'Heartbroken' UN spokesman in Gaza breaks down on TV

After maintaining his composure through countless interviews during the Gaza conflict, the shelling of a UN school in a refugee camp where families were sheltering was finally too much.

Former BBC reporter Christopher Gunness, a senior director and spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), broke down in tears after being interviewed on Al Jazeera Arabic.

The below footage was taken by a camera still rolling after his interview had ended. In a separate interview he later said his feelings were "completely insignificant" compared to the feelings of the people in Gaza.

I guess it shows that we're not just heartless UN bureaucrats, we actually do have hearts, and occasionally they break.

Twenty people were killed when Israeli artillery fire struck the Jabalia Elementary Girls School in the refugee camp of the same name despite 17 warnings from the UN about the position of the shelter, although Israel said it was responding to Hamas rocket fire from within the vicinity.

The UN said the incident was a "source of universal shame".

More: This could be the most heartbreaking image of the Israel-Gaza conflict yet