More than 180,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are packed into United Nations shelters as Israeli warplanes pound the tiny territory of 2.3 million people.
Residents say there is no real escape in Gaza, which has been under a suffocating 16-year blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt.
When war breaks out, as it has four times since the Hamas militant group seized power in 2007, even UN facilities that are supposed to be safe zones risk becoming engulfed in the fighting.
The UN said that an airstrike directly hit one of its shelters on Sunday and damaged five other schools-turned-shelters on Monday. There was no immediate word of casualties.
There are no civilian bomb shelters in Gaza.
Israeli army spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Hecht suggested this week Palestinians should try to leave through the Gaza border crossing with Egypt, a seemingly impractical suggestion.
While Hamas officials operating the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing said on Tuesday that Gazans who had registered in advance could cross into Egypt, the number of those allowed to travel has typically been small.
That has led to backlogs and waiting times of days or weeks, even in calm times.
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