Monday, July 21, 2014

WAR CRIMES IN GAZA



Israeli snipers have been caught on camera firing upon a Palestinian civilian of Gaza while he searches for relatives among the rubble of his city.  He is surrounded by medics and international volunteers who are supporting the search, and bear witness to his shooting.

He is shot first in the hand.  While he writhes in shock and pain, and the others are frozen in fear, the sniper fires a second shot which appears to be near fatal – his hands flailing intermittently.  Finally, a third shot appears to kill him.

This is a war crime.
  •  There are more than 5 million Palestinian refugees living in UNWRA camps having been displaced from their lands by Israel
  • The UN has made 69 resolutions against Israel, declared its settlement program ‘deplorable’ and illegal and that its occupation of Gaza and the West Bank violates International Law
  • Before and since Israel ‘withdrew’ from Gaza in 2009, it has imprisoned Gaza’s 1.8 million inhabitants behind an apartheid wall, and blockaded the strip of land by air and sea too.  In 2006, Israeli government adviser Dov Weisglass said of the deliberate policy to cap food imports to imprisoned Gaza: “The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger.” Nevertheless, the UN describe the blockade as making Gaza “uninhabitable”.
  • The United Nations under secretary general for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes states that Gaza’s citizens are “living in a large open-air prison,”
  • Gaza is the 40th most densely populated place on earth.
It is into this stricken city that Israel has unleashed its third major military assault in the last seven years, with 512 Palestinians and counting killed so far, around 80% of them civilians, according to figures from the UN.

Israel has excused itself of responsibility for these deaths – instead blaming Hamas for using Palestinians as “human shields”.

It is clear from this video and the countless others like it streaming out of besieged Gaza, that Israel is deliberately killing civilians.

This massacre is being conducted with full diplomatic and financial backing from the US and UK governments – while worldwide protests express the outrage of ordinary citizens. 

Written by Kerry-Anne here

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