Israeli shells destroy U.N. aid warehouse

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli artillery shells struck the U.N. headquarters in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, setting a food warehouse ablaze and drawing a sharp rebuke from the visiting U.N. chief who called it an “outrage.” Another Israeli bombardment killed Hamas’ head of security.

The attack added to a day of deadly chaos pitting Israeli troops against Islamic militants. Terrified residents huddled in shelters and stairwells, or scooped up toddlers and fled on foot.

After nightfall, shells landed near Gaza City’s Quds Hospital, where many families had sought refuge, and the building caught fire, forcing staff to evacuate hundreds of people. According to a hospital medic, some patients were pushed down the street on gurneys; a few held white flags.

The destruction added to what aid groups say is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza and ratcheted up tensions between Israel and the international community even as diplomats indicated progress in cease-fire talks.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was departing Thursday night for Washington to discuss a Gaza cease-fire with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The United States and Egypt have been working to forge an agreement to end 20 days of bitter fighting.

The U.N. compound, made up of workshops and warehouses as well as offices, was struck about a half-dozen times over a roughly two-hour period while more than 700 civilians were sheltering there, said John Ging, head of Gaza operations for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency.

The civilians were huddling in the compound’s vocational training center when it was struck by a tank round or an artillery shell, causing the three injuries, Ging said. Throughout this time, he said, U.N. officials were frantically contacting Israeli officials to urge an end to the firing on the U.N. compound.

The attack triggered a raging fire that engulfed a warehouse and destroyed thousands of pounds of food and other aid intended for Gaza’s beleaguered citizens. Workers with fire extinguishers and Palestinian firefighters, some wearing bulletproof jackets, struggled to douse flames and tugged bags of flour from the debris.

Fuel supplies and cars in a garage also went up in flames.

Ging said the contacts with Israeli officials were made under a new liaison system aimed at preventing any attack similar to the shelling at a U.N. school in northern Gaza earlier this month that killed about 40 people. At the time, Israel said militants had fired on army positions from the area.

An Israeli airstrike killed Interior Minister Said Siam, a key figure in Hamas who oversaw thousands of security agents, Hamas TV said. A top aide, Siam’s brother and his brother’s family also were killed.

Israel’s intense assaults Thursday seemed to reflect an extra push to pressure Hamas negotiators into making concessions on a cease-fire and punish the militant group as much as possible before any end to hostilities.

Israeli envoy Amos Gilad returned from Cairo, where he discussed a cease-fire proposal with Egyptian officials who are also trying to coax Hamas into ending the war.

Israel launched the offensive Dec. 27 to end Hamas rocket attacks on Israel. Gaza medics say about 1,100 Palestinians, half of them civilians, have died; 13 Israelis have also been killed.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, visiting Israel, said Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told him the attack on the U.N. compound was a “grave” error and apologized for it.

“I conveyed my strong protest and outrage to the defense minister and foreign minister and demanded a full explanation,” said Ban, who arrived Thursday from Egypt.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the military fired artillery shells at the U.N. compound after Hamas militants opened fire from the location. Three people were wounded.

“It is absolutely true that we were attacked from that place, but the consequences are very sad, and we apologize for it,” he said.

Israel’s chief military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Avi Benayahu, said the military had not clarified the incident and that an investigation was under way.

“If it becomes clear that we returned shots at the source of fire, we will say so, and if it turns out we operated by mistake, we will not hesitate to confess,” Benayahu told Israeli television.

U.N. officials said hundreds of people sheltering in the compound were forced to flee, and that the Israeli shells contained white phosphorus, an incendiary agent that can cause horrific injuries. After the shelling, fire spread to nearby fuel tankers in the compound, triggering another massive blast.

The U.N. compound distributes food aid to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the tiny seaside territory of 1.4 million people.