国际英语新闻：UNRWA suspends aids distribution due to Israeli attacks

GAZA, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations for Relief and Work Agency in the Far East (UNRWA) suspended on Thursday providing humanitarian aids for the Gaza residents due to Israeli attacks on its institutions.

    An official UNRWA statement sent to reporters said the humanitarian organization decided to suspend providing Gaza Strip population with its aid after Israel targeted its schools and food-laden trucks.

On Tuesday, the Israeli army fired two surface-to-surface shells at a school run by the organization that shelters dozens of families in the northern Gaza Strip refugee camp of Jabalia, killing more than 40 civilians.

    Earlier, three Palestinians were killed in an Israeli attack on another school in the beach refugee camp in western Gaza City. A UNRWA employee was killed in a third strike on one of the schools.

    Also on Thursday, Israeli soldiers opened fire at a UNRWA food-laden truck in northern Gaza Strip, killing the driver and wounding another worker in the truck.

Palestinians gather at the site of a destroyed mosque following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City, Jan. 8, 2009.

    The UNRWA decided earlier to open 11 of the schools that it runs in the Gaza Strip to host dozens of homeless families whose houses were bombarded by the Israeli warplanes and tanks.

    A senior medical official in Gaza said on Thursday 763 Palestinians have been killed and 3,120 others wounded in 13 days of Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip.

    Mo'aweya Hassanein, chief of emergency and ambulance services in the Palestinian Health Ministry, told reporters 763 people were killed and 3,120 wounded, including 375 in critical conditions, during the Israeli air and ground military operations.