A Palestinian doctor who works in Britain said yesterday that 16 members of his family were killed by the Israeli mortar attack on a United Nations-run school in Gaza.

Hisham al-Shwaikh, who learnt of the deaths from another relative in the Gaza Strip, said he felt devastated, angry and helpless.

Dr al-Shwaikh, 52, an associate specialist in the accident and emergency department at Lincoln County Hospital, was told that his cousins and their children had sought shelter in the school after their homes were destroyed by an earlier airstrike.

Those relatives who were killed when mortar shells landed outside the Fakhora school on Tuesday evening included a doctor, an engineer and a paramedic, he said. Also among the dead, he has been told, were seven of their children, boys and girls aged from 2 to 12.

Dr al-Shwaikh, who has lived in Britain since 1993, said he had been phoning relatives daily since the bombardment began. “On Tuesday, I couldn't get through. Eventually, I spoke to another family member who told me what had happened. Apparently, there were pools of blood and body parts everywhere,” he said. “I feel so helpless because there's nothing I can do for them. The border is closed, I can't go there.”

The doctor said that he was continuing to go to work as normal because “I want to feel like I'm helping people”.

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