UN chief accuses Israel of criminal activity in Gaza
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Photo:
REUTERS/Ismail Zitouny
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon accused Israel of criminal activity in Gaza and of breaking international law in its military campaign against Hamas the Strip.
He issued his particularly harsh statement on Sunday in response to a UN report that ten Palestinians were killed and 27 injured in an Israeli missile strike adjacent to the main gate of the UN Relief and Works Agency’s Boys’ Prep School ‘A’ in the town of Rafah, in southern Gaza that morning.
Video from Reuters showed the bloodied bodies of two men and one child lying on the ground after the attack. It also showed wounded Palestinians being evacuated from the school yard.
In Washington the State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the US “was appalled by today’s disgraceful shelling outside an UNRWA school” that sheltered 3,000 displaced persons The army said its investigating the matter. A spokeswoman said that the IDF did kill a number of terrorists in that area, but that she did not believe the hit was close to the school.
Brig. Gen. Motti Almoz told Channel 2 that Hamas often operates out of civilian areas. The IDF does its utmost not to harm civilians and it regrets any harm that comes to innocent Palestinians in Gaza, Almoz said. But he did not specifically address the issue of Sunday morning’s attack.
UNRWA itself has reported that weapons were found in three of its schools, but Sunday’s attack or any of the other attacks were not against those three facilities.
Psaki said, “The suspicion that militants are operating nearby does not justify strikes that put at risk the lives of so many innocent civilians.”
UNRWA has charged that Israeli shelling and or artillery fire has directly hit five of its schools in the last few weeks. The UN has further charged that over 100 of its facilities in Gaza have been damaged in the fighting.
The US calls for a prompt investigation into Sunday’s attack as well as the shelling of other UNRWA schools, Psaki said.
But her words paled in comparison to those from Ban’s office, which spoke of Israeli crimes, but did not mention Hamas, even though it say that “both parties” must protect Palestinian civilians and respect UN premises.
“United Nations shelters must be safe zones not combat zones. The Israel Defense Forces have been repeatedly informed of the location of these sites,” Ban’s office said.
“This attack, along with other breaches of international law, must be swiftly investigated and those responsible held accountable. It is a moral outrage and a criminal act,” Ban’s office said.
“The Secretary-General repeats his demand to the parties to immediately end the fighting and return to the path of peace. This madness must stop,” Ban’s office said.
The US similarly did not mention Hamas in its statement. Psaki said, “We once again stress that Israel must do more to meet its own standards and avoid civilian casualties. UN facilities, especially those sheltering civilians, must be protected, and must not be used as bases from which to launch attacks.”
UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl and its Gaza Director Robert Turner said that the IDF had been notified 33 times that Palestinian civilians had taken refuge in the boy's school in Rafah.
“The last time was only an hour before the incident,” they said.
“We made two similar calls after the shelling incidents at our schools housing thousands of displaced people in Beit Hanoun and Jabalia, which caused multiple deaths and injuries. We fully expect the result of these three investigations to be transmitted to us,” Krahenbuhl and Turner said.
They added that 11 UNRWA workers have been killed in the Gaza conflict.
According to UNRWA spokesperson Chris Gunness his organization is housing 270,000 displaced Palestinians in 90 schools across Gaza. Each shelter, he said, houses about 3,000 civilians.
“While UNRWA will continue to provide all possible aid and protection to the displaced, we remind the parties that they must respect the sanctity of civilian life, the inviolability of UN property and that they must abide their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and humanitarian workers,” Krahenbuhl and Turner said.
Bush did more than give a blank check to Israel. He didn't know who the Palestinians were. Obama, having spurred the Arab Spring following his Cairo speech in his first year, has had both Hillary and Kerry working their asses off to bring a lasting peace, while Bush's buddy Netanyahu tek he eyes pass a US President with the help of the Republicans. Netanyahu is like the Republicans - block Obama at every turn and never let him get credit for any progress.