<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/uHhs9ihSmbU&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/uHhs9ihSmbU&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
I'm shocked, really!
VIDEOS: HAMAS ABUSING HUMANITARIAN AID AND THE CEASEFIRE
Click to see a Fox News (http://relay.netatlantic.com/t/26535109/69326561/4076/0/ report showing humanitarian aid trucks
containing military uniforms destined for Hamas stopped at the Gaza border by the IDF. The
second video from the IDF (http://relay.netatlantic.com/t/26535109/69326561/4077/0/ shows Hamas firing
rockets from a schoolyard during a three-hour humanitarian pause.
On Sunday, Hamas again fired rockets (http://relay.netatlantic.com/t/26535109/69326561/4078/0/ during the three-hour
humanitarian pause hitting a wall surrounding a kindergarten in Ashdod.
VIDEOS: HAMAS ABUSING HUMANITARIAN AID AND THE CEASEFIRE
Click to see a Fox News (http://relay.netatlantic.com/t/26535109/69326561/4076/0/ report showing humanitarian aid trucks
containing military uniforms destined for Hamas stopped at the Gaza border by the IDF. The
second video from the IDF (http://relay.netatlantic.com/t/26535109/69326561/4077/0/ shows Hamas firing
rockets from a schoolyard during a three-hour humanitarian pause.
On Sunday, Hamas again fired rockets (http://relay.netatlantic.com/t/26535109/69326561/4078/0/ during the three-hour
humanitarian pause hitting a wall surrounding a kindergarten in Ashdod.
Hamas raids aid trucks, sells supplies
Hamas on Monday raided some 100 aid trucks that Israel had allowed into Gaza, stole their contents and sold them to the highest bidders.
Gaza op, Day 17 The IDF said that since terminal activity is coordinated with UNRWA and the Red Cross, Israel could do nothing to prevent such raids, Israel Radio reported.
Between 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., the army had ceased all military activity in Gaza and once again established a "humanitarian corridor" to help facilitate the transfer of the supplies.
The Kerem Shalom and Karni crossings had been opened to allow in the aid trucks.
Security officials at Kerem Shalom thwarted an attempt to smuggle electrical goods, disguised as humanitarian supplies, into Gaza. The electrical goods included computers, infra-red cameras, ovens, microwaves and other electronic equipment.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak has forbidden the entry of electronics to Gaza since the goods do not fall under the category of humanitarian aid. Some electronic equipment has been let in as per an official Palestinian request, such as equipment used to repair the damaged electrical grid in Gaza.
Meanwhile, Israel is considering establishing a field hospital in the Gaza Strip to treat Palestinian civilians wounded in fighting between the IDF and Hamas.
The plan would be to establish the field hospital outside the Gaza Strip, but the IDF is also considering the possibility of erecting the hospital inside the Palestinian territory so it will be more accessible to the Palestinian population. It would be run by the IDF Medical Corps.
Also Monday, in an effort to promote Israeli humanitarian efforts in the Gaza Strip, the Defense Ministry launched a new Web site that provides a live video feed of the Kerem Shalom cargo crossing, through which international organizations have been transferring basic foods and medical supplies to Gaza.
The footage can be viewed here.
http://www.mod.gov.il/pages/general/Maavar_Kerem_Shalom.asp
Since the beginning of Operation Cast Lead, the IDF has facilitated the transfer of close to 900 trucks into the Gaza Strip with over 20,000 tons of basic foods and medical supplies.
According to an army estimate on Monday, slightly over 900 Palestinians have been killed since Operation Cast Lead began in December 2008. Based on intelligence and information obtained by the Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration, the IDF has determined that at least 400 of those killed are known Hamas operatives. The IDF further believes that among the remaining 500, a significant number are also Hamas operatives.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1231424932109&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
Hamas on Monday raided some 100 aid trucks that Israel had allowed into Gaza, stole their contents and sold them to the highest bidders.
Gaza op, Day 17 The IDF said that since terminal activity is coordinated with UNRWA and the Red Cross, Israel could do nothing to prevent such raids, Israel Radio reported.
Between 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., the army had ceased all military activity in Gaza and once again established a "humanitarian corridor" to help facilitate the transfer of the supplies.
The Kerem Shalom and Karni crossings had been opened to allow in the aid trucks.
Security officials at Kerem Shalom thwarted an attempt to smuggle electrical goods, disguised as humanitarian supplies, into Gaza. The electrical goods included computers, infra-red cameras, ovens, microwaves and other electronic equipment.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak has forbidden the entry of electronics to Gaza since the goods do not fall under the category of humanitarian aid. Some electronic equipment has been let in as per an official Palestinian request, such as equipment used to repair the damaged electrical grid in Gaza.
