The UN accused Israel of attacking a UN-run school housing refugees in Gaza despite warnings that civilians were there. The Israeli military said in a statement that its ‘initial inquiry suggests that militants fired mortars earlier that morning from the vicinity of UNRWA school in Jebalia’ and soldiers responded by firing towards the origin of fire’. Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of using schools and civilian areas as bases to launch attacks. Last week, another UN-run school was hit. But the Israeli military denied any killings, saying a single ‘errant’ shell had landed in an empty courtyard. The UN on Tuesday revealed that a cache of rockets had been found at one of its schools in Gaza - the third case of its kind and the UN condemned it as a ‘yet another flagrant violation of the neutrality of our premises.’ Israel stepped up the intensity of its strikes saying it had hit a number of tunnelsl. See also 

BBC analysts believe Hamas’s isolation after losing the support of former allies Syria and Iran and the Egyptian authorities crack down on smuggling tunnels has brought about attacking Israel as a way to obtain concessions in any eventual ceasefire. Meanwhile Qatar and Turkey, both supporters of Hamas, are participating in ceasefire negotiations. Israel does not trust them. Israel says even if it adopts a ceasefire it will continue searching out and destroying recent tunnels Hamas has built to bypass Israel's border defences (Security wall and Iron Dome) which up to now have mostly succeeded in preventing attacks within Israel proper. The current modern tunnel system is the first time that Israeli forces have faced a weapon against which they have no previous experience. Hamas has learned from Hezbollah how to improve its use of tunnels. Tunnels are now sophisticated, with water, sewage, and lighting allowing for month-long stays. See 

Liberia has closed most of her land borders after Ebola spread to Sierra Leone's capital Freetown and Lagos in Nigeria. This marks an alarming new front in the fight against a disease which up to now was confined to remote villages and rural outposts where 129 people have died. It spreads via bodily fluids and 56% of those affected die. The first confirmed case of Ebola in Freetown died Saturday after her parents forcibly took her from hospital. The World Health Organisation urges people showing signs of Ebola to go immediately to health centres. WHO said,‘We must stop the message that there is no treatment. The faster patients seek treatment in secure health centres the more likely they are to recover and avoid contaminating family members.’ Christian charity Samaritan’s Purse is leading an awareness campaign to encourage people to seek treatment. More than 430,000 people have been reached by their effort. See also: 

Bolivia has become the first country to legalise child labour, reducing the minimum age of employment from 14 years to 10. The new law contravenes the International Labour Organisation's minimum working age protocol and is an abandonment of a child's right to a childhood. There are some protections included in the law: children between 10 and 12 must be supervised by a parent while they work, under-12s are not permitted to undertake third-party employment and children must still attend school. But with 850,000 child labourers in Bolivia and only 78 inspectors it will be difficult to uphold these protections. How will children, exhausted after a day's work, be able to engage in learning? Missing education erodes their chances for better paid employment in the future. Rather than breaking the cycle of poverty and illiteracy the new law appears to entrench it. Since 2005 the number of child slaves remains at around 5.5 million.