U.N. Air strikes schools every other day in Gaza...87% broken"

More than 87% of schools have been broken by airstrikes so far in the Palestinian Gaza Strip, which marks one year since the outbreak of the war, the United Nations says.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 493 out of 564 school buildings in Gaza have been damaged since October last year, when fighting between Israel and Palestinian militant Hamas began.

Fifty-five percent of the broken schools are public, 12 percent are private schools and the rest have been run by the United Nations Palestinian Refugee Relief Agency (UNRWA).

"Schools were recorded to have been attacked at least 14 times in the last month, and there were one school raid every day in August," the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said in a statement.

The Israeli military says Hamas only hit precisely where the command post was hidden in the basement of the building.

"Hamas' use of civilians as shields constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law," the United Nations said. "However, it is difficult to legally justify attacking school facilities even though we expect the possibility of numerous civilian casualties."