The death toll is now at least 320, with over 1,000 people wounded. According to UNRWA at least 51 civilians have been killed, an estimate that is "conservative and it is certainly rising". In fact most of the casualities appear to be civilian police.
As the bombs continue to fall and the tanks mass on the border, Defense Minister Barak has pledged a "a war to the bitter end against Hamas and its branches". This is a war to destroy Hamas, not to end the Qassams, which as Barak himself pointed out a few months ago an invasion cannot accomplish.
The Palestine Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) yesterday reported that Israel is waging the "bloodiest and most brutal war against the Gaza Strip since its occupation in 1967, under an international and Arab conspiracy of silence". Most of the casualities have been civilians, it continues, including at least 20 children. The PCHR notes that the timing of the attacks, which "coincided with the end of the morning period and the beginning of the afternoon period at schools, many of which are located near police stations", indicates "that an Israeli decision was taken to cause maximum casualties in the climax of daily activities".
Humanitarian organisations are calling for an immediate ceasefire. Amnesty International reports that "[s]cores of unarmed civilians, as well as police personnel who were not directly participating in the hostilities" have been killed, noting that
"[t]he escalation of violence comes at a time when the civilian population already faces a daily struggle for survival due to the Israeli blockade which has prevented even food and medicines from entering Gaza."
Amnesty also provides a corrective to the ludicrous spin about who was responsible for ending the ceasefire:
"The Israeli blockade meant that the recent five-and-a-half-month ceasefire between Israel, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups in Gaza, Gaza residents experienced little or no improvement to their lives. The ceasefire effectively ended after six Palestinian militants were killed by Israeli forces in Gaza force on 4 November and a barrage of Palestinians rockets were launched on nearby towns and villages in the south of Israel."
The UN OCHA cites Al Mezan to the effect that "most [of the] fatalities were civilian police; other fatalities included at least 20 children, nine women, and 60 other unarmed civilians" in "one of the highest single-day death tolls recorded in the occupied Palestinian territory since 1967". This number is "expected to rise".
UN special rapporteur Richard Falk released a statement today condemning Israel's "severe and massive violations of international law". The airstrikes have "killed and injured hundreds of civilians" and have "destroyed every police and security office of Gaza's elected government". Israel has "ignored recent Hamas' diplomatic initiatives to reestablish the truce or ceasefire since its expiration on 26 December". Falk concludes,
"The Israeli airstrikes today, and the catastrophic human toll that they caused, challenge those countries that have been and remain complicit, either directly or indirectly, in Israel's violations of international law. That complicity includes those countries knowingly providing the military equipment including warplanes and missiles used in these illegal attacks, as well as those countries who have supported and participated in the siege of Gaza that itself has caused a humanitarian catastrophe."
That would be us, then.
Cross-posted at The Heathlander