Israeli forces shelled a house in the Gaza Strip which they had moved around 110 Palestinians into 24 hours earlier, the UN quotes witnesses as saying.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) called it "one of the gravest incidents" since the beginning of the offensive.
The shelling at Zeitoun, a south-east suburb of Gaza City, on 5 January killed some 30 people, the report said.
Israel says it has looked into the allegations and they are unfounded.
Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said no Israeli soldiers had been in the area on the day the incident was supposed to have happened.
*****
An estimated 770 Palestinians and 14 Israelis have died in nearly two weeks of Israel's air and ground offensive against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
excerpted from the BBC.
I hate to beat a dead horse so to speak, but regardless of one's ideological position on this issue or distaste for Hamas, this constitutes a war crime. Come on! This is disgusting. Blame Hamas all you like but when Israel, or any country or non-state actor, shells UN positions, kills aid workers, and then shells a civilian shelter THAT THEY PUT PEOPLE INTO it is an unconcionable act that defies international law and basic respect for human life. How can this go on? How can the US not put pressure on Israel to stop the killing? This depresses to me to no end. And it depresses me how many people, especially policy makers in this country, can keep beating the same tired drum that "the fault lies with Hamas" when Israel is carrying out specifc attacks on civilians again and again. At best Israel as just as guilty as Hamas at this point.
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2 comments:
I notice that you didn't post the report about Israeli soldiers recovered a map from a Hamas gunman that showed a series of defensive positions that included improvised explosive devised planted in the doorways of Palestinian homes. Homes, that, should be noted, were still being occupied by the people living there. Also included were the locations of sniper positions, most also located in the private homes of hapless Palestinians.
But that's neither here nor there, actually. I'm just taking a small jab at the fact that you aren't presenting a balanced viewpoint.
And to be fair, I should also point out that Israel has been guilty of the same thing: Sniper teams taking up positions in occupied houses, and not allowing the occupants to leave.
In the end, I actually agree with your fundamental assertion that Israel has waaaay overstepped the bounds of acceptable behavior on the battlefield. At this point, the IDF has made several grievous blunders (I *hope* they were blunders, and not intentional) that have resulted in absolutely unacceptable loss of life (as if any civilian casualties would truly ever be "acceptable"). U.N. employees? A school? A house packed with people the IDF put in there in the first place? Children playing on a rooftop?
Unthinkable, and absolutely tragic.
Israel has the right to defend itself, and I support that right, especially against the likes of Hamas. But, *BUT*, as a civilized state, she must shoulder the burden of doing so responsibly. Otherwise, they are no better.
I don't want you to think I support the notion that the loss of an innocent life is somehow ever really acceptable in the grand scheme of things. I don't believe that at all. I often argue Israel's position here because sometimes, I feel somebody ought to, given that you do have a personal bias and agenda here (not that this is necessarily a bad thing. We all have pet causes, and taking up the plight of a suffering people is hardly a bad one)
I present opposition to you on some of these issues to make sure there is at least some kind of debate and discussion going on here, not just soapbox soliloquies.
Just so you know, I do agree that many of Israel's (and Hamas') actions in Gaza have been absolutely unacceptable, and that the fighting needs to stop. Yesterday.
Fair. I had not seen the article on the IEDs, but that is no surprise. I would not ever defend Hamas, they terrorize the Palestinian people and certainly share in the responsibility in what has happened. Any ceasefire agreement should contain a balanced blame for what has happened. Still, in raw numbers it IS Israel that is doing most of the damage at this point. And it has been that way for years. I don't want to come off sounding like I am anti-Israel. For some retarded reason is seems like as soon as anyone wants to lay blame on Israel someone else feels compelled to stand up and call them an anti-Semite (not that I think that's what Beck is doing at all). The point is, a balanced viewpoint would put most of the civilian deaths at the feet of Israel. One can say that Hamas started it. Fine. We are so far beyond who started what that the argument is pointless anyway. One can say that Hamas hides in the homes of civilians, lives among the population. Fine. Every guerrilla group does that and every government fighting one has blamed them for the massive casualties that is has inflicted on the population in the name of counter-insurgency. That doesn't change the fact that innocent people die by the hundreds or thousands. What I am arguing for is a balanced view point. We all know Hamas is terrible. No one will dispute that. What I want is shared blame and (ideally) equal prosecutions. If Hamas leaders can be captured try them and imprison them. But I think IDF officers and Israel polciy makers deserve the same treatment. Israel has the capacity to conduct a more civilized war. The fact is they choose not to because doing so is more costly. It endangers their troops and costs a tonne of money. Don't get me wrong, I understand why they don't. Israelis would not want to pay for it with their soldiers' blood. So they use more indiscriminate tactics because they are cheaper and result in fewer dead IDF soldiers. But that is a strategic choice Israel has made, and the leadership has to bear responsibility for atrocities it commits during war. A massacre is a massacre regardless of what your motives are.
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