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Last update - 08:56 16/01/2009
Rice cautions Israel over IDF shelling of UN facilities in Gaza
By Reuters
Tags: gaza, israel news, israel 

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday she had told
Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Ministers Tzipi Livni, that more care must be taken to avoid incidents such as the bombing of a United Nations aid warehouse and training center in Gaza.

"We had a discussion of the difficulties that this (the bombing of the warehouse) had caused and the need to try to avoid such incidents," said Rice when asked whether she had protested to Israel's government after the warehouse bombing.
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The compound shelled on Thursday belongs to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, known as UNRWA. A separate attack hit a vocational training center there. Three people were wounded in the two attacks.

Rice said she had spoken on Thursday to both Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak as well as Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni after the attack on the facility.

"There is great concern on their part. It was an error that happened," she added.

"It does demonstrate the very dangerous nature of the kind of fighting that is going on and the events that we are in. We are principally concerned about the humanitarian situation in that regard," said Rice.

Rice said the U.S. focus was on how to get food, water and medical supplies to civilians in Gaza, which has been under attack since December 27 when Israel launched a military offensive against the Hamas-ruled coastal strip with the aim of halting Palestinian rocket fire on southern Israel.

Rice has been quietly trying to negotiate an accord with Israel designed to prevent Hamas from rearming and Livni is expected in Washington in the coming days, possibly as early as Friday.

Asked whether there would be an announcement on a deal on Friday, Rice said: "I am continuing to work on it. We are aggressively working towards that ceasefire. We are trying to help put the pieces in place so that it can be durable."

"We are discussing with the Israelis and with others what we can do to bolster the possibilities of getting to the durable ceasefire that we are all seeking," she added.

At least 1,105 Palestinians have been killed and some 5,100 wounded, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. A Palestinian rights group said about 700 of the dead were civilians.

Thirteen Israelis have been killed, including 10 soldiers and three civilians hit by Hamas rocket fire.

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