UN teachers and staff in Gaza now fear they are targets after an Israeli airstrike hit a school-turned-shelter in the besieged territory.

A UN Official said the strike on the UN-run Al-Jaouni School in Central Gaza killed six of staff members of the United Nations Relief And Works Agency for Palestine.

Speaking from Gaza via a video link Sam Rose, a UNRWA Senior Official, recalled his visit to the school located in the Nuseirat Refugee Camp, which was sheltering around 12,000 displaced people, mainly women and children.

Rose called on all parties to show respect for UN facilities.

This marked the fifth time, and the deadliest, that the UNRWA had been hit since the conflict began 11 months ago.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, said that 220 UNRWA staff members have been killed since the outbreak of the latest round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict.