UN official says Gaza school was clearly marked - Reuters

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

http://uk.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUKN06430746

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 6 (Reuters) - A U.N. official in Gaza said a school where dozens of Palestinians were killed by tank shells on Tuesday was clearly marked with a U.N. flag and its location had been reported to Israeli authorities.

John Ging, director of operations in Gaza for UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, said the death toll in the Israeli artillery strike near the school in Jabalya refugee camp was 30 dead with another 55 people injured

Asked whether Hamas militants were in the area of the Jabalya school at the time of the strike, Ging said it was the scene of clashes "so there's an intense military and militant activity in that area."

He said U.N. staff vetted Palestinians seeking shelter at their facilities to make sure militants were not taking advantage of them. "So far we've not had violations by militants of our facilities," he said.<-b>

[bobd0]

1. Of course it was clearly marked. Israeli forces bombed it intentionally. nt

[backscatter712]

4. Exactly. Israel isn't fighting terror, they're creating terror. n/t

[Marie26]

21. Why?

"because they're evil" isn't a good enough answer. What possible advantage could Israel gain from this?

[TahitiNut]

36. Well, it helps their claim that the area is unsafe for humanitarian aid workers and reporters.

After all, people are getting killed due to their own fault, right?

[tekisui]

2. I'm gonna trust the UN over Israel on this one.

Israel's PR campaign is going too far. They have claimed that mortars were fired from the UN building.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

9. No surprise there.

They regularly claim that the UN is anti-semitic. Of course, the UN also criticizes their lack of humanitarianism, and we all know criticism = anti-semitism. :sarcasm:

[Idealism]

3. Excerpt from that article:

He 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.

[leftchick]

6. it is pretty obvious now isn't it?

:cry:

[Idealism]

8. But there are still those apologists out there

That will claim, as I have already been told, that UN schools, hospitals, homes, and even ambulances all were hiding Hamas bombs and rockets. Disgusting.

[tekisui]

12. I am amazed at how unyeilding the apologists are.

They will defend every atrocity that Israel commits. I can hold two thoughts at once. Hamas is an oppressive provocateur and Israel's actions have been disgusting and inappropriate.

What is truly amazing is those who defend the use of cluster bombs, white phosphorous, bombing mobile medic clinics, bombing refugee hold outs and indiscriminate killing of children. All because Israel did it.

[Idealism]

13. There was one guy the other day who refused to acknowledge

what he called "conspiracy theories, genocide, or other war crimes nonsense about Israel"

I guess he never heard of collective punishment or the universal declaration of human rights, etc.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

49. The genocide stuff is patent nonsense.

It really irks me when that word is used incorrectly.

[Idealism]

50. They can't get their head around the concept of

Israel doing bad things, I think.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

15. Don't forget the flechette rounds!

I agree with your sentiments - Both sides are disgusting, and yet Israel is given more legitimacy because it is a country, as if no sovereign nation has ever been guilty of atrocity.

[frylock]

17. they're quite adept at avoidingf threads like this one

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

19. It is noticeably silent.

I do try to make an effort to condemn Palestinian actions when warranted. I almost never see that from the other side.

[Ghost Dog]

29. Bingo.

:(

[leftchick]

20. a reporter on CNNI this AM

kept trying to find an excuse for Israels targeting of civilians but was at a loss. Even the news readers are flailing.

[Idealism]

23. Amy Goodman today reported what I long suspected

That men are not being counted towards civilian death totals. No wonder why Israel keeps toting the only 1/4th of those killed were 'civilians.'

www.DemocracyNow.org

[leftchick]

27. yes I read that here as well...

at least a little truth is leaking out.

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=db5f72890b1f8e4fad37c77329277907

Take Israel's claim that there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza. After showing an Israeli politician writing off the assertion of the existence of a humanitarian disaster, Al Jazeera cut to the Al Shifa hospital, the largest in all of Gaza. There, we saw that there were not enough medical supplies and civilians lying on bloody hospital beds told us that their lives were not only being crippled by bombs falling on their houses, but by the extreme lack of water and food for the people cowering inside them.

One man, as he held his dead, pale faced 7-month-old son in his arms, said, "We were in our house for three days before the bombs fell on us. We called for the Red Cross and humanitarian groups, but no one was able to reach us…We have no one but God."

Israeli officials continue to assert that they are allowing in humanitarian aid by opening the border, but as Al Jazeera's Ayman Moheyaldin reported from the inside, "The point is not that you open the crossings to allow in 30 to 40 trucks, but that you keep them open and allow a continuous amount of goods to enter for a sustainable amount of time."

The problem isn't only that supplies can't get in. People still can't get out. Most are left searching hopelessly for safety while their stories remain trapped within Gaza's walls.

"There is nowhere safe in Gaza," an enraged John Ging, head of the UN Relief and Works Agency in Gaza, told Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros in front of the Al Shifa hospital today. Those words came after the Israeli Defense Forces bombed a UN school that was being used as a refuge. Later in the day, a second UN school was struck by the Israelis, killing at least 40. "Everyone here is terrorized and traumatized and they have the right to be because there is no safe haven…This violence needs to stop now. Neither side can wait for the other to stop first," he said.

[Marie26]

32. Is there such a thing as a "rural area" of Gaza?

Or is it just wall-to-wall cities?

[leftchick]

42. it is a giant open air prison

with 1.5 million (minus a few thousand) crammed in. They keep saying Hamas hides amid civilians. Uh HELLLOOOOO there is no where to hide in Gaza, it is a slum filled with civilians and their elected government of Hamas.

[Kalyke]

31. So all men in Gaza, including the very old, are terrorists?

:crazy:

Boggles the mind.

[Idealism]

33. "All men are militants"

Would be a better phrase, me thinks.

[ellisonz]

38. Based on?

[Idealism]

43. Why don't you try watching the program

You might learn some things. But then again, given your blind pro-Israeli stance, you would think the program biased.

[ellisonz]

44. Got a link to more than the main page?

[Idealism]

45. Heres the link

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/1/6/israel_f16_attack_kills_father_of

AMY GOODMAN: The UN says around a quarter of the dead are civilians, but that figure only counts women and children, excluding adult males. Today, we’ll look at one of those men. I’m joined by Fares Akram. He’s the Gaza correspondent for The Independent of London. His father was killed in an Israeli F-16 attack on Saturday. His wife is nine months pregnant.

[leftchick]

5. do you have a link?

I noticed today the tv people are desperate for a justification of directly target civilians. They are running out of excuses.

:(

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. The link to the Reuters article is in the op.

:hi:

[leftchick]

10. thanks

:hi:

[Hydra]

11. Considering what the Israeli army does to UN forces and people

They may as well have put a bullseye up.

[StudsT]

14. standard operating procedure - to dominate the MESSAGE silence all critics, especially credible ones

U.S. PLANES BOMB A RED CROSS SITE

By ELIZABETH BECKER AND ERIC SCHMITT
Published: October 27, 2001

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9400E4D81E31F934A15753C1A9679C8B63

and so it goes...

StudsT

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

16. At least the U.S. admitted it and said it was an error.

Israel won't even go that far.

[StudsT]

18. twice, no less

a lie is a lie, especially when used as 'cover' for mass murder.

StudsT

[slipslidingaway]

22. From Democracy Now today

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/1/6/israel_f16_attack_kills_father_of

"Christopher Gunness, spokesperson for UN Relief and Works Agency, speaking from Gaza.


...We are strongly protesting these killings with the Israeli authorities, and we’re calling for an immediate and impartial investigation. It’s important to say that the coordinates of all of our facilities in Gaza were handed over to the Israelis well before this offensive began. The schools were clearly marked. So it should have been known exactly where they were. The fact is that our compounds and our facilities are being used to shelter people. There were over 400 people in the Asma school who had left their homes, fleeing the fighting from the northern areas of Gaza. We say that there has to be an investigation, because the facts don’t come out and speak for themselves. If there have been violations of international humanitarian law, then they have to be—people have to be held accountable.


We’re also just confirming that there was an attack at 11:00 this morning. It appears that it’s a mosque in the Burej camp that may have been targeted, but an UNRWA health center that was nearby was very badly damaged. Six of our staff were wounded, and three of those are in a serious condition. And those are really all the facts that I can confirm for you now.


AMY GOODMAN: Is it true that the people who went into the school for protection, some of them were responding to the pamphlets dropped by the Israeli military telling them to leave their homes?


CHRISTOPHER GUNNESS: It’s very likely that that is the case. But let’s be clear here. When you get a leaflet saying “Leave your house. It’s about to be attacked. Go to safety,” there is no safety in Gaza. Your listeners must realize that there is a large fence around Gaza. In conflicts, people grab their children and flee to safety. There’s no safety in Gaza today. There is nowhere for these people to flee, which is why we echo the words of the Secretary-General: “Stop the fighting.”

[Xolodno]

25. It may have been...

...a horrific mistake by Israel and they are not up to fessing up yet or....

Thats the message they are trying to convey. Nowhere in Gaza is safe.

[slipslidingaway]

28. At least 2 school mistakes :( n/t

[Xolodno]

34. Sadly it can happen...

...In the rukus of war someone mistakes the coordinates as targets rather than places to avoid. They already have had casualties due to friendly fire.

[Hydra]

40. Such sloppiness speaks badly of one of the best trained armies in the World

Considering how many UN targets were hit today, I'd say it was a message- get out of our way.