Meanwhile, Israel is considering establishing a field hospital in the Gaza Strip to treat Palestinian civilians wounded in fighting between the IDF and Hamas.
The plan would be to establish the field hospital outside the Gaza Strip, but the IDF is also considering the possibility of erecting the hospital inside the Palestinian territory so it will be more accessible to the Palestinian population. It would be run by the IDF Medical Corps.
Also Monday, in an effort to promote Israeli humanitarian efforts in the Gaza Strip, the Defense Ministry launched a new Web site that provides a live video feed of the Kerem Shalom cargo crossing, through which international organizations have been transferring basic foods and medical supplies to Gaza.
The footage can be viewed here.
http://www.mod.gov.il/pages/general/Maavar_Kerem_Shalom.asp
Since the beginning of Operation Cast Lead, the IDF has facilitated the transfer of close to 900 trucks into the Gaza Strip with over 20,000 tons of basic foods and medical supplies.
According to an army estimate on Monday, slightly over 900 Palestinians have been killed since Operation Cast Lead began in December 2008. Based on intelligence and information obtained by the Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration, the IDF has determined that at least 400 of those killed are known Hamas operatives. The IDF further believes that among the remaining 500, a significant number are also Hamas operatives.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1231424932109&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
You guys keep this up and I may need to counter the Oren-driven ISRAEL SUCKS merged thread with a Scott-driven HAMAS SUCKS Then you can both post several videos and articles each day which the other guy won't read or watch
Win Win
d1g1t
ps...You keeping up with NBA this season? I need to pull up your site and answer my own question
Win Win
d1g1t
ps...You keeping up with NBA this season? I need to pull up your site and answer my own question
:tongue2:
Gaza: Israeli troops reveal ruthless tactics against Hamas
<!-- END: Module - Main Heading --><!--CMA user Call Diffrenet Variation Of Image --><EMBED height=266 type=application/x-shockwave-flash width=384 src=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00464/articleplayer_19025_464923a.swf wmode="opaque" allowScriptAccess="sameDomain" flashvars="videoid=7201500001"></EMBED><!-- Print Author name associated with the article -->
<!-- Print Author name from By Line associated with the article -->Sheera Frenkel on the Gaza border
<!-- Article Copy module --><!-- BEGIN: Module - Main Article --><!-- Check the Article Type and display accordingly--><!-- Print Author image associated with the Author--><!-- Print the body of the article--><STYLE type=text/css>div#related-article-links p a, div#related-article-links p a:visited {color:#06c;}</STYLE><!-- Pagination -->At the first sign of movement in the dark Gaza alleyway, Alon opened fire without hesitation. Snipers liked to operate at night, he said, and the area had been cleared of Israeli troops.
“He could have been advancing to attack,” the Israeli lieutenant explained. “We are treating everything as hostile right now. We were told not to take chances — to shoot rather than ask questions.”
Alon — he would only give his first name and rank — was part of the forces that took control of the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza. It was his first day of recuperative leave out of Gaza since Israel began its ground offensive 12 days ago.
As Israel laid the groundwork for what is expected to be the third stage in its offensive, sending a stream of reservists in to support weary combat units, those soldiers on a break from the combat gave first-hand accounts of Israel’s military tactics.
<!--#include file="m63-article-related-attachements.html"--><!-- BEGIN: Module - M63 - Article Related Attachements --><SCRIPT type=text/javascript><!--function pictureGalleryPopup(pubUrl,articleId) {var newWin = window.open(pubUrl+'template/2.0-0/element/pictureGalleryPopup.jsp?id='+articleId+'&&offset=0&§ionName=WorldMiddleEast','mywindow','menubar=0,resizable=0,width=1000,height=711');}//--></SCRIPT><!-- BEGIN: Comment Teaser Module --><!-- END: Comment Teaser Module --><!-- BEGIN: Module - M63 - Article Related Package --><!-- END: Module - M63 - Article Related Package -->Related Links
<FORM method=post name=relatedLinksform action=""></FORM>
<FORM method=post name=relatedLinksform action=""></FORM>
<FORM method=post name=relatedLinksform action=""></FORM><FORM method=post name=relatedLinksform action=""></FORM><FORM method=post name=relatedLinksform action=""></FORM><FORM method=post name=relatedLinksform action=""></FORM><FORM method=post name=relatedLinksform action=""></FORM>
Multimedia
<!-- Display picture gallery -->
<!-- BEGIN: POLL --><!--This block will execute if an article of type Poll is attached--><!-- END : POLL --><!-- BEGIN: DEBATE--><!-- END: DEBATE-->
<!-- END: Module - M63 - Article Related Attachements -->“I’m not a newcomer in the army,” Alon told The Times. “Both my brothers served in combat units that saw action in Gaza. And I can say that this is the most aggressive line that we have ever taken towards fighting the Palestinians. As you say in English, the gloves were off.”
