While an UNWRA staff member in Gaza said it was an artillery shell which hit right next to the school, other witnesses said both tank shells and missiles had struck the school ground. Most of those killed had been outside at the time the projectile struck, while people inside were also injured by shrapnel. Local Palestinian television showed shrapnel holes and black soot marks on the school's wall, and bloodstains and shoes and slippers scattered on the ground just outside. Windows and doors were badly damaged. A local UNWRA spokesman, Adnan Abu Hasna, said the school had been been waving a blue UN flag. UNWRA had also passed the GPS coordinates to Israel of its schools and shelters in Gaza. Despite this, four UNWRA schools had been caught in the crossfire over the past days.