top eight universities are pushing for higher fees and fewer students.

• The Abbott government says internet providers should take “reasonable steps” to punish illegal downloaders – including possible sanctions against offending customers.

• Journalism professor Martin Hirst has been saved from the sack with a letter from 150 academics, after a tweet which raised the ire of Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt got him suspended.

Ebola

Banner in Monrovia, Liberia, warns people to be cautious about the ebola virus. Photograph: Jonathan Paye-Layleh/AP

A pan-African airline has stopped flights to west African countries after the death of one of its passengers from Ebola.

Liberia has also taken steps to contain the outbreak, including shutting schools and markets as well as quarantining communities.

Infected Americans remain in a serious condition.

Our health editor answers key questions about the Ebola outbreak, and we have a country-by-country map of its spread.

Britain has held a Cobra meeting to consider the threat, and the European commission has allocated an additional €2m to fight the disease.

Around the world

Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin. Moscow dismissed western sanctions over Ukraine unveiled by Brussels and Washington. Photograph: Alexei Nikolsky/AFP/Getty Images

• Russia is taking a defiant stance in the face of EU and US sanctions, saying it will localise production, but analysts predict that its finance, defence and energy sectors will suffer.

• The vast majority of Russians believe Ukraine is responsible for downing MH17, a poll has found.

• US utility company PG&E has been charged with obstructing justice over a 2010 gas explosion which killed eight people, in a lawsuit which names NBNCo chief executive Bill Morrow.

• Chinese authorities are tightening security in the Xinjiang region after a spate of violence.

• Iran has been urged to release the Washington Post’s Tehran correspondent and his wife, who is also a journalist. The couple were arrested more than a week ago.

• We have live updates from the Commonwealth Games.

More from around the internet

• Among the most viewed on the Guardian this morning: 10 sexist scenarios that women face at work.

• Clive Palmer has hit out at the “failed” budget and challenged Tony Abbott to hold a double dissolution or implement a mini-budget, reports the Age.

• Mining magnate Andrew Forrest has proposed that welfare recipients should be forced into a cashless world where all their payments would be income managed and they would be banned from purchasing prohibited goods, the Australian reports.

• Athletics Australia has suspended head coach Eric Hollingsworth over criticism of team captain Sally Pearson, reports the ABC.

• People on the government’s work for the dole program may end up doing the same work as people completing court-ordered community service for breaking the law, Fairfax reports.

• In the SMH, Kate McClymont unravels the tale of Eddie Obeid.• Queensland’s chief justice Tim Carmody faces open revolt by Supreme Court justices, reports the Courier Mail.

• Treasury staff will have to apply for their own jobs in a “spill and fill” intended to sack about 40 public servants, the Canberra Times reports.

• SBS reports that the immigration department head will face the inquiry into children in immigration detention.

• A critical breeding program for Tasmanian devils faces financial crisis, the Mercury reports.

• Crikey’s Guy Rundle analyses the Coalition’s job application scheme and suggests it will cost businesses at least six hours a month.

One last thing

Weird Al Yankovic. Photograph: Johnny Nunez/WireImage

Hadley Freeman interviews Weird Al Yankovic.

Have an excellent day – and if you spot something I’ve missed or any errors, let me know on Twitter @newsmary and I’ll update this page.

Sign up

Get the Morning Mail direct to your inbox before 8am every day by signing up here.

US issues unusually firm condemnation of shelling of UN school in Gaza

The White House reacted to the shelling of a United Nations school in Gaza that killed at least 16 Palestinians with an unusually firm condemnation on Wednesday, expressing serious concern that thousands of civilians sheltering at supposed UN havens are now at risk.

The girls’ elementary school, where 3,300 civilians were taking shelter after being told by Israel to leave their homes, was shelled earlier in the day in an attack that also injured about 100. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, which runs the school, said its initial assessment was that it has been struck by Israeli artillery.

“The United States condemns the shelling of a UNRWA school in Gaza, which reportedly killed and injured innocent Palestinians – including children – and UN humanitarian workers,” said Bernadette Meehan, a spokeswoman for the White House’s National Security Council.

“We are extremely concerned that thousands of internally displaced Palestinians who have been called on by the Israeli military to evacuate their homes are not safe in UN designated shelters in Gaza.”

Meehan and other US officials that condemned the attack did not specifically accuse Israel of responsibility for the shelling, saying there were conflicting reports about the circumstances of the incident that required further investigation. They did not specify the nature of those conflicting reports.

However Washington’s implied condemnation of Israel marked the strongest language used by the US since the conflict in Gaza began. The US also strongly criticised the hiding of weapons at UN facilities in Gaza, although officials acknowledged they did not know if rockets had been stored at the UNRWA school.

“All of these actions, and similar ones earlier in the conflict, are inconsistent with the UN’s neutrality,” Meehan said. “This violence underscores the need to achieve a ceasefire as soon as possible.”

At the same time however, there was little evidence of Washington using its leverage with Israel, including record levels of military aid, to apply pressure on Jerusalem to curtail its offensive. In Congress, both Democrats and Republicans were working on a package of additional military support for Israel’s “iron dome” security system.

There was an unconfirmed report by CNN that the US administration had agreed to re-supply Israel with ammunition, amid the possibility of depleting stocks. The White House, the Pentagon and State Department did not respond to requests for comments about the report.

Earlier, the White House had called for an “immediate and unconditional ceasefire”, however that position appears to have shifted since Monday, when Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, warned his country to prepare for a protracted conflict. Israel’s decision to press ahead with its offensive in Gaza despite a chorus of international condemnation was reaffirmed on Wednesday, following a meeting of the Israeli cabinet.

UNRWA said it was the sixth time one of its schools had been struck. “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,” said Pierre Krahenbuhl, commissioner-general.

“We have visited the site and gathered evidence. We have analysed fragments, examined craters and other damage. Our initial assessment is that it was Israeli artillery that hit our school, in which 3,300 people had sought refuge. We believe there were at least three impacts.”

Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of using UN facilities as cover and UNRWA has discovered caches of rockets hidden at some of its schools.

A UN source said there was no evidence of militant activity inside the school attacked on Wednesday.

The state department withheld judgment on the UN’s assessment that Israel was behind the latest attack, saying there should be a more thorough investigation to establish culpability. While voicing mounting concern, US officials appeared reluctant to directly criticise its close ally after days of growing friction with Jerusalem that has occasionally surfaced in anonymous briefings in the press.

“We don’t know if there were rockets in the school,” said Marie Harf, a deputy spokeswoman at the state department, explaining Washington’s refusal to apportion explicit blame for the shelling. “We don’t know for certain who shelled the school.”

The UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon directly contradicted that position, saying the attack, which he described as “outrageous” and “unjustifiable”, had been perpetrated by Israel. Ban said that “all available evidence points to Israeli artillery
as the cause” of the pre-dawn attack, and he pointedly noted that Israeli military authorities had received the coordinates of the school from the United Nations 17 times, including on Tuesday night.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Gaza: nothing more shameful than attacking sleeping children, says Ban Ki-moon - video

UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon issues a statement on Gaza, during his visit to Costa Rica, after a school in the Palestinian territory, being used to shelter families, was shelled by Israeli forces on Wednesday. At least 15 people, mostly children and women, died when the school in Jabaliya refugee camp was hit by five shells during a night of relentless bombardment across the territory. More than 100 people were injured