[EFerrari]

47. He called Gaza "a war with a fence around it".

:(

[slipslidingaway]

52. Israeli Professor - compares Gaza to a prison and a cage...

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/1/5/israeli_professor_neve_gordon_condemns_israeli

NEVE GORDON: Well, we just had a rocket about an hour ago not far from our house. My two children have been sleeping in a bomb shelter for the past week. And yet, I think what Israel is doing is outrageous, as opposed to what Meagan said before. We have here a situation where actually Israel did leave the Gaza Strip three years ago, but it maintains sovereignty in any political science sense of the term. We’ve controlled all the borders. We’ve basically had an economic boycott on the Gaza Strip. And the people there have been living in what one should probably call as a prison. And they’ve been reacting with rockets, because probably that’s the only way that they can react.


And I think what Israel has been doing now has little to do with stopping the rockets, but actually it’s an election move inside Israel. It’s a move to build the reputation of the Israeli military after its humiliation in 2006. And what they’re actually doing is bombing from the air and massacring people, and we have to say no to this from here....


....The problem is that most Israelis say what Meagan said before. They say, “Israel left the Gaza Strip three years ago, and Hamas is still shooting rockets at us.” They forget the details. The details is that Israel maintains sovereignty. The details is that the Palestinians live in a cage. The details is that they don’t get basic foodstuff, that they don’t get electricity, that they don’t get water, and so forth. And when you forget those kinds of details, and all you say is, “Here, we left them. Why are they still shooting at us?” and that’s what the media here has been pumping them with, then you think this war is rational. If you look at what’s been going on in the Gaza Strip in the past three years and you see what Israel has been doing to the Palestinians, you would think that the Palestinian resistance is rational. And that’s what’s missing in the mainstream media here..."

[ShadesOfGrey]

24. This is so horrible. The US MUST intervene NOW!

What the hell is taking us so long? How many more dead before our country grows a set and steps up to the plate?:grr:

[Hydra]

41. We support this action

Or rather, our leaders do.

[Fireweed247]

26. I can't believe I am saying this...

but this is one area where the Clintons did good work...maybe there is hope after the 20th. Suddenly I am glad that Hillary is secretary of state. Sharon made the whole mess worse on purpose the day Bush took office.

There is the slightest bit of hope things will get better when Obama gets in... but how many must die and suffer before then?

"The loss of civilian life in Gaza and Israel is a source of deep concern to me," he said in a question and answer session at his transition office, "and after January 20 I'm going to have plenty to say about the issue."...

"Starting at the beginning of our administration, we are going to engage effectively and consistently in trying to resolve the conflicts that exist in the Middle East," he said. "On January 20, you will be hearing directly from me, and my opinions on the issue. Until then, my job is to monitor the situation" and to assemble a national security and foreign policy team.

That will be led by New York senator Hillary Clinton, whom Obama chose to be his secretary of state."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/06/obama-white-house-israel-hamas

This has all been so horrifying...I need my hope.



This young woman's courage exposed the
undeniably malicious ways of the Israeli Occupation.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0303/S00153.htm

Rachel's 1st hand account of life in Palestine
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,916299,00.html

[Idealism]

30. Rachel Corrie is a very sad account of just how brutal Israeli military can be.

[KG]

35. baiscally the IDF feels it can kill anybody coz nobody that matters can stop them.

and so they do.

[ellisonz]

37. I'm not clear whether we're talking about long range artillery or tanks advancing at point blank...

...it's entirely possible Hamas was using an adjacent area to fire mortars, or that Hamas did this.

"Asked whether Hamas militants were in the area of the Jabalya school at the time of the strike, Ging said it was the scene of clashes "so there's an intense military and militant activity in that area."

Let's wait and see...

[EFerrari]

48. IDF already admitted it. n/t

[oberliner]

39. Soldiers came under fire from militants hiding in the school

The Israeli army said its soldiers came under fire from militants hiding in the school and responded. It accused Gaza's Hamas rulers of "cynically" using civilians as human shields. Residents confirmed the account, saying militants were seen staging attacks from the area.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090106/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians

[EFerrari]

46. From the area, not in the school, according to your own post..

IDF was given the GPS coordinates, the compound was marked and they fired on it anyway.

Ten more people died from their wounds last night.

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/1/7/40_killed_in_israeli_strike_on

[rvablue]

51. OK, but does that justify bombing innocent children in the process? We always

hear and read about the elite forces in the IDF.

How about a stealth A-team operation, going in by helicopter, and shooting people on site that show themselves to be a threat and therefore potentially limiting the casualties of babies and small children?

Isn't that what we here at DU advocate when it comes to our government and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?

[EFerrari]

53. They were not in the school. n/t

[uppityperson]

54. near the school, not in it. From your link. "near" the school per witnesses.