Gaza grandfather describes killing of his family by invading Israeli troops

When the invading Israeli soldiers entered the besieged Gaza school where Yousef Khalil was sleeping near his family, they began shooting indiscriminately, killing nine people, including children, he said, pointing to bullet-pocked, bloodstained walls.

His account, which Israel's military says it is looking into and something which has become a usual pattern now, comes after the killing of three captives by Israel and has raised new questions over the reliability of Israeli sources in the face of relentless attacks on the besieged enclave, that has left tens of thousands civilian deaths.

According to Khalil, he was sheltering with his family in early December in the Shadia school in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, where some of the most intense recent fighting has been.

"They are my children and grandchildren. Why did they shoot them in front of my eyes?" said Khalil.

He had been sleeping, and the younger people were sitting up when two soldiers entered the room and shot everybody, he said.

"They started to shoot all around. Then they finished shooting. I was moving. They said, 'Where do you want to go?'. I said, 'I want to leave, to get out. I want to check my children who died'. They said, 'You're not allowed out of this room'."

The incident, which he said took place during an Israeli army raid on Jabalia, ended with survivors being either detained or fleeing, he said.

When the survivors returned a week later, they discovered that the bodies of the massacred civilians remained where they had died, he said.

Reuters news agency footage of the school filmed on December 13-15 showed ruined classrooms, at least two corpses on the floor of indeterminate age, bloodied bedding, and bullet holes and bloodstains low to the ground.

Asked about the incident, the Israeli military spokesperson's unit said they were "working on it".

Israel has faced widespread international criticism for the death toll from its air and artillery bombardment of besieged Gaza in the war that began in October when the Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise blitz on Israel, taking 240 captives and killing more than 1100 Israelis, a number which was revised down several times from 1400.

Palestinian health authorities in besieged Gaza say nearly 20,000 people have been confirmed dead, mostly from the bombardment, and that many thousands more bodies likely lie uncounted under the rubble.

Pope Francis accuses Israel's military of 'terrorism'

As Israeli forces have pushed further into Gaza's dense urban areas this month, attention has increasingly focused on its ground forces' conduct in a territory crammed with 2.3 million people.

Israel's killing of three escaping captives last week, who an initial enquiry said were waving a white flag, prompted outrage among some Israelis and an acknowledgement by officials that the soldiers involved did not follow designated rules of engagement.

Palestinians ask how many Gaza inhabitants have also been killed in such incidents that did not receive the attention and investigations that followed the death of Israeli citizens.

Pope Francis on Sunday accused Israel's military of "terrorism" tactics after their shooting of two Palestinian Christian women who had taken refuge in a Gaza church.

Israel's military claimed it was not true they had shot the women.

The family of Samer al Talalka, one of the three Israeli captives shot dead, has been demanding answers.

"I say to the Israeli government, 'Enough. My son was murdered'," said Fouad al Talalka.

"If you want to bring them back by way of war, with an assault, you destroy houses, and you kill them," he said.

"Who wouldn't be angry if they took your son for 70 days and you don't know anything, and then you get him back in a bag?"