He was shocked by some of the scenes inside Gaza, describing whole neighbourhoods levelled. “It doesn’t look like we’ve been there a few weeks — it looks destroyed, demolished, like we were bombing it for years. You can’t imagine what damage we have done. We didn’t want any civilians to die, we do everything we can to make sure that Palestinian civilians there, the non-fighters, aren’t hurt. We tell them to leave the areas that we are fighting . . . but it’s not easy; what we are doing there is difficult work.”
Palestinian doctors say that more than 900 people have been killed, nearly half of them civilians, since Israel began Operation Cast Lead in Gaza on December 27. Thirteen Israelis have died, three of them civilians.
As speculation mounted over how long Israel would continue its punishing offensive, its soldiers appeared eager to take the fight to Gaza’s densely populated towns.
The troops said they had had a taste of the traps and tricks that Hamas had laid in store for them: booby-trapped houses, tunnels intended to spirit away kidnapped soldiers, militants dressed in civilian clothing — but insisted that the operation could not claim success unless Hamas was dealt a “knockout blow” by troops combing through the urban centres.
“It will expose us to more of their traps but it must be done. We have been learning, slowly circling them and moving closer in. We have them trapped now so we can’t stop.” Reporters embedded with Israeli forces in Gaza have described them as “moving slowly but shooting readily”.
In one account, tank crews leading an armoured column to the beachfront suddenly saw a person standing in an open cabana less than a mile away. The figure quickly retreated as the tanks opened fire. “There have been several attempts to use antiarmour weaponry against us, in at least one case a long-range missile,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Erez, a tank commander, giving only his first name as per standard military policy. “We have responded pre-emptively and forcefully. We also hit anyone seen trying to observe our movements.”
Lieutenant-Colonel Yehuda, whose men are situated in houses on the outskirts of Gaza City, said that it was standard practice for Israeli troops to enter suspicious buildings with bursts of shooting, to stave off a doorway attack. “In one case the building started burning but we managed to clear out our men in time,” he said.
His unit had not seen as much action as Alon’s but had fought off several attacks nonetheless, killing three gunmen who emerged from a bunker and a suspected suicide bomber who approached on a bicycle.
In another account, published in the Israeli media, the Armoured 401st Brigade convoy had left Gaza’s coast and was heading towards Israel when its commander spotted people, apparently armed, on a rooftop about 800 metres away from the road. A few days before the Israelis had dropped leaflets calling on all residents living near the road to get out.
Like Alon, Lieutenant-Colonel Yigal had little room for doubt. After checking none of his comrades were in the area — four Israeli soldiers were killed by “friendly” fire in the first days of the offensive — he gave the order and machineguns and tanks opened up.
For Alon, a return to the action cannot come fast enough. “It feels good to be winning again, to show that we are still the strongest army in the world,” he said — a reference to the 2006 Lebanon war, when confidence in the country’s forces was badly shaken by its inability to stop Hezbollah’s rocket attacks. “It was important to go in and remind them what we can do. It’s the only way to get them to stop.”
Gaza: Israeli troops reveal ruthless tactics against Hamas
<!-- END: Module - Main Heading --><!--CMA user Call Diffrenet Variation Of Image --><EMBED height=266 type=application/x-shockwave-flash width=384 src=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00464/articleplayer_19025_464923a.swf wmode="opaque" allowScriptAccess="sameDomain" flashvars="videoid=7201500001"></EMBED><!-- Print Author name associated with the article -->
<!-- Print Author name from By Line associated with the article -->Sheera Frenkel on the Gaza border
<!-- Article Copy module --><!-- BEGIN: Module - Main Article --><!-- Check the Article Type and display accordingly--><!-- Print Author image associated with the Author--><!-- Print the body of the article--><STYLE type=text/css>div#related-article-links p a, div#related-article-links p a:visited {color:#06c;}</STYLE><!-- Pagination -->At the first sign of movement in the dark Gaza alleyway, Alon opened fire without hesitation. Snipers liked to operate at night, he said, and the area had been cleared of Israeli troops.
“He could have been advancing to attack,” the Israeli lieutenant explained. “We are treating everything as hostile right now. We were told not to take chances — to shoot rather than ask questions.”
Alon — he would only give his first name and rank — was part of the forces that took control of the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza. It was his first day of recuperative leave out of Gaza since Israel began its ground offensive 12 days ago.
