Cease-fire calls rise after school bombing

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By Joshua Mitnick and Betsy Pisik

UPDATED:

KIBBUTZ KFAR AZZA, Israel | Israel faced mounting pressure Tuesday for an immediate cease-fire after its army shelled a U.N.-run school in Gaza that sheltered Palestinian families fleeing a ground offensive against the territory's Hamas rulers.

Reports of at least 40 civilian deaths stoked memories of similar strikes on a civilian target during Israel's 2006 war in southern Lebanon, which turned international opinion decisively against Israel's effort to crush another Islamist enemy - Hezbollah.

An Israeli army spokesman said Tuesday that a preliminary inquiry indicated the school in northern Gaza was being used by Hamas militants to fire mortars at Israeli troops. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing army rules.

"I doubt it will cause us to stop," said Yossi Alpher, a former official in the Mossad spy agency and former director of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University.

"But it will definitely figure into the calculations of where we take the war," said Mr. Alpher, now co-editor of the Israeli-Palestinian journal Bitterlemons.org.

Early Wednesday, Israel announced it would set up a humanitarian corridor to ship supplies to Gaza.

Israel would halt attacks in predetermined areas where people could pick up supplies, to "prevent a humanitarian crisis," said a statement from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Israel previously denied that Gaza faced a humanitarian crisis.

After Tuesday's attack on the school, a Western diplomat said people are "genuinely enraged" with Israel.