"We're Talking About a Very Different Category of Aggression"

IDF soldiers disclose they were allowed to kill civilians in Gaza and destroy their homes. Sherine Tadros hits it out of the ball park:

Rainy Night in Gaza (Snow, too)

(photo: REUTERS, Mohammed Salem)

In my drought-benighted corner of the world, it's raining. The lid is off my rain barrel outside, and I'm adding to it from the buckets of water we collect from our sinks and shower. We can't relax our conservation measures, of course, but there's a sense of well-being that descends when the clouds are heavy above us and the heavier it pours, the cheerier my husband and I become. It's a different story in Gaza, though, where it rained and even snowed today, flooding the tents of the some of the thousands of families homeless since the Israeli onslaught in January. Rebuilding has yet to begin: Israel continues to limit the numbers of trucks bringing in food and other supplies to the OPT. Building materials, textbooks, clothing, seedlings, fertilizers and irrigation pipes are banned, according to Michael Bailey of Oxfam. Helena Cobban is in Jerusalem right now, and has some very interesting posts. In one this week she noted:

I have made a few attempts to ask humanitarian-aid people what the dreaded Israeli blacklist of foodstuffs that cannot be sent into Gaza contains. But they have stayed largely closed-lipped. The OCHA report says this:
The Israeli criteria used for processing import requests into Gaza remain unclear. During the reporting period the Israeli authorities rejected entry to 30 metric tonnes of chickpeas, 43 pallets of macaroni, 137 pallets of wheat flour, 131 recreational kits, 68 pallets of stationary items for students, 150 school-in-a-box kits, 33 boxes of medicine, 22 freezer appliances, 3 generators, and 4 water pumps.

While a conference begins Monday in Egypt to discuss how to repair Gaza, politics of many stripes will slow it down. Meanwhile, rain falls on the tents in Gaza, tonight.

Massacre in Gaza

The Telegraph is reporting today that paramedics in an ICRC rescue convoy have found the bodies of approximately 70 people in and around one house in Zeitoun. Survivors who made it to Gaza City earlier this week reported that 100 members of an extended family had been rounded up by the IDF on Sunday, and ordered to stay in the house belonging to Wael Samounoi. Early Monday morning, the house was shelled repeatedly. The report notes that ambulances had attempted twice to go out to the home, but had to retreat when they were fired upon by the Israelis. During Wednesday's three-hour lull, the ICRC convoy was able to reach the home. Fifteen survivors were located and taken to hospital by ambulance. Rescue workers were forced to leave eight other wounded people behind, due to safety reasons.

Gaza Today: "The Root Cause of Extremism and Battlefields of Tomorrow."

The lull is over for today. Another one is slated for the day after tomorrow. What would you spend your three hours doing? Searching for food and benzene? Burying a loved one? Or helping the kids get a few hours sleep? Maybe there will be a cease-fire soon. But then again, what would it really look like? Al Jazeera talks to two analysts whose points raise serious questions about prospects for true peace.

Death in Jebaliya: Israel Flouts International Law

It is wrong to use human beings as shields: immoral, unethical, hateful. But it happens, and has happened for years. And because so many bad things happen in war, nearly 200 countries have ratified the Geneva Conventions, among them Israel. So whenever an Israeli spokesperson justifies bombing civilians by blaming those who fight among them, they are ignoring this: Protocol 1, Art. 51 of the Fourth Geneva Convention:

4. Indiscriminate attacks are prohibited. Indiscriminate attacks are: (a) those which are not directed at a specific military objective; (b) those which employ a method or means of combat which cannot be directed at a specific military objective; or (c) those which employ a method or means of combat the effects of which cannot be limited as required by this Protocol;
and consequently, in each such case, are of a nature to strike military objectives and civilians or civilian objects without distinction.
5. Among others, the following types of attacks are to be considered as indiscriminate: (a) an attack by bombardment by any methods or means which treats as a single military objective a number of clearly separated and distinct military objectives located in a city, town, village or other area containing a similar concentration of civilians or civilian objects; and (b) an attack which may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated (my bold).

My dream list of Hague guests is growing by the day.

"Aren't We All the Same, the Children of God?"

Al Jazeera reports on this, Day 10.

The Reality of Israel's War on Gaza: "Hospitals at Breaking Point, Families Devastated, People Forced from Their Homes With Nowhere to Go"

Reuter's Alertnet reports today that an paramedic working for an Oxfam-supported Palestinian health company was killed Sunday and his colleague badly injured when their ambulance was destroyed by an Israeli shell. Oxfam
GB Country Director John Prideaux-Brune, in Jerusalem observed:

Hospitals in Gaza are overflowing with dead and wounded while facing severe shortages of essential medical supplies and spare parts. Oxfam and local partners have had to suspend all our work, apart from emergency medical aid. Many of our colleagues in Gaza are trapped in their homes, and in fear of their and their families' lives. Others, such as the paramedic Arafa, have lost their lives trying to save others.

