UN: Gazans killed in IDF school attack weren't inside building

[oberliner]

The United Nations said on Monday that the approximately 42 Palestinians killed four weeks ago in an Israel Defense Forces attack on a UN school in the Gaza Strip were killed outside of the facility, and not indoors as previously stated.

The Fakhura girls' school, operated by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in the Jabalya refugee camp, was hit by an IDF shell on January 6, toward the beginning of Israel's 22-day offensive on the Gaza Strip.

The IDF said it bombed the school after militants fired mortars at troops from inside, according to the IDF Spokesman's Office. The bodies of militants were found inside, it added. The United Nations rejected the claim and vowed to open an investigation into the incident.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1061189.html

[Howardx]

1. its been established

that the idf murdered the civilians in the street outside the school. diaried by one of your quicker fellow travellers earlier this week.

[oberliner]

2. Not the same incident

This is about an incident at the Fakhura girls' school.

The other incident I think you are talking about was at the Ibn Rushd Preparatory School for Boys.

[Howardx]

3. you can understand my confusion

so many murders to keep track of.

[oberliner]

4. No problem - although I don't appreciate the "fellow travelers" remark

Peace!

[azurnoir]

5. About those two school incidents

Aren't both schools located in the Jabaliya refugee camp? Both the incident at the ibn Rushd Prep School for Boys and the Fakhura Girls School took place on January 6 both list that 43 civilians were killed so is it just possible that the incidents are one and the same or are we to believe there were 2 separate incidents on January 6 killing a total 86 civilians?

Most people remember the headlines: Massacre Of Innocents As UN School Is Shelled; Israeli Strike Kills Dozens At UN School.

They heralded the tragic news of Jan. 6, when mortar shells fired by advancing Israeli forces killed 43 civilians in the Jabalya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. The victims, it was reported, had taken refuge inside the Ibn Rushd Preparatory School for Boys, a facility run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency....There was just one problem: The story, as etched in people's minds, was not quite accurate.

Physical evidence and interviews with several eyewitnesses, including a teacher who was in the schoolyard at the time of the shelling, make it clear: While a few people were injured from shrapnel landing inside the white-and-blue-walled UNRWA compound, no one in the compound was killed. The 43 people who died in the incident were all outside, on the street, where all three mortar shells landed.

Stories of one or more shells landing inside the schoolyard were inaccurate.

While the killing of 43 civilians on the street may itself be grounds for investigation, it falls short of the act of shooting into a schoolyard crowded with refuge-seekers.

http://dizzythinks.net/2009/01/that-un-school-that-was-bombed-in-gaza.html

Al-Fakhura school incident

The damaged school after the attack
Location Al-Fakhura school, Jabaliya refugee camp, Gaza Strip
Date January 6, 2009
Attack type artillery shells
Deaths 43 (total) <1><2>. 40 confirmed civilians<3><4><5>, 2 Hamas militants according to the IDF<6>
Injured 55<5>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Fakhura_school_incident

[Howardx]

6. indeed

this needs to be cleared up.

[oberliner]

7. What do you make of this?

Did the Globe and Mail get the name of the school wrong?

[azurnoir]

9. No they did not

the two schools were located in the same refugee camp and it is likely in close proximity to one another or as I said there are two separate incidents on the same day with the same number of dead civilians

[GoesTo11]

8. Is this related Hamas firing from near but not in the building?

and the other story about how Israeli shells landed outside the building? That would all fit together.

Current article headline is: "UN backtracks on claim that deadly IDF strike hit Gaza school"

[bemildred]

10. Well, the IDF "said it bombed the school"

Who are we to pick nits about it?

[oberliner]

11. I am now very confused if there are two different school incidents in question or one

The Globe and Mail story mentioned the Ibn Rushd Prepatory School for Boys, while most other articles mention the al-Fakhura School for Girls.

Were these two different incidents? Have you got any thoughts on this?

[bemildred]

12. I'm just quoting your OP.

It's right up there.

[oberliner]

13. The headline and article have both changed since originally posted

Damn those Ha'aretz writers!

[Howardx]

14. off topic

how did that dogpound guy get himself banned? he was posting dozens of articles a day, kept the forum moving pretty good.

[oberliner]

17. No idea

He sure did keep the forum moving!

[bemildred]

15. One might almost think someone had pressured them to change it.

Who could have that sort of power?

[oberliner]

16. I think Ha'aretz is controlled by Jews!

Just a joke!

[bemildred]

18. Well, I don't think I'm going to touch that one. nt

[Howardx]

19. hehe

good one.

[bunnies]

20. No shit. We've always known this.

Even jpost from Jan 6 :

"Dr. Bassam Abu Warda, director of Kamal Radwan Hospital, said 34 people were killed by a strike outside the school. "

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1231167272256

I never heard once that it was inside.

[ohio2007]

21. But what about the media pics of bloodstains inside the buildings?

“staged?”

[Recursion]

24. Have you seen an artillery round land?

It will shatter windows for 200 yards in every direction, and knock down interior walls in nearby buildings. People in those buildings can be hurt or killed by compression. A barrage is a few dozen of those rounds within 10 seconds of each other.

[oberliner]

22. The problem was in the January 7th field report

But on Tuesday, the UN's Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) slipped a "clarification" notice on the head of its weekly field report from Gaza.

It noted that its January 6 field report had stated that an IDF shell hit outside the school, causing fatalities. Its January 7 field report, however, stated that the shell hit the school.

"The humanitarian coordinator would like to clarify that the shelling, and all of the fatalities, took place outside rather than inside the school," the original field report stated.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1233304687916&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[sellitman]

23. Time for UNRWA to Say Sorry to Israel

Time for UNRWA to Say Sorry to Israel. One of the most highly publicized incidents in the recent Cast Lead operation in Gaza was an alleged Israeli strike on a United Nations school. Now, the UN's Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has apparently changed its story, and now says there was no Israeli strike on the school, but rather a mortar shell incident near the school that did not cause any deaths within the building.

( Do you remember the 'Jenin Massacre', which never happened? Fatah dug up corpses to boost the number of 'civilian' casualties. In the end, the UN cancelled its investigation in order to avoid embarrassment, and not in order to prove Israel right?)

The UN is npthing more than a propaganda tool.