Gaza school massacre

06Jan09

Last night Israeli jets bombed a UN school, killing three members of the same family. Evidently, they have developed a taste for it:

“Israeli forces killed at least 42 Palestinians [now 45] at a UN school that was sheltering displaced people in Jabaliya Refugee Camp in the northern Gaza Strip late on Tuesday afternoon, medical officials confirmed to Ma’an.

According to initial reports, the school was destroyed, collapsing on top of Palestinians who took shelter inside from the intense bombardment by Israeli air and ground forces…

Children are also said to be among the dead. Hundreds of people were reported to be in the area of the school at the time of the shelling.

Ma’an’s reporter said that dozens more, all civilians, were injured in the attack on the Al-Fakhoura School. The death toll is expected to rise as a number of the wounded are said to be in critical condition. Ambulances were initially unable reach the school…

UNRWA says it handed over the GPS coordinates of all UN installations throughout the Gaza Strip to the Israeli military. The school was clearly marked as a UN facility.”

UNRWA chief John Ging emphasised that the school was a purely civilian target:

“I can tell you categorically that there was no militant activity in that school at the time of that tragedy … We have established beyond any doubt that the school was not being used by any militants.”

As Al Jazeera reports:

thousands of people have sought refuge from Israel’s bombardment in UN schools, believing, naively, that the UN markings would offer them some sort of protection. Israel is sending out a very clear message:  in the words of UNRWA chief John Ging, “[t]here’s nowhere safe in Gaza”.

Israel’s only substantive response thus far to reports of the massacre came from IDF spokesperson Avital Leibovich: “Let me be clear – I am not apologizing”.

Update: it seems the IDF has admitted it is lying:

“Israel told foreign diplomats Wednesday that Palestinian militants had not fired rockets from within a United Nations’ school, a UN official said.

Israeli military officials said on Tuesday that militants had fired rockets from within the school, and that attack provoked Israeli artillery fire which landed near the school and killed more than 40 Palestinians in the Jabalia refugee camp, many of whom were seeking refuge from fighting.

“The Israeli army is briefing diplomats privately that the militant fire from Jablia yesterday did not come from inside the UNRWA school compound, but from the outside,” said Chris Gunness, a spokesman for the UN Relief Works Agency, which aids Palestinian refugees. Gunness said the claim was a “major allegation against a neutral UN development agency” which “within a day turns out to be completely baseless.”


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11 Responses to “Gaza school massacre”  

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  1. 1 JamieSW on January 6, 2009 said:

    Justin Podur makes an important point:

    “Israel invites us to dehumanize ourselves by estimating how many of its victims were ‘militants’ and how many ‘civilians’. In this game, Israel claims everyone it has killed was a militant and those who were not are victims of the militants because they hide among civilians. The United Nations has accepted the broad parameters of the game, estimating at one point that one fifth of those killed were civilians. The details can then be quibbled over. But no one would accept this game if it were not Palestinians who were being killed. No one tries to divide the victims of Hamas’s rockets or, in years past, suicide bombings. No doubt many of these were off-duty soldiers, since Israel has universal conscription. But everyone understands that these were civilians and killing them, a crime (an act of terrorism, no less). Most people understand that subdividing the young victims of a suicide bombing at a cafeteria based on whether they were active duty or reservist soldiers would be a pretty disgusting thing to do. But the same simple logic fails when attempted to extend it to Palestinians at a marketplace or school or hospital or university, all of whom are legitimate targets of murder unless proven otherwise (and Israel allows no one to see the evidence to prove anything in any case).” (via)

  2. 2 JamieSW on January 6, 2009 said:

    UNRWA chief John Ging says the death toll from the second school bombing was 30, with 55 people injured. Ma’an reports that “[m]any women and children are said to be among the dead”, while “dozens more, all civilians, were injured in the attack”.

  3. 3 Asa on January 7, 2009 said:

    Their propaganda as of this morning is that: there are unnamed “witnesses” who allegedly saw Hamas militants fire from near the school:

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

    http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ioi_0jtO9RjMwPNRoXNCndRPRq3gD95HUIG80

    Robin Shepherd (apparently doing volunteer work for the Israeli army’s propaganda dept) was just on the BBC News channel saying there are “reports” about it. Israeli govt propagandists all day have been saying there are “independent” reports about it.

    This is our challenge. It’s really seems almost impossible at times, as it’s so easy to make up lies. And all they have to do is cast the slightest doubt and the BBC will throw its hands up and say “HOW CAN WE EVER POSSIBLY KNOW THE TRUTH????” (at best). Your work makes me live in hope we can win with the truth though!

  4. 4 Asa on January 7, 2009 said:

    ARGH!! I’ve just noticed that Jpost story has been changed!! I should have saved the original version!

    Their story keeps changing: their first response was to deny they day fired at the school. I’m sure there is evidence of this elsewhere.

  5. 5 JamieSW on January 7, 2009 said:

    That quote from John Ging is very valuable then. What’s more, it should be emphasised that even if there were loads of weapons and even a couple of fighters inside the school, intentionally blowing up 40 innocent civilians is a war crime.

  7. 7 pauly on January 7, 2009 said:

    Asa – here’s a link where an Israeli officer says we shouldn’t believe reports about Israel bombing a school http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7814251.stm

  8. 8 JamieSW on January 7, 2009 said:

    Asa – great stuff!

    pauly, thanks for the link. They’ve changed their story several times – at one point they were saying that ‘weapons’ were in the school, then that fighters were in there, then that actual rockets had been fired from the school. With Israeli officials still denying that there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, it’s just incredible that anyone takes anything they say seriously.

  10. 10 Asa on January 8, 2009 said:

    pauly: great evidence — this is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about.

    Their propaganda is getting really more and more desperate. “Another 50 targets today” — ha! Yea I’m sure they were all “rocket-launching sites” mate – yes really. Making “progress” like Bush in Iraq are we?

    Plus, is it just me: or are “Israeli” spokesmen during this latest war more and more often very obviously (from accents) British, Australian, South African, American etc. more often than in past wars? Maybe I’m just noticing it more, but if this is a conscious PR strategy on their part, I predict that it will back-fire on them in the long term. It could render totally ineffective the main propaganda framework of the English media, that: “both sides are as bad as each other”.

    Jamie, one comradely criticism: I think we shouldn’t use the term “IDF” as it’s a propaganda term. Use “Israeli military” or “Israeli army” etc. as appropriate.


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