Super Moderator
Location: essex ma
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i put this up to reflect something of the day's devolution in gaza.
i don't have time to say much at the moment, but will come back to this later.
feel free to develop your own interpretation.
Quote:
Red Cross criticises Israel for blocking access to Gaza injured
• Israeli officials in Egypt for talks as Gaza death toll tops 700
• UN suspends aid shipments after truck driver is killed
* Mark Tran
Israel today came under fierce criticism from humanitarian groups for delaying access to the injured during its offensive in Gaza as fresh fighting killed at least 11 people, taking the death toll over 700.
The unusually strong condemnation coincided with a UN announcement that it was suspending its operations in the territory in response to what it said were Israeli attacks.
The International Committee of the Red Cross accused Israel of "unacceptable" delays in letting rescue workers reach three homes in Gaza City that had been hit by shelling.
The group said the Israeli army refused rescuers permission to reach the site in the Zaytun neighbourhood for four days. Once Red Cross teams reached the area yesterday, they found four small children next to their dead mothers at one home. They were too weak to stand up on their own. One man was also found alive, too weak to stand up. In all, there were at least 12 corpses lying on mattresses.
In another house, a rescue team found 15 survivors, including several wounded. In yet another home, rescuers found three bodies. Israeli soldiers posted at a military position nearby ordered the rescue team to leave the area, which it refused to do.
"This is a shocking incident," said Pierre Wettach, the Red Cross's head for the region. "The Israeli military must have been aware of the situation but did not assist the wounded. Neither did they make it possible for us or the Palestine Red Crescent to assist the wounded."
The ICRC said the children and wounded had to be taken to the ambulances on a donkey cart because Israeli forces had erected large earth walls, making it impossible to bring ambulances into the neighbourhood. The Red Cross said it brought out 18 wounded and 12 others who were extremely exhausted, as well as two bodies.
Diplomatic efforts continued yesterday, with senior Israeli officials travelling to Cairo for Egyptian-brokered talks on a proposed ceasefire, but Hamas spokesmen reiterated that they have major reservations about the plan.
Since yesterday , Israel has observed a daily, three-hour halt in operations to allow humanitarian evacuations and aid deliveries throughout Gaza, but aid groups said such lulls were insufficient to alleviate the suffering of civilians trapped by almost two weeks of fighting.
In its statement, the ICRC demanded that the Israeli military grant it and ambulances safe passage and access immediately to search for any other wounded. The ICRC has still not received confirmation from the Israeli authorities that this will be allowed.
Other groups such as Médecins Sans Frontières have also criticised Israel for blocking access to people injured during the crisis. Jessica Pourraz, a field coordinator for the group, yesterday urged Israel to respect the "humanitarian space" and allow access to those in need of medical help.
Israel has also come under strong criticism from the UN, which said it was halting all aid shipments into Gaza, citing attacks on UN staff and buildings.
The announcement came shortly after the driver of a UN truck was shot and killed by tank fire near an Israeli border as he was about to pick up an aid shipment. The UN said the delivery had been coordinated with Israel and that the vehicle carried a UN flag and insignia. Earlier this week, at least 40 people were killed when two UN schools were hit by Israeli gunfire.
As the conflct continued, Israel today for the first time came under rocket fire from Lebanon on its northern border. At least three Katyusha rockets were fired from southern Lebanon, landing near the town of Nahariya and injuring two people. The Israeli military fired back at the point from which the rockets were launched.
A minister in the Lebanese cabinet denied that Hezbollah was responsible, amid fears that the conflict in Gaza could spread. Two years ago, Israel fought a month-long war in Lebanon that claimed hundreds of lives.
The Lebanese president, Fuad Saniora, condemned the rocket fire, saying it did not serve Lebanese, Palestinian or Arab interests and that Lebanese authorities were cooperating with UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon in investigating the incident.
Radical Palestinian factions have a presence in Lebanon, and the Syrian-backed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine previously warned it could open other fronts against Israel if the attack on Gaza continued.
The exchanges came as Israeli air strikes destroyed several houses in the town of Rafah, on Gaza's southern border, today after what Palestinians said was one of the heaviest nights of bombing since the conflict began 13 days ago.
Intense artillery strikes and waves of aerial bombardment were reported across the Gaza Strip. Israeli tanks were seen moving in southern Gaza and leaflets were dropped near the border with Egypt, warning residents to leave the area "because Hamas uses your houses to hide and smuggle military weapons". Around 5,000 Palestinians fled their homes and took refuge in two UN schools that had been set up as shelters.
Unwra, the UN relief agency that works with Palestinian refugees, said it had suspended operations in Gaza because of the growing risk. "Unwra decided to suspend all its operations in the Gaza Strip because of the increasing hostile actions against its premises and personnel," said Adnan Abu Hasna, a Gaza-based spokesman for the organisation. He did not say how long the suspension would last. About 40 people died when Israeli shells hit a UN school in Jabaliya, Gaza, on Tuesday.
As the negotiations continued, the death toll among Palestinians rose to around 700, with around 3,000 injured. Palestinian health officials were reported as saying that around one-third of the dead were civilians, with 219 children and 89 women killed. Ten Israelis, three of them civilians, have died.
Heavy fighting was reported near Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza, and in Jabaliya, to the north, earlier today . At least one person was killed and 10 injured.
Despite days of intensive Israeli attacks, Palestinian militants were still able to fire rockets, hitting the city of Be'er Sheva overnight on Wednesday and Ashkelon and Ashdod this morning .
The Israeli military said today it had captured 120 suspected Hamas fighters and had bombed the houses of two Hamas militants, in Rafah and Khan Yunis, overnight.
A total of around 60 sites were hit in the strikes, including what the military said was a mosque used to store weapons, 15 smuggling tunnels in the south, several rocket-launching areas and other buildings storing weapons. It said several gunmen were also hit.
The UN security council has yet to reach an agreement on a ceasefire resolution, although the US has supported an initial deal outlined by France and Egypt.
Although the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, said both Israel and the Palestinian Authority – which is based in the occupied West Bank and is run by Hamas's rival, Fatah – had accepted the deal, Israel said there was agreement on broad principles but there had yet to be an agreed plan for practical action.
Israel wants Hamas to stop all rockets being fired into southern Israel and has called for an international arms embargo on the Islamist movement. Hamas, which did not seem to be part of the French deal, wants an end to Israel's months-long economic blockade of Gaza.
The foreign secretary, David Miliband, who was at the UN in New York, said: "I have seen the first glimmerings of the possibility of a ceasefire … it's far too early to say we can get a breakthrough."
Yesterday the Israeli cabinet agreed to continue with the fighting at the same time as it considered the ceasefire proposals.
Military planners have prepared for even more intense operations in Gaza in which Israeli soldiers would push deep into the crowded urban areas of the Strip to attack Hamas gunmen.
Thousands of Israeli reservists had been called up and would be ready by Friday, Israeli defence officials said.
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Red Cross criticises Israel for blocking access to Gaza injured | World news | guardian.co.uk
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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