UN agency headquarters hit by artillery fire in Gaza

Gaza City: An uncontrollable fire raged at the UN relief agency's headquarters in Gaza City after the compound was hit by artillery fire and shrapnel, the agency's local director said

The compound was hit during clashes between Israeli troops and Hamas gunmen on Thursday morning, said John Ging, the head of operations in Gaza for the UN Relief and Works Agency.

Three workers were hurt, and the compound's warehouse and workshop were burning out of control within an hour and a half, he said.

"It's a very big fire, and we're not able to get it under control at the moment," he said.

With gun battles going on around the facility, "the emergency services are not able to get to us."

Witnesses said fighting intensified overnight in southern Gaza City's Tel el-Hawa neighborhood.

Israeli forces have closed in on the densely populated city since the weekend.

Both Israel and Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls Gaza, have refused a Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is in the region trying to get the fighting to stop, while Arab nations jostle to take the lead in attempting to broker a cease-fire.

Christopher Gunness, a spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency earlier told CNN.

UNRWA officials reported red-hot shrapnel being scattered around the agency's Gaza City headquarters from nearby fighting.

Though its staff is still working "with extraordinary courage," he said, "It means trucks can't get to our compound, which is our main warehouse in Gaza.

And trucks can't leave, which means that the food distribution centers and health centers in the outlying parts can't be resupplied."

Israeli military sources confirmed that heavy fighting was going on near the UNRWA compound.

Gunness said the agency had urged Israel to stop fighting nearby, but had no response.

Israeli aircraft struck 70 targets in Gaza overnight, the Israel Defense Forces reported on Thursday, while fighting on the ground left 11 Israeli troops wounded.

The military said about 35 armed Palestinian fighters were wounded or killed in those clashes, mostly by airstrikes.

The Israeli military has been halting its bombardment for daily three-hour stretches to allow trucks loaded with food, fuel and medical supplies to enter the territory.

It said it planned to let 170 trucks through the border on Thursday, and announced the appointment of an army officer, Brigadier General Shimi Daniel, to coordinate humanitarian efforts.

But Gunness said: "We are being hampered in our humanitarian work, and we'll continue to be hampered unless the parties listen to the conscience of the world."

Israel launched its campaign against Gaza on December 27 in an effort to halt the firing of rockets at its southern cities.

That fire persisted on Thursday, with at least 10 rockets or mortar shells striking Israeli territory, the IDF reported.

Gunness said the world has watched the fighting in Gaza with "utter revulsion, and there's been equal revulsion, I think, for the rockets that fly in and have been hitting innocent civilians in Israel."