Gaza crisis: UN claims Israel did not allow evacuation from shelter before strikes - as it happened

Our data team have produced this map which shows where residents are trapped in the village of Khuzaar in Gaza, and places where International Red Cross ambulances went in yesterday to rescue the wounded.

A school in Gaza which was sheltering 1500 people has been hit by Israeli fire, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

The organisation says it is the third time that a school has been hit by Israeli weapons.

UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said that a Girl’s School in Deir Al Balah, central Gaza was hit at 7.45am this morning and five people were injured. He said:

"This is the second time in three days that an UNRWA school has taken a direct hit from Israeli shelling and we again condemn this in the strongest possible terms."

The UNRWA said that the Maghazi Preparatory Girls School in Central Gaza took a direct hit injuring one girl on Monday. When UNRWA went to investigate, the area came under fire again "endangering the life of UNRWA staff members".

He said:

"They were inside investigating, during a “coordinated window” in which the Israeli Army said the UN could move freely in a marked vehicle"

"We call on all sides to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and refrain from any action that endangers the lives of humanitarian workers."

Middle East expert at Chatham House Nadim Shehadi has said that Israel is likely to resist a cease fire, in order not to hand a significant political victory to Hamas.

"If Hamas can achieve any results from the violence and from what they call the resistance it will be a victory for Hamas and a message that only violence can achieve results and not negotiation," he said, in an interview on Sky News.

"That message is too strong and too important to be allowed to pass through."

Asked if he thought Israel would take notice of public opinion, he said. "Success in negotiation is the only way forward. If they allow for any success or result to happen through violence, then they will only get more violence in the future."

An astonishing photograph from astronaut Alexander Gerst - which shows explosions and rockets flying over Gaza and Israel - has gone viral.

The German flight engineer, geophysicist and volcanologist called the it his "saddest photo yet".

Gerst - who has been orbiting the Earth for 57 days - is spending six months aboard the International Space Station, 300km above Earth.

In an interview with Sky News this morning British foreign secretary Philip Hammond has reiterated the view that Israel has a legitimate right to defend itself but warned that international sympathy was running out.

On a visit to the region, he told Sky News that his clear message to Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu was "as the campaign goes on and civilian casualties mount, western public opinion is becoming more and more concerned and less sympathetic to Israel".

Hammond said Britain was urging Israel to move towards a cease fire but it "takes two to tango." He said:

We are appealing to Israel [to consider] their western values and do everything they can to exercise their legitimately right to self defence while minimising the damage caused.

He added that discussions were ongoing with Hamas, but the negotiations did not involve the UK and "had to be through the channels that Egypt had created".

Asked about the impact of a UNHCR decision to carry out a war crimes investigation, he said:

I think that is a clear message as the campaign goes on and civilian casualties mount, western public opinion is becoming more and more concerned and less sympathetic to Israel. That is simply a fact.

He added:

It is also the case that the longer the campaign goes on the stronger Hamas becomines politically.

The leader of Islamist militant group Hamas said yesterday that there could be no ceasefire to ease the conflict in Gaza unless there was an end to Israel's blockade.

Khaled Meshaal said Hamas would continue to reject a ceasefire until its conditions were met.

Khaled Meshaal at a news conference in Qatar on Wednesday, said:

We will not accept any initiative that does not lift the blockade on our people and that does not respect their sacrifices.

But the group would not "close the door" to a humanitarian truce, he said. "We need the calm for a few hours to evacuate the wounded and assist in [aid] relief."

The Red Cross has said that it is struggling to evacuate wounded civilians in Gaza, with rubble and power lines strewn across roads and sporadic intense fighting.

UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has arrived in the region where he held late-night talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.

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He called for an immediate ceasefire, but said that was "not enough", adding that he would push for a "stable solution" that allows Palestinians and Israelis to "live in peace together".

Hammond will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this morning. Netanyahu is then expected to convene the Knesset for a special briefing on the military operation in Gaza.

In other breaking news US airlines have lifted a flight ban to Israel this morning,

The ban was lifted hours after US Secretary of State John Kerry concluded talks in Jerusalem and Ramallah and returned to Cairo to continue pushing regional efforts for a ceasefire.

The US national aviation agency said: "The FAA has lifted its restrictions on US airline flights into and out of Israel's Ben Gurion Airport." The FAA imposed a ban on commercial flights to Israel after a rocket hit a house a mile away from Tel Aviv airport.

It has warned the situation was still "very fluid" as the fighting continued in Gaza. European airlines, including Air France and Lufthansa, have also banned flights. There is no immediate indication that they will be lifting the ban.

After 17 days of bloodshed in Gaza, the Palestinian death toll has reached 718.

The Israeli army has said that three more soldiers were killed in combat inside Gaza on Wednesday, raising the total number of soldiers killed since the start of a ground operation on July 17 to 32.