UNITED NATIONS, Jan 6 (Reuters) - A U.N. official in Gaza said the death toll in an Israeli artillery strike near a school in Jabalya refugee camp on Tuesday was 30 dead with another 55 people injured.

John Ging, director of operations in Gaza for UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, told reporters at U.N. headquarters by videolink from Gaza that three artillery shells landed near the school where 350 people were taking shelter.

Medical officials on the spot have said at least 40 people were killed.

Ging said UNRWA regularly provided the Israeli army with exact geographical coordinates of its facilities and the school was in a built-up area. "Of course it was entirely inevitable if artillery shells landed in that area there would be a high number of casualties," he said.

Casualty numbers were still being assessed but the latest figures were 30 dead and 55 injured, including at least five critically, Ging said.

The Israeli military said it is looking into the reports.

(Reporting by Claudia Parsons, editing by Alan Elsner)

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