As Israel laid the groundwork for what is expected to be the third stage in its offensive, sending a stream of reservists in to support weary combat units, those soldiers on a break from the combat gave first-hand accounts of Israel’s military tactics.
<!--#include file="m63-article-related-attachements.html"--><!-- BEGIN: Module - M63 - Article Related Attachements --><SCRIPT type=text/javascript><!--function pictureGalleryPopup(pubUrl,articleId) {var newWin = window.open(pubUrl+'template/2.0-0/element/pictureGalleryPopup.jsp?id='+articleId+'&&offset=0&§ionName=WorldMiddleEast','mywindow','menubar=0,resizable=0,width=1000,height=711');}//--></SCRIPT><!-- BEGIN: Comment Teaser Module --><!-- END: Comment Teaser Module --><!-- BEGIN: Module - M63 - Article Related Package --><!-- END: Module - M63 - Article Related Package -->Related Links
<FORM method=post name=relatedLinksform action=""></FORM>
<FORM method=post name=relatedLinksform action=""></FORM>
<FORM method=post name=relatedLinksform action=""></FORM><FORM method=post name=relatedLinksform action=""></FORM><FORM method=post name=relatedLinksform action=""></FORM><FORM method=post name=relatedLinksform action=""></FORM><FORM method=post name=relatedLinksform action=""></FORM>
Multimedia
<!-- Display picture gallery -->
- War in Gaza
<!-- BEGIN: POLL --><!--This block will execute if an article of type Poll is attached--><!-- END : POLL --><!-- BEGIN: DEBATE--><!-- END: DEBATE-->
<!-- END: Module - M63 - Article Related Attachements -->“I’m not a newcomer in the army,” Alon told The Times. “Both my brothers served in combat units that saw action in Gaza. And I can say that this is the most aggressive line that we have ever taken towards fighting the Palestinians. As you say in English, the gloves were off.”
He was shocked by some of the scenes inside Gaza, describing whole neighbourhoods levelled. “It doesn’t look like we’ve been there a few weeks — it looks destroyed, demolished, like we were bombing it for years. You can’t imagine what damage we have done. We didn’t want any civilians to die, we do everything we can to make sure that Palestinian civilians there, the non-fighters, aren’t hurt. We tell them to leave the areas that we are fighting . . . but it’s not easy; what we are doing there is difficult work.”
Palestinian doctors say that more than 900 people have been killed, nearly half of them civilians, since Israel began Operation Cast Lead in Gaza on December 27. Thirteen Israelis have died, three of them civilians.
As speculation mounted over how long Israel would continue its punishing offensive, its soldiers appeared eager to take the fight to Gaza’s densely populated towns.
The troops said they had had a taste of the traps and tricks that Hamas had laid in store for them: booby-trapped houses, tunnels intended to spirit away kidnapped soldiers, militants dressed in civilian clothing — but insisted that the operation could not claim success unless Hamas was dealt a “knockout blow” by troops combing through the urban centres.
“It will expose us to more of their traps but it must be done. We have been learning, slowly circling them and moving closer in. We have them trapped now so we can’t stop.” Reporters embedded with Israeli forces in Gaza have described them as “moving slowly but shooting readily”.
In one account, tank crews leading an armoured column to the beachfront suddenly saw a person standing in an open cabana less than a mile away. The figure quickly retreated as the tanks opened fire. “There have been several attempts to use antiarmour weaponry against us, in at least one case a long-range missile,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Erez, a tank commander, giving only his first name as per standard military policy. “We have responded pre-emptively and forcefully. We also hit anyone seen trying to observe our movements.”
Lieutenant-Colonel Yehuda, whose men are situated in houses on the outskirts of Gaza City, said that it was standard practice for Israeli troops to enter suspicious buildings with bursts of shooting, to stave off a doorway attack. “In one case the building started burning but we managed to clear out our men in time,” he said.
His unit had not seen as much action as Alon’s but had fought off several attacks nonetheless, killing three gunmen who emerged from a bunker and a suspected suicide bomber who approached on a bicycle.
In another account, published in the Israeli media, the Armoured 401st Brigade convoy had left Gaza’s coast and was heading towards Israel when its commander spotted people, apparently armed, on a rooftop about 800 metres away from the road. A few days before the Israelis had dropped leaflets calling on all residents living near the road to get out.
Like Alon, Lieutenant-Colonel Yigal had little room for doubt. After checking none of his comrades were in the area — four Israeli soldiers were killed by “friendly” fire in the first days of the offensive — he gave the order and machineguns and tanks opened up.
For Alon, a return to the action cannot come fast enough. “It feels good to be winning again, to show that we are still the strongest army in the world,” he said — a reference to the 2006 Lebanon war, when confidence in the country’s forces was badly shaken by its inability to stop Hezbollah’s rocket attacks. “It was important to go in and remind them what we can do. It’s the only way to get them to stop.”
Israel Accused of Weapons Experimentation, War Crimes in Gaza
By SANA ABDALLAH (Middle East Times, with agency dispatches)
Published: January 12, 2009
Israel has been accused of experimenting with novel weapons and delivery methods, and using white phosphorous in its attacks on densely populated civilian areas in Gaza. The photo shows shells exploding over Gaza. (AFP via Newscom)
TOOLBAR
Print Story
Add Comments
<!-- AddThis Button BEGIN --><SCRIPT type=text/javascript>addthis_pub = 'met';</SCRIPT>
<SCRIPT type=text/javascript src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/152/addthis_widget.js"></SCRIPT> <!-- AddThis Button END -->
AMMAN -- The Israeli war on the Gaza Strip entered its 17th day Monday as the United Nations and other organizations took Israel to task for human rights violations and war crimes, which include experimenting with new weapons on the civilian population of Gaza.
Palestinian medics said that at least 909 Palestinians, including 280 children and 95 women, have been killed and more than 4,000 injured since Dec. 27, when Israel launched a war that is being condemned in worldwide street protests as a "holocaust."
Some Arab and international rights groups say they intend to take Israeli leaders to war crime tribunals in The Hague and warned that chemical weapons are being used against the civilian population in the impoverished strip.
The 47-member U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Monday adopted a resolution accusing Israel of "grave" human rights violations against Palestinians and decided to set up a fact-finding mission to "investigate all violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by Israel."
Israel is expected to ban the entry of these investigators.
The UNHRC vote came after the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, told the council that Israel must be held accountable for any violations of international law in Gaza, saying that these breaches "may constitute war crimes for which criminal responsibility may be invoked."
Israel says its air and ground offensive is to stop Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza, where its 1.5 million residents have been living under a crippling Israeli blockade since Hamas seized control of the Mediterranean strip after ousting the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in June 2007.
However, militant rockets continued to be fired deeper into Israeli territories. Palestinian civilian casualties kept rising, and are expected to continue doing so as Israeli forces push deeper into populated neighborhoods.
The Israeli army confirmed 10 of its soldiers have been killed in combat, and three civilians have died from the rocket attacks in the last 17 days.
Reports from Gaza said the Israeli forces were bulldozing houses and buildings to allow their tanks to move inside some of the areas, and that an aircraft bombed a public square in the center of Gaza City on Monday as people were trying to shop for food during a supposed three-hour Israeli lull in attacks.
The offensive has been described by Arab military strategists as the worst on the narrow strip since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, especially since it involves the world's fourth largest organized army against a group of ill-equipped fighters in the world's most densely-populated territory.
The Palestinian civilians have borne the brunt of this warfare, in which Israel is being accused of experimenting with new weapons.
The New Weapons Research Committee (NWRC), based in Genoa, Italy, indicated that Israel was "experimenting with new non-conventional weapons on the civilian population in Gaza," similar to those Israel used during its 34-day war on Lebanon in 2006.
The committee, made up of independent scientists and doctors studying non-conventional weapons and their medium-term effects on people, said Israel was using "white phosphorous, dense inert metal explosive (DIME), thermobaric bomb, cluster bombs and uranium ammunitions, and experimented novel weapons and delivery modalities."
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has concurred, saying that Israel was using white phosphorus, and that its own researchers observed multiple shell-bursts of the chemical material on Jan. 9 and 10 near Gaza City and Jabalya refugee camp. HRW urged Israel against using it in its operations in densely-populated areas.
The rights group said while Israel seemed to be using white phosphorous as an "obscurant," which is permitted in principle under international humanitarian law, it is a violation to be used in populated areas.
"White phosphorous can burn down houses and cause horrific burns when it touches the skin," HRW senior military analyst Marc Garlasco said in a statement.
The Israel army, which refuses to give the international media access to Gaza, said its operational secrecy prevents disclosure of its weaponry but denied the use of white phosphorous shells in the bombing.
Nevertheless, television footage has shown shells falling from Israeli aircraft and then breaking into white spray over buildings, while Gaza doctors said that dozens of victims have been burned in ways that can only be caused by white phosphorous, which sticks to human skin and burns through to the bone, causing death and leaving survivors with painful wounds that are slow to heal.
Physicians in Gaza hospitals have also reported unusual internal injuries that cannot be seen even in x-rays, saying that none of the wounds were visible on the bodies, but were "eating them up from the inside." They expressed concern that Israel may be using other forms of chemical or even biological weapons on the civilian areas.
The head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza, John Ging, told reporters outside a Gaza hospital that while he was not a doctor, "I see with my own eyes the horrific injuries … and there will be many inquiries and investigations that will need to take place." But the priority today, Ging added, is that the "fighting must stop now."
"More children have died today, and more will die tomorrow unless the fighting stops," he said. "Those who are doing the killing are responsible for their actions. Those on the political level for not finding solutions are responsible for their failures."
Israel Accused of Weapons Experimentation, War Crimes in Gaza
By SANA ABDALLAH (Middle East Times, with agency dispatches)
Published: January 12, 2009
By SANA ABDALLAH (Middle East Times, with agency dispatches)
Published: January 12, 2009
TOOLBAR
Print Story
Add Comments
<!-- AddThis Button BEGIN --><SCRIPT type=text/javascript>addthis_pub = 'met';</SCRIPT>
<SCRIPT type=text/javascript src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/152/addthis_widget.js"></SCRIPT> <!-- AddThis Button END -->AMMAN -- The Israeli war on the Gaza Strip entered its 17th day Monday as the United Nations and other organizations took Israel to task for human rights violations and war crimes, which include experimenting with new weapons on the civilian population of Gaza.
Palestinian medics said that at least 909 Palestinians, including 280 children and 95 women, have been killed and more than 4,000 injured since Dec. 27, when Israel launched a war that is being condemned in worldwide street protests as a "holocaust."
Some Arab and international rights groups say they intend to take Israeli leaders to war crime tribunals in The Hague and warned that chemical weapons are being used against the civilian population in the impoverished strip.
The 47-member U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Monday adopted a resolution accusing Israel of "grave" human rights violations against Palestinians and decided to set up a fact-finding mission to "investigate all violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by Israel."
Israel is expected to ban the entry of these investigators.
The UNHRC vote came after the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, told the council that Israel must be held accountable for any violations of international law in Gaza, saying that these breaches "may constitute war crimes for which criminal responsibility may be invoked."
Israel says its air and ground offensive is to stop Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza, where its 1.5 million residents have been living under a crippling Israeli blockade since Hamas seized control of the Mediterranean strip after ousting the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in June 2007.
However, militant rockets continued to be fired deeper into Israeli territories. Palestinian civilian casualties kept rising, and are expected to continue doing so as Israeli forces push deeper into populated neighborhoods.
The Israeli army confirmed 10 of its soldiers have been killed in combat, and three civilians have died from the rocket attacks in the last 17 days.
Reports from Gaza said the Israeli forces were bulldozing houses and buildings to allow their tanks to move inside some of the areas, and that an aircraft bombed a public square in the center of Gaza City on Monday as people were trying to shop for food during a supposed three-hour Israeli lull in attacks.
The offensive has been described by Arab military strategists as the worst on the narrow strip since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, especially since it involves the world's fourth largest organized army against a group of ill-equipped fighters in the world's most densely-populated territory.
The Palestinian civilians have borne the brunt of this warfare, in which Israel is being accused of experimenting with new weapons.
The New Weapons Research Committee (NWRC), based in Genoa, Italy, indicated that Israel was "experimenting with new non-conventional weapons on the civilian population in Gaza," similar to those Israel used during its 34-day war on Lebanon in 2006.
The committee, made up of independent scientists and doctors studying non-conventional weapons and their medium-term effects on people, said Israel was using "white phosphorous, dense inert metal explosive (DIME), thermobaric bomb, cluster bombs and uranium ammunitions, and experimented novel weapons and delivery modalities."
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has concurred, saying that Israel was using white phosphorus, and that its own researchers observed multiple shell-bursts of the chemical material on Jan. 9 and 10 near Gaza City and Jabalya refugee camp. HRW urged Israel against using it in its operations in densely-populated areas.
The rights group said while Israel seemed to be using white phosphorous as an "obscurant," which is permitted in principle under international humanitarian law, it is a violation to be used in populated areas.
"White phosphorous can burn down houses and cause horrific burns when it touches the skin," HRW senior military analyst Marc Garlasco said in a statement.
The Israel army, which refuses to give the international media access to Gaza, said its operational secrecy prevents disclosure of its weaponry but denied the use of white phosphorous shells in the bombing.
Nevertheless, television footage has shown shells falling from Israeli aircraft and then breaking into white spray over buildings, while Gaza doctors said that dozens of victims have been burned in ways that can only be caused by white phosphorous, which sticks to human skin and burns through to the bone, causing death and leaving survivors with painful wounds that are slow to heal.
