Lethal attack on refugees in UN school


July 30, 2014
Sarah Benton

Report and photos from 1) Mail Online, which for various reasons (Bibi would say ‘telegenic’, others would wonder about the Daily Mail’s historic antisemitism – make up your own mind) has been lavish in its photo-coverage of Israel’s Gaza war, 2) and account in Al Akhbar  of the attack on the UN’s Abu Hussein school in Jabaliya refugee camp.


Collecting body parts in a classroom at the Abu Hussein UN school in Jebaliya refugee camp which was hit by an Israeli tank strike. Photo by AP

Did UN warn Israel SEVENTEEN times that bombed school was housing refugees? Horror as tank strike leaves 19 Palestinians dead and 125 injured

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

● Israeli tank strikes smash into UN school serving as a refugee shelter – pushing the Gaza death toll over 1,200
● UN aid chief blasts Israel, saying: ‘This is a source of universal shame. Today the world stands disgraced’
● Some 200,000 Gazans have fled to UN schools following calls by Israel to evacuate homes ahead of bombings
● One refugee who survived latest attack cries: ‘Where will we go next? We fled and the Israelis are following us’
● UN spokesman calls on international community to help stop the bloodshed, saying: ‘No place is safe in Gaza’
● British Foreign Secretary offers no assurance of an imminent ceasefire ‘if people are insisting on preconditions’
● Israeli military has declared a four-hour ceasefire in some areas of the Gaza Strip for humanitarian reasons

By Simon Tomlinson, Mail Online
July 30, 2014

Israel was warned no fewer than 17 times that a school it destroyed with tank strikes killing 19 Palestinians and injuring 125 others had been housing refugees, the UN claimed today.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said children were killed as they slept next to their parents on the floor of a classroom in the Jabaliya refugee camp when shells smashed into the complex overnight.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krähenbühl said it was the sixth time one of the organisation’s schools had been struck by Israeli bombardments during the 23-day conflict.

In a furious response to the attack, he said: ‘This is an affront to all of us, a source of universal shame. Today, the world stands disgraced.

‘We know that there were multiple civilian deaths and injuries including of women and children and the UNRWA guard who was trying to protect the site.

‘These are people who were instructed to leave their homes by the Israeli army.

‘The precise location of the Jabalia Elementary Girls School and the fact that it was housing thousands of internally displaced people was communicated to the Israeli army seventeen times to ensure its protection – the last being at 8.50pm last night, just hours before the fatal shelling.’

He added: ‘I condemn in the strongest possible terms this serious violation of international law by Israeli forces.’

His comments came as the Israeli military declared a four-hour ceasefire in some areas of the Gaza Strip for humanitarian reasons, starting at 3pm (1200GMT).

Hamas militants in Gaza had no immediate reaction to the military’s announcement.

Some 200,000 displaced Gazans have sought refuge in UN schools following calls by Israel to evacuate their homes ahead of military operations only to find themselves under attack there anyway.

For many Palestinians, the feeling of helplessness living in a densely populated enclave under a seven-year blockade with nowhere to run or hide has left them on the brink of despair.

‘Where will we go? cried 56-year-old Aishe Abu Darabeh outside the school in the Jebaliya refugee camp which had a few hours earlier served as her refugee shelter.

‘Where will we go next? We fled and they (the Israelis) are following us.’

Forty people died in Israeli strikes across Gaza today, including 16 at the UN school in Jebaliya, sending the Palestinian toll from 23 days of fighting over 1,270.
The latest attacks dashed hopes of a ceasefire and forced the UN into another desperate call for the international community to step in.
Abu Hasna, the UN agency spokesman, said: ‘It’s the responsibility of the world to tell us what we shall do with more than 200,000 people who are inside our schools, thinking that the UN flag will protect them.

‘This incident today proves that no place is safe in Gaza.’

Some 3,000 Palestinians, including many women and children, were taking refuge in the building in Jebalya refugee camp when it came under fire around dawn, Khalil al-Halabi, director of northern Gaza operations for UNRWA said.

‘There were five shells – Israeli tank shells – which struck the people and killed many of them as they slept. Those people came to the school because it a designated U.N. shelter,’ he said.
The Israeli military responded by saying Hamas militants near the facility had fired mortar bombs and Israeli forces had shot back.

A military spokeswoman said: ‘Earlier this morning, militants fired mortar shells at (Israeli) soldiers from the vicinity of the UNRWA school in Jebalya (refugee camp).

‘In response, soldiers fired towards the origins of fire, and we’re still reviewing the incident.’
The military said it has also given civilians a chance to leave dangerous areas by sending warnings in phone calls and leaflets.

Aircraft dropped leaflets over Gaza City’s Rimal neighborhood, urging residents to stay away from Hamas militants and to report possible rocket launches.

The leaflet gave a contact phone number and e-mail.

It read: ‘The Israeli Defense Forces are going into a new phase in the coming operation and does not want to harm civilians.

‘The army is warning residents in the areas where the operation will take place that for your safety, you have to keep away from terrorists and the locations from which they operate.’

Any hope of a ceasefire were earlier dashed when Mohammed Deif, the shadowy leader of Hamas’s armed wing, insisted Palestinians would continue confronting Israel until its blockade on Gaza was lifted.
In a recorded message on television, Deif said: ‘The occupying entity will not enjoy security unless our people live in freedom and dignity.

‘There will be no ceasefire before the (Israeli) aggression is stopped and the blockade is lifted. We will not accept interim solutions.’

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond also offered little assurance of an end to the bloodshed any time soon.

Asked if the international community was any closer to brokering a ceasefire, Mr Hammond told Sky News: ‘I’m afraid we are not, if people are insisting on preconditions.’

He said the UK was involved in work behind the scenes on an Egyptian peace plan which could lead to wider discussions on the issues underlying the conflict.

‘What we are saying to both sides, what the United Nations are saying to both sides, what the whole international community is saying to both sides, is that the humanitarian necessity must come first.

‘We must stop the bloodshed now by an unconditional ceasefire by both sides.’


Palestinians from the Jabaliya refugee camp stare sombrely at the wrecked school. Photo by AP.

The outer wall of the complex had also been damaged and a number of dead animals including donkeys could be seen lying on the ground.

Israel’s military said it had struck 75 sites, including five mosques it claimed were being used by militants in a sustained bombardment on Gaza.

About two hours after the strike, hundreds of people still crowded the courtyard, some dazed, others wailing.

Four of the dead were killed just outside the school compound, two in their home and two who were struck in the street after returning from pre-dawn prayers, their relatives said.
The bodies of two members of the al-Najar family, 56-year-old Shaher and his 41-year-old brother, Bassem, were laid out in one of the rooms of their small home, surrounded by wailing relatives.
Outside the gate, another relative held on to his crying son, hugging him tight and saying: ‘I’m here, I’m not going anywhere.’

The deadly strike came a day after Israel unleashed its heaviest air and artillery assault in the bloodiest day of the three-week Gaza war, destroying key symbols of Hamas control, shutting down the territory’s only power plant and leaving at least 128 Palestinians dead.

It also also comes days after eight Palestinian children were killed playing on swings in the Shati refugee camp on the edge of Gaza City when a huge explosion obliterated the site.
Palestinian medics said two adults were also killed in the blast, which witnesses said was an Israeli air strike.

However, Israel denied responsibility, claiming it was a misfire of a rocket launched by Hamas militants that landed in the school courtyard.

The latest deadly strike came as Israel intensified its air and artillery assault on what it says are Hamas targets in Gaza.

Israel has vowed to stop the Hamas rocket and mortar fire that has reached increasingly deeper into its territory and to destroy a sophisticated network of Hamas military tunnels used for attacks in Israel.
For its part, Hamas has so far rejected cease-fire efforts unless its demands are met, including a lifting of a punishing blockade.

The military said that since fighting began July 8, Israeli forces have hit 4,100 targets in Gaza, about one-third connected to the militants’ ability to launch rockets at Israel.

An army statement said that since Tuesday morning, troops have demolished three more tunnels leading from Gaza to Israel. Hamas has used such tunnels to sneak into Israel to carry out attacks.
The army said 32 tunnels have so far been located but did not say how many remain.

Since July 8, more than 1,258 Gazans, most of them civilians, have been killed in the conflict and more than 7,100 injured.

On the Israeli side, 53 soldiers have been killed as well as three civilians.

THE WORLD STANDS DISGRACED‘: UN AID CHIEF PIERRE KRAHENBUHL’S REACTION TO SCHOOL STRIKE IN FULL

Last night, children were killed as they slept next to their parents on the floor of a classroom in a UN designated shelter in Gaza.

Children killed in their sleep. This is an affront to all of us, a source of universal shame. Today the world stands disgraced.

We have visited the site and gathered evidence. We have analysed fragments, examined craters and other damage. Our initial assessment is that it was Israeli artillery that hit our school, in which 3,300 people had sought refuge.

We believe there were at least three impacts. It is too early to give a confirmed official death toll.
But we know that there were multiple civilian deaths and injuries including of women and children and the UNRWA guard who was trying to protect the site.

These are people who were instructed to leave their homes by the Israeli army.

The precise location of the Jabalia Elementary Girls School and the fact that it was housing thousands of internally displaced people was communicated to the Israeli army seventeen times, to ensure its protection; the last being at 8.50pm last night, just hours before the fatal shelling.

I condemn in the strongest possible terms this serious violation of international law by Israeli forces.

This is the sixth time that one of our schools has been struck. Our staff, the very people leading the humanitarian response are being killed.

Our shelters are overflowing. Tens of thousands may soon be stranded in the streets of Gaza, without food, water and shelter if attacks on these areas continue.

We have moved beyond the realm of humanitarian action alone. We are in the realm of accountability.
I call on the international community to take deliberate international political action to put an immediate end to the continuing carnage.


UNRWA breaks its silence: Abu Hussein school massacre exposes Israel

By Amjad Yaghi, Al Akhbar
July 31, 2014

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) says it had sent 17 communiqués that included the coordinates of the Abu Hussein UN-run school in the Jabalia refugee camp to the Israelis to avoid bombing it. The last of these warnings was communicated a few hours before the massacre, according to UNRWA. The deadly Israeli air strike on the school prompted the UN agency to break its silence and challenge the Israeli account of what had happened.

Gaza – This the third time that UNRWA schools have been bombed during this war. The first attack did not lead to casualties, as the Israeli occupation army had sent warnings to the Maghazi School in the central Gaza Strip before shelling it.

“The strikes were sudden and random. People did not realize what was happening and they could not escape.” – Mohammed Awad, journalistThe second attack turned into a massacre in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip, killing around 15 refugees. At the time, UNRWA was equivocal about the cause of the attack, and relied on the Israeli account that claimed there had been military activity there. But Wednesday’s massacre took place in a refugee camp that does not have enough room for even a single bullet to be fired. The shelling claimed the lives of 17 people and injured dozens, many critically.
When the worshippers had finished their prayers at dawn in the mosques of the northern part of the Jabalia refugee camp, and made their way to the shelters at the elementary Abu Hussein School, they did not know they were about to become the victims of a horrific massacre.

In the beginning, the shells were not directed toward the school, but were random and hit houses in the surrounding area. Suddenly, the Israeli artillery decided to target the school directly, destroying the outer gate, two classrooms at the front and center of the school and adjacent toilets, in addition to three homes near the school. It was a bloodbath with body parts everywhere. Injured people, whose arms or legs were blown off, were paralyzed from shock and could not even scream. Even some animals that were near the gate were killed, and their corpses mingled with those of people.

