Hamas: We like death and want everyone else to experience it

IDF: Mortars fired from bombed school

While UN spokesman reports at least 30 casualties from attack near UNRWA school in Jabalya, army claims strike targeted terrorists firing mortar shells from structure moments earlier

by Hanan Greenberg
1/6/09


Global news agencies have decried the Israel Defense Forces strike near a United Nations school in Gaza on Tuesday, in which dozens were killed, and Palestinian sources said the casualties were mostly civilians.

[How do you tell the difference between civilian and Hamas? Who was it that decided what constituted a civilian? Who told the media that it was civilians killed? And what checking could you do on the numbers killed and on whether or not it was a civilian? And if you can't verify anything, should it be stated as near fact?]


The Israeli army, however, claimed that terrorists were firing mortar shells from the school just moments before the strike. The IDF stated that a number of Hamas gunmen were inside the school, among them Imad and Hassan Abu-Askar, who are known to the IDF as Hamas operatives.

Palestinian sources reported that at least 40 civilians were killed in the strike on the school, which belongs to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

[If the school belongs to you Mr. Moon, and hamas terrorists are using the school as a front to fire weapons or mortars at the Israelis - you are legally responsible for the events that unfold: civilians killed, children killed, prooperty destroyed. And if it was your school, were any of your personnel present? Below - the UN spokesman claims ... based upon what and upon who? Again, stated as near fact. Yes the word claimed is presented, but the claim is laid at the feet of the UN and will never be questioned. Yet if the UN was present at the time - that person or persons would be legally responsible for allowing the property to be used for illegal purposes (shooting rockets and endangering children) and for not making statements to this effect - yes, we had someone present and while they are going to be fired for negligence, they did see some terrorists invade the school and take children captive ... OR .... the school ONLY had women and children and a few UN workers in it ... there would be no room for question if a statement of fact were made - which it would seem to me, could be done, if it were indeed true .... OTHERWISE, it seems that the UN is accepting the word of someone else and then repeating it as true and no one verifies it.]

A UN spokesman claimed 30 Palestinians were killed.

According to the Palestinian reports, a number of tank shells landed around the school, in which refugees who had fled their nearby homes were taking shelter.

Reports are unclear regarding the precise number of casualties, but Palestinian sources said many of the dozens killed were women and children. They added that the number may still rise, as many of the wounded suffer life-threatening injuries.

[It may rise for many reasons. Some are simply the imaginations of bad people.]

It was the second UNRWA school to be hit Tuesday. Earlier, three civilians were killed in a strike on a Khan Younis school in which refugees had gathered.

An additional 13 civilians were killed in an earlier IDF strike that leveled a four-storey structure in Gaza City's Zeitoun neighborhood.

Rescue teams were searching for more bodies and survivors under the rubble. During the evacuation of the injured, a second structure was hit in the neighborhood.











Palestinians