He noted that 80% of Gazans rely on humanitarian aid and that the "trickle" that has been allowed in through the single available crossing is inadequate. Reuters adds:

Oxfam is calling for a binding UN Security Council resolution to demand: an immediate halt to violence in Gaza and Israel by all parties, all parties to commit to an immediate, comprehensive and permanent truce, Israel, Hamas and other parties to permit immediate and unhindered access
to and from Gaza for humanitarian and commercial goods, and for people, thereby ending the blockade.
Oxfam is

Our Kin In Gaza are Suffering

While the United Nations and other aid organizations say otherwise, an Israeli Defense Dept Spokesperson claimed today that Gaza is not experiencing a humanitarian crisis and has everything it needs. From Reuters:



Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross reports that its four-person medical team, including a surgeon with experience with war wounds has been denied access to Gaza for the second straight day. And ICRC in Gaza say they're fielding calls from Gazans who received leaflets from the IDF telling them to leave their homes:

"This is creating anxiety and confusion," said Antoine Grand, head of the ICRC office in Gaza. “People are asking where they are supposed to go – and for how long. They call the ICRC for advice, but we have no answers."

GorillasGuides has posted the following video of the carnage after a market is bombed in Gaza. WARNING: contains graphic images of dead, dying and injured civilians, including children. I'd call this a humanitarian crisis.
UPDATE: apparently the GorillasGuides video I linked to in the body of this post is doctored, and is not a chronicle of current events in Gaza. I believe what value that can be derived from its viewing is best stated by Siun–it still gives us a picture of human suffering, and enlarges (I hope) our empathy for those caught in war.
UPDATE: Reuters is reporting that the US has blocked a demand for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, in tonight's emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council. Libya--the only Arab member of the UNSC--had proposed the ceasefire, but the US "insists that any statement or resolution state that the Palestinian militant group Hamas is a terrorist organization that seized power in Gaza from the legitimate Palestinian Authority." Council statements must pass unanimously; the US demand leaves the council in a deadlock. Diplomats now say an "informal statement" that summarizes what has been agreed upon is likely, but won't include a call for a ceasefire or troop withdrawal.

Are Cluster Bombs Falling on Gaza?

Today's post by Sameh Habeeb includes the following:

Eyewitnesses reported that new shells explode before landing on the targets making more small bombs. The shells are expected to be cluster bombs. More Israeli new weapons are used today. Palestinians in Khan Yonis massively called the radio stations and health centers to report on a bad smell goes out from the rockets in Khan Yonis City. People are afraid this kind of weapon is shells enriched with Uranium and nuclear elements....Thousands of Gaza population hurried into the local markets in search of life basics but in vain. No more fuel, benzene, gasoline, flour, wheat, sugar, rice, bread, candlelight and thousands of commodities are not available in Gaza. Add to that, continued power cuts up to 20 hours during the cold weather of winter.

Al Jazeera is reporting that a column of tanks has been seen entering Gaza. Over 450 people are dead now, and over 2800 people wounded. Fliers warning Gazans to leave their homes have been dropped over Gaza. Where exactly are these people to go?

Israel Pounds OPT. Worldwide Protests; US, Not So Much.

The Horror


The Protests


Go here for info about protests planned around the U.S. Several Israeli embassies are slated to be picketed Tuesday, 12/30.

Israeli journalists rescue Palestinian family from "pogrom." Israeli extremists egged on by crowd

Haaretz journalist Ari Issacharoff describes what he terms a "pogrom in the worst sense of the word" during which dozens of Israeli extremists stoned the house of a family of 20 Palestinians, and set it afire. Hundreds of others Israelis watched and encouraged the mob; police and army forces failed to intervene. Ultimately, Issacharoff and other journalists intervened to save the family. He concludes:

Tess, the photographer, bursts into tears as the events unfold around her. The tears do not stem from fear. It is shame, shame at the sight of these occurrences, the deeds of youths who call themselves Jews. Shame that we share the same religion. At 5:05 P.M., a little over an hour after the incident commenced, a unit belonging to the Yassam special police forces arrives to disperse the crowd of masked men. The family members refuse to calm down. Leaving the home, one can hear a settler yell at a police officer: "Nazis, shame on you." Indeed. Shame on you.

Al Jazeera reports more on the news of how the eviction of Israeli settlers from a house in Hebron has resulted in extremist assaults on Palestinians and police: