Another facility run by the United Nations in the southern Gaza Strip was hit by an air strike on Sunday, killing at least 10 people and wounding 30 other refugees seeking shelter, officials said.

It was the latest attack on a U.N. facility initially thought to be safe from the armed conflict between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip that killed over 1,700 people who were mostly civilians.

Like Us on Facebook

United Nations Relief and Works Agency spokesman Chris Gunness confirmed the bloody incident and said the attack occurred in a U.N.-run school at Rafah, Gaza at 10: 50 a.m. local time, Sunday.

"We can confirm, tragically again, multiple deaths, multiple injuries," he said in a statement.

The incident is the second case of shelling of U.N. facilities in less than a week, drawing condemnation from the international group.

Gunness reiterated his call from militants and Israeli Defense Forces to avoid hitting the facilities under U.N. and asked both sides to respect the international humanitarian law. He said the U.N. body will conduct its investigation to assess who is responsible over the recent shelling.

The incident happened as Israel said it was pulling out its forces from the Gaza border after it attained its goal of destroying the tunnels used by Hamas militants to carry out attacks in Israel.

However, the IDF clarified that it was not withdrawing its forces in the Gaza, and said it would continue to fight the Hamas militants to stop them from launching rockets into Israel.

"Indeed we are releasing troops from the front line but the mission is ongoing. Ground forces are operating. Air forces are operating," Israeli Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner said, according to Reuters.

Earlier in the day, another 30 people were killed in Israel's heavy shelling in Gaza, health officials said, bringing the death toll to over 1,700.

Palestinians have recorded 1,766 fatalities on its side, most of them civilians with scores of children, while Israel said 64 soldiers have died in combat and three Israeli civilians died due to rocket assaults.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Hamas militants will suffer from its offensive against Israel and put the blame of civilians to the militants in Gaza, accusing the rival faction of using residents as "human shields" since the war started 27 days ago.

Despite earlier ceasefire, no official truce has been reached by world leaders to help stop the bloodshed that put the Gaza into rubble. Israel and Hamas insisted to continue with their offensives. 

TagsGaza, Hamas, Gaza Strip