UN envoy slams Israeli strike on Gaza school

China's envoy to the United Nations on Tuesday "strongly condemned" Israel's attack on a school sheltering displaced people in Gaza City.

Three Israeli rockets struck the Al-Taba'een School on Saturday, where many displaced Palestinians were seeking shelter and participating in dawn prayers. More than 100 Palestinians were killed, and dozens were injured in the assault, the Hamas-run Gaza government media office said.

Israel said it targeted the school because Hamas fighters were sheltering there. "China strongly condemns the assault," Fu Cong, China's permanent representative to the UN, told a Security Council meeting on Tuesday.

"Civilians and civilian infrastructure should never be targets of military action — this is a red line defined by international humanitarian law. The repeated attacks on schools, where large numbers of civilians seek refuge, are appalling," said Fu.

He said that over the past 10 months, millions of people in Gaza have had their homes destroyed, and families have been torn apart, forcing them to move from place to place in search of safety, only to face bombings and the constant threat of death.

"There is no longer any safe haven in Gaza," Fu said.

Fu urged the US to push Israel to halt its military operations in Gaza as Israel's "largest arms supplier".

"An immediate and lasting cease-fire is the urgent hope of the people of Gaza and a strong consensus within the international community," he said, noting that the council two months ago passed its first cease-fire resolution, and the US said that Israel had accepted a cease-fire agreement.