Physicians in Gaza hospitals have also reported unusual internal injuries that cannot be seen even in x-rays, saying that none of the wounds were visible on the bodies, but were "eating them up from the inside." They expressed concern that Israel may be using other forms of chemical or even biological weapons on the civilian areas.
The head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza, John Ging, told reporters outside a Gaza hospital that while he was not a doctor, "I see with my own eyes the horrific injuries … and there will be many inquiries and investigations that will need to take place." But the priority today, Ging added, is that the "fighting must stop now."
"More children have died today, and more will die tomorrow unless the fighting stops," he said. "Those who are doing the killing are responsible for their actions. Those on the political level for not finding solutions are responsible for their failures."
Israel Accused of Weapons Experimentation, War Crimes in Gaza
By SANA ABDALLAH (Middle East Times, with agency dispatches)
Published: January 12, 2009
Gaza faces bleak future even when bombs stop
Wed Jan 14, 2009 2:29pm GMT
<SCRIPT language=javascript> var storyKeywords = "US PALESTINIANS ISRAEL FUTURE sb"; var RTR_ArticleTitle = "Gaza faces bleak future even when bombs stop"; var RTR_ArticleBlurb = "By Alistair Lyon, Special Correspondent - Analysis JERUSALEM (Reuters) - After another sleepless night of terrifying Israeli bombardment in her battered Gaza neighborhood, Um Mohammed was at the end of her tether. ''We are scared to death, but where..."; </SCRIPT><SCRIPT language=javascript>addImpression("1045737_Article Tools");</SCRIPT><SCRIPT type=text/javascript>var showComments = false;var allowSLCall = false; function singlePageView() { document.location.href = ReplaceQueryStringParam(document.location.href, "sp", "true"); } function replaceString(oldS, newS, fullS) { // Replaces oldS with newS in the string fullS for (var i = 0; i < fullS.length; i++) { if (fullS.substring(i, i + oldS.length) == oldS) { fullS = fullS.substring(0, i) + newS + fullS.substring(i + oldS.length, fullS.length); } } return fullS; } </SCRIPT><INPUT id=CurrentSize value=13 type=hidden name=CurrentSize>
<SCRIPT language=javascript src="/resources/js/shareStub.js"></SCRIPT><SCRIPT language=javascript src="/resources/js/shareFunctions.js"></SCRIPT><LINK rel=stylesheet href="/resources/css/rcom-share.css">Email | Print | Share
| Single Page
[-] Text [+]
<SCRIPT>var csvSymbolIds = "";var quoteLink = "true";</SCRIPT>
By Alistair Lyon, Special Correspondent - Analysis
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - After another sleepless night of terrifying Israeli bombardment in her battered Gaza neighborhood, Um Mohammed was at the end of her tether.
"We are scared to death, but where should we go? Does fighting Hamas mean wiping out Gaza?" the mother of five asked.
In the thick of a 19-day-old blitz that Israel says is meant to deter Hamas fighters from firing rockets at it, Palestinians focused on survival find it hard to contemplate what lies ahead.
"A future for Gaza?" Um Mohammed queried, taken aback at the question. "Listen, my son is five years old. He will carry these images in his mind forever. Will he ever believe in peace?"
So does anyone have a vision for Gaza's 1.5 million people, squeezed between Israel, Egypt and the sea, once the war stops?
The densely populated, 45 km (28 mile) long strip has seen plenty of misery since refugees uprooted from their land in what is now Israel swarmed into it during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
After Israel captured Gaza from Egypt in the 1967 war, it seethed under occupation until the 1993 Oslo peace accords sparked brief hope for progress toward Palestinian statehood.
For a few years Gaza's economy saw some growth. Optimists dreamed it could become a new Singapore on the Mediterranean. Continued...