Mohammed Awad, a journalist who lives in the area, rushed to document the incident. He said what he had seen was probably the “worst massacre” he encountered since the start of the war. He told Al-Akhbar that he counted up to 15 shells that landed on the school and the street that separates it from surrounding homes, adding, “The strikes were sudden and random. People did not realize what was happening and they could not escape.”

Awad said that members from both the Najjar and Amoudi families were killed in the attack, in addition to the school’s janitor who was on UNRWA’s payroll, adding, “Eight people died in a single classroom.” The journalist also pointed out that fires broke out at the school as a result, and spread to a fuel tank and an electricity generator.

According to Awad, the majority of families that sought shelter in the school came from the farmlands in the north, “fleeing with their carts, horses, and donkeys, the source of their livelihoods.” Awad also stressed that there had been no prior warning issued to the school.

Mohammed Muhanna also witnessed the massacre. He said, “Those who know the area know that it is crowded, and that there is no room to fire rockets from it. The entire area is civilian and the occupation knows it.” Muhanna was among the first to arrive at the scene, and helped transport the injured. He also told Al-Akhbar that there were officials from UNRWA who were checking the schools and surrounding areas to verify whether there was any threat to people’s lives.

Fuad Abu Qleiq, who was sheltering in the school, said that he stayed behind to collect the body parts at the scene, and expressed his sorrow for the fate of the families that came seeking shelter under UNRWA’s roof. He said angrily, “UNRWA should have protected us, but it couldn’t, and Israel did not show any respect for it.”

Medical sources put the death toll at 17 and said 65 people were injured as a result of the massacre. The sources said that most injuries were critical, some requiring urgent surgery, including cases that cannot be treated in Gaza’s hospitals.

Faced with the third attack of its kind on its schools, UNRWA blamed Israel for killing women and children at the Abu Hussein School and called for holding Israel accountable, as an UNRWA delegation examined the scene and collected evidence. According to an UNRWA statement, the delegation analyzed shrapnel samples and examined craters from the shelling and other damage.

The UNRWA statement said, “Last night, children were killed as they slept next to their parents on the floor of a classroom in a UN designated shelter in Gaza. Children killed in their sleep; this is an affront to all of us, a source of universal shame. Today the world stands disgraced.”

The statement continued, “We have visited the site and gathered evidence…Our initial assessment is that it was Israeli artillery that hit our school, in which 3,300 people had sought refuge…These are people who were instructed to leave their homes by the Israeli army.”

Children killed in their sleep; this is an affront to all of us, a source of universal shame. Today the world stands disgraced.” – UNRWA statementUNRWA stressed that the Israeli army had been notified of the exact location of the school and its coordinates, saying, “The precise location of the Jabalia Elementary Girls School and the fact that it was housing thousands of internally displaced people was communicated to the Israeli army seventeen times, to ensure its protection; the last being at ten to nine last night, just hours before the fatal shelling.”
In the same vein, UNRWA Commissioner General Pierre Krähenbühl said, “I condemn in the strongest possible terms this serious violation of international law by Israeli forces.” Krähenbühl added, “This is the sixth time that one of our schools has been struck. Our staff, the very people leading the humanitarian response are being killed. Our shelters are overflowing. Tens of thousands may soon be stranded in the streets of Gaza, without food, water and shelter if attacks on these areas continue.”

Krähenbühl concluded, “We have moved beyond the realm of humanitarian action alone. We are in the realm of accountability. I call on the international community to take deliberate international political action to put an immediate end to the continuing carnage.”

Meanwhile, UNRWA spokesperson Adnan Abu Hasna said that the agency held an emergency meeting, and came out with several decisions including measures to assist the family of the slain janitor, who he said “was the responsibility of the agency.” Abu Hasna said that UNRWA would need to provide for his nine children and offer them support and compensation.

It should be noted that UNRWA had claimed during the current conflict that it had found weapons in one of its schools. UNRWA rushed to announce this in a statement without investigating the incident following protocol, which helped the Israeli side justify its attacks in front of public opinion. However, the massacre at Abu Hussein was clearly unprovoked and unjustified even by UNRWA and Israeli standards.

This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.

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