A snapshot into the realities of Israel's war on "Hamas targets":
Earlier this week, eyewitnesses report, the IDF ordered 100 members of an extended family to gather in a single house, then repeatedly shelled that house, killing 60-70 people, and then prevented ambulances and aid workers from attending to the injured by shooting at them and refusing to coordinate safe passage.
In preparation for the inevitable barrage of excuses and justifications from Israeli officials, have a read of lenin's analysis of Israel's half-hearted attempts to justify Tuesday's massacre of over 40 civilians sheltering in a UN school.
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Humanitarian updates
Amnesty International yesterday explicitly accused Israel of targeting civilians:
"Civilians in Gaza are trapped in an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe, and need immediate respite," said Malcolm Smart, Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.
"It is abundantly clear that the parties to this conflict are failing to respect international humanitarian law, and that the civilian population of Gaza is paying a very heavy price...
However, civilians – particularly the 1.5 million Palestinians trapped in Gaza – continue to both be targeted and suffer disproportionately in this conflict."
The Palestine Centre for Human Rights accused Israel of perpetrating war crimes, reporting:
"Overnight, and in the early hours of this morning, Israeli forces extended their ground incursion deep inside the Gaza Strip. Intense fighting in densely populated residential areas has drawn the civilian population deeper into the conflict; whole families have been killed in attacks, many while they were still in their own homes. These attacks occur in the context of the ongoing siege of Gaza: civilians are suffering from acute shortages of even the most basic of foodstuffs, including milk, bread and water. Essential medications are in increasingly short supply, if available at all. Electricity blackouts are widespread, water is increasingly unavailable. The Gaza Strip is the scene of a humanitarian disaster."
The World Bank [.pdf] warned that 10,000 people 'risk drowning in septic waste as Gaza’s sewage system is threatened by Israeli bombardment and the inability to operate pumps', noting that "[n]early all sewage and water pumps are now out of operation" and "nearly the entire population of Gaza is without running water". The Israeli human rights organisation Gisha points out that the collapse of Gaza's water and sewage systems was "caused by the military operation and by a 14-month policy of systematically blocking fuel supplies necessary to generate electricity".
The World Health Organization warned that "[t]he health services in Gaza, already depleted and fragile, are on the point of collapse", adding:
"To date more than 680 deaths (including about 218 women and children) have been recorded and over 2850 people are reported injured. The dead include 21 medical personnel. Thirty more were injured and 11 ambulances were hit in the violence and military activities in Gaza, according to reports from the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The numbers continue to rise and include many civilians." [my emph]
Eight human rights organisations petitioned the Israeli High Court to prevent the IDF from 'attacking medical teams and ambulances operating in Gaza':
"The petition claims that since the military operation in Gaza was launched, many cases have been recorded where the army fired [on] medical staff assisting Palestinians wounded in the IDF offensive.
The petitioners claim that the numerous cases reported indicate that attacks on medical teams are not accidental. In addition, they are claiming that the IDF procedure for approving the ambulances’ movement is inefficient, time-consuming, and usually results in failure to get through to casualties." [my emph.]
As Jeremy Bowen observed on BBC 1 news last night, Israel's "three hour ceasefire" is mainly an attempt to improve its PR and buy it more time until it's forced to call the slaughter off. In humanitarian terms it is, Save the Children reports, "completely inadequate":
"During the pause, we were able to deliver two weeks' worth of rations for 1,000 people in the north of Gaza. However, staff had to hire donkey carts, as no truck drivers were willing to deliver the aid for fear of the resumption of violence.
The food delivered — although welcome — in no way matches the scale of the needs in Gaza, where over half a million children are dependent on food aid, and already 50,000 of those are malnourished.
By 4pm local time, Gaza's 1.5 million inhabitants were once again unprotected from the bombardments that have now killed over 100 children and displaced thousands more.
Salam Kanaan, country director of Save the Children's West Bank and Gaza programme, said: "This was not a ceasefire, it was merely a brief curfew in the fighting. It will have done nothing to assuage the fear and stress that children are suffering, children who are once again spending the night petrified their houses could be bombed.
"The small amount of aid allowed in, while better than nothing, is a pitiful gesture in the face of such an overwhelming humanitarian crisis. Children need food, medicine, clean water and warm blankets now, otherwise more will die..."
In fact even during the supposed three hour 'lull' Israel killed three Palestinian civilians - sisters, aged two, four and six.
More updates here and here.
Cross-posted at The Heathlander