View article on single page
<SCRIPT> function goToPage(num){ var url = document.location.href+""; var newurl = url.replace(/#sl_CommentsInputAnchor/,""); var newNum = 'pageNumber='+num var sep = (newurl.indexOf('?') >= 0) ? '&' : '?'; newurl = newurl + sep + 'pageNumber='+num; // vbc var sep = (newurl.indexOf('?') >= 0) ? '&' : '?'; newurl = newurl + sep + 'virtualBrandChannel=0'; document.location.href = newurl; } var numPages = 4 * 1; var currentPage = 1; if(currentPage != 1){ document.write('Previous Page '); } else { document.write('Previous Page '); } for(var i=1;i<=numPages;i++){ if(i==currentPage){ document.write(''+i+''); }else{ document.write(''+i+''); } if (i < numPages) { document.write(' | '); } } if(numPages != currentPage){ document.write(' Next Page'); } else { document.write(' Next Page'); } </SCRIPT>Previous Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 Next Page
Wed Jan 14, 2009 2:29pm GMT
<SCRIPT language=javascript> var storyKeywords = "US PALESTINIANS ISRAEL FUTURE sb"; var RTR_ArticleTitle = "Gaza faces bleak future even when bombs stop"; var RTR_ArticleBlurb = "By Alistair Lyon, Special Correspondent - Analysis JERUSALEM (Reuters) - After another sleepless night of terrifying Israeli bombardment in her battered Gaza neighborhood, Um Mohammed was at the end of her tether. ''We are scared to death, but where..."; </SCRIPT><SCRIPT language=javascript>addImpression("1045737_Article Tools");</SCRIPT><SCRIPT type=text/javascript>var showComments = false;var allowSLCall = false; function singlePageView() { document.location.href = ReplaceQueryStringParam(document.location.href, "sp", "true"); } function replaceString(oldS, newS, fullS) { // Replaces oldS with newS in the string fullS for (var i = 0; i < fullS.length; i++) { if (fullS.substring(i, i + oldS.length) == oldS) { fullS = fullS.substring(0, i) + newS + fullS.substring(i + oldS.length, fullS.length); } } return fullS; } </SCRIPT><INPUT id=CurrentSize value=13 type=hidden name=CurrentSize>
<SCRIPT language=javascript src="/resources/js/shareStub.js"></SCRIPT><SCRIPT language=javascript src="/resources/js/shareFunctions.js"></SCRIPT><LINK rel=stylesheet href="/resources/css/rcom-share.css">Email | Print | Share
| Single Page
[-] Text [+]
<SCRIPT>var csvSymbolIds = "";var quoteLink = "true";</SCRIPT>
By Alistair Lyon, Special Correspondent - Analysis
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - After another sleepless night of terrifying Israeli bombardment in her battered Gaza neighborhood, Um Mohammed was at the end of her tether.
"We are scared to death, but where should we go? Does fighting Hamas mean wiping out Gaza?" the mother of five asked.
In the thick of a 19-day-old blitz that Israel says is meant to deter Hamas fighters from firing rockets at it, Palestinians focused on survival find it hard to contemplate what lies ahead.
"A future for Gaza?" Um Mohammed queried, taken aback at the question. "Listen, my son is five years old. He will carry these images in his mind forever. Will he ever believe in peace?"
So does anyone have a vision for Gaza's 1.5 million people, squeezed between Israel, Egypt and the sea, once the war stops?
The densely populated, 45 km (28 mile) long strip has seen plenty of misery since refugees uprooted from their land in what is now Israel swarmed into it during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
After Israel captured Gaza from Egypt in the 1967 war, it seethed under occupation until the 1993 Oslo peace accords sparked brief hope for progress toward Palestinian statehood.
For a few years Gaza's economy saw some growth. Optimists dreamed it could become a new Singapore on the Mediterranean. Continued...
View article on single page
<SCRIPT> function goToPage(num){ var url = document.location.href+""; var newurl = url.replace(/#sl_CommentsInputAnchor/,""); var newNum = 'pageNumber='+num var sep = (newurl.indexOf('?') >= 0) ? '&' : '?'; newurl = newurl + sep + 'pageNumber='+num; // vbc var sep = (newurl.indexOf('?') >= 0) ? '&' : '?'; newurl = newurl + sep + 'virtualBrandChannel=0'; document.location.href = newurl; } var numPages = 4 * 1; var currentPage = 1; if(currentPage != 1){ document.write('Previous Page '); } else { document.write('Previous Page '); } for(var i=1;i<=numPages;i++){ if(i==currentPage){ document.write(''+i+''); }else{ document.write(''+i+''); } if (i < numPages) { document.write(' | '); } } if(numPages != currentPage){ document.write(' Next Page'); } else { document.write(' Next Page'); } </SCRIPT>Previous Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 Next Page
You can whine and copy and paste articles from Hamas supporters all you want Limprod. The phosphorous charge is just another false attempt to smear Israel. False charges are thrown at Israel in every war that your jihadi pals begin when Israel retaliates against the animals who target civilians, and then cower behind a civilian population. The topic of this thread is the methods your jihadi friends employ when they "fight" for their "No State Solution."
I'll just post a link. No need to spam like you.
Media War Crimes:
http://relay.netatlantic.com/t/26548200/69326561/4202/0/
I'll just post a link. No need to spam like you.
Media War Crimes:
http://relay.netatlantic.com/t/26548200/69326561/4202/0/
