Israeli military fire hit a United Nations-run school in Gaza today, killing at least 20 people and injuring an estimated 90 people. The school under attack, called the Abu Hussein girls’ elementary school, is located in the densely-populated Jabaliya refugee camp.
The United Nations Relief Works and Agency (UNRWA), the group that serves Palestinian refugees, issued a stern statement placing the blame for the attack on the Israeli army.
“Last night, children were killed as they slept next to their parents on the floor of a classroom in a UN designated shelter in Gaza. Children killed in their sleep; this is an affront to all of us, a source of universal shame. Today the world stands disgraced,” said UNRWA Secretary General Pierre Krähenbühl. “We have visited the site and gathered evidence. We have analysed fragments, examined craters and other damage. Our initial assessment is that it was Israeli artillery that hit our school, in which 3,300 people had sought refuge.”
Krähenbühl added that the Israeli attack violated international law, and that UNRWA had informed Israel of the location of the school 17 times. The Palestinians who were sheltering there had been told by the Israeli military to flee their Gaza neighborhoods, only to be hit by Israeli shells at the place they thought would be safe. An estimated 240,000 displaced Palestinians are being sheltered in UNRWA facilities.
Israeli army spokespeople claim that Palestinian fighters fired from near the school–a claim they have frequently made when confronted by their attacks on civilians.
It was the second time in two weeks that an attack on a UN school caused deaths. Israel denies it hit the UN school in Beit Hanoun it bombarded last week, though Gaza-based journalists like The Daily Beast’s Jesse Rosenfeld have cast doubt on those claims, writing that the evidence appears to indicate Israeli fire hitting the area. The attack killed 16 people. UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said last week that three other UNRWA installations had been fired on by Israel, injuring five Palestinians in one incident.
UNRWA has also had to contend with Palestinian rockets being stored in schools that were abandoned. But there is no evidence that the schools hit by Israeli fire have rockets in them.
The attack on the UNRWA school in Jabaliya came after another night of heavy Israeli bombardment. The Gaza Ministry of Health said that over 70 Palestinians were killed since midnight. That brings the death toll to well over 1,200 Palestinians, the vast majority of them civilians.
Israel declared what it called a “humanitarian window” for four hours today–but also said it would continue to operate militarily in areas where soldiers were already firing. Hamas called it a declaration meant for the media and did not halt its fire. Israeli shells killed at least five Palestinians during the “humanitarian window, Ma’an News Agency reported. And another Israeli attack on a market in the Gaza neighborhood of Shuja’iyeh killed at least 15 people.
Pierre Krähenbühl @PKraehenbuehl
“This is 6th time one of our @UNRWA schools has been struck. Our staff leading int’l response are being killed. This is a breaking point”
The UNRWA statement is worth reading in full
http://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/press-releases/unrwa-strongly-condemns-israeli-shelling-its-school-gaza-serious-violation
“The United Nations Relief and Works Agency has strongly condemned an Israeli strike on a UN school being used as a shelter in the Jabaliya refugee camp, which killed at least 19 people and injured 90.
The agency appeared hit out at a lack of international action to end the violence with the words: “[T]his is an affront to all of us, a source of universal shame. Today the world stands disgracedToday the world stands disgraced.”
In a statement UNRWA Commissioner-General, Pierre Krähenbühl said: “I call on the international community to take deliberate international political action to put an immediate end to the continuing carnage.”
Here is the statement in full:
Last night, children were killed as they slept next to their parents on the floor of a classroom in a UN designated shelter in Gaza. Children killed in their sleep; this is an affront to all of us, a source of universal shame. Today the world stands disgraced.
We have visited the site and gathered evidence. We have analysed fragments, examined craters and other damage. Our initial assessment is that it was Israeli artillery that hit our school, in which 3,300 people had sought refuge. We believe there were at least three impacts. It is too early to give a confirmed official death toll. But we know that there were multiple civilian deaths and injuries including of women and children and the UNRWA guard who was trying to protect the site. These are people who were instructed to leave their homes by the Israeli army.
The precise location of the Jabalia Elementary Girls School and the fact that it was housing thousands of internally displaced people was communicated to the Israeli army seventeen times, to ensure its protection; the last being at ten to nine last night, just hours before the fatal shelling.
I condemn in the strongest possible terms this serious violation of international law by Israeli forces.
This is the sixth time that one of our schools has been struck. Our staff, the very people leading the humanitarian response are being killed. Our shelters are overflowing. Tens of thousands may soon be stranded in the streets of Gaza, without food, water and shelter if attacks on these areas continue.We are in the realm of accountability. I call on the international community to take deliberate international political action to put an immediate end to the continuing carnage
We have moved beyond the realm of humanitarian action alone. .”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoXsxYf2UMA
The Real Name of this War on Terror, Violence, Unrest, Injustice, Poverty, Drugs, Addiction and Crime is called CORRUPTION.
Plain and simple.
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (Global Think Tank) ~ “Corruption: The Unrecognized Threat to International Security” – http://m.ceip.org/publications/?fa=55791
Our world leaders need to officially ‘recognize’ and Declare it for what it is.
“The War on Corruption”.
And Turn the Page of History.
Wherever you are in the World, in your own jursidictions and capacity, you can do something, anything, just one thing.
And make a differcence.
I watched an outraged UN official confirm this. I heard the despair in his voice. I am disgusted that I do not hear ANY outrage from my country, or the deserving condemnation for this brutal slaughter. ENOUGH of the war criminals showing up in the MSM and blaming this again on the Palestinians. Enough.
Those who kill and responsible are the ones that pull the trigger/push the buttons.
This is the big fat bully hurting others and whining someone else made him do it.
Sick of the lies.
If militants were among Israeli people, in their homes or civilians structures would the damn IDF shoot so carelessly and show the same indifference?
Stop blaming others, and take the blame, cowards.
A new massacre happened half an hour ago, 16 dead in a shelling of a heavily trafficked street of Shujaiah. Being shown on Mayadeen now, with bodies strewn all over the ground.
Iran has threatened to do something about Gaza.
We can infer that this is consistent with United States policy. This is so, because U.S. law prohibits export of weapons for aggression, terrorism, genocide, and crimes against humanity. The State Department must approve export of weapons, and the President is empowered to determine whether U.S. made weapons are being used or likely be used for legitimate self defense, and must report to Congress if he believes such is not the case.
The humane and moral response to Israel’s actions, and the response that would be in the best interest of the United States, would be for Mr. Obama to ban export of weapons to Israel and to demand that the Security Council ban the export of weapons to Israel by any country. Israel already has plenty of weapons for its legitimate self-defense.
Excerpt from Wikipedia:
“The Arms Export Control Act of 1976 (Title II of Pub.L. 94–329, 90 Stat. 729, enacted June 30, 1976, codified at 22 U.S.C. ch. 39) gives the President of the United States the authority to control the import and export of defense articles and defense services. It requires governments that receive weapons from the United States to use them for legitimate self-defense. Consideration is given as to whether the exports “would contribute to an arms race, aid in the development of weapons of mass destruction, support international terrorism, increase the possibility of outbreak or escalation of conflict, or prejudice the development of bilateral or multilateral arms control or nonproliferation agreements or other arrangements.”
from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arms_Export_Control_Act