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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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January 16th,
2009 - War in Gaza: UN Aid Compound Set Alight ‘By Phosphorus Shells’ |
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War in Gaza: UN Aid Compound
Set Alight ‘By Phosphorus Shells’ By Sheera Frenkel The Times January 16, 2009 Israeli forces shelled the
headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency with phosphorus
bombs and artillery rounds yesterday, setting fire to the compound and
destroying food and humanitarian supplies, officials said. Thick smoke was still
billowing from the building in Gaza City last night as UNRWA workers and
firefighters struggled to salvage the food worth millions of pounds. The
compound had been used to shelter hundreds of people fleeing Israel’s 20-day
offensive in Gaza. Israeli officials said that an end to the fighting was in
sight despite the recent escala-tion of the ground offensive. Chris Gunness, of the UN
agency, said: “What more powerful symbol can there be than pallets used for
aid being set alight by the fighting? With white phosphorus you cannot put
out the flames with water. You need sand, and there is too much fighting for
our staff to get sand.” The Israeli military denies using white phosphorus
shells, although an investigation by The Times has revealed that dozens of
Palestinians in Gaza have sustained serious injuries from the substance,
which burns at extremely high temperatures. Gordon Brown condemned the
attack as indefensible. He said: “The intensification of Israeli military
action, and continued Hamas rocket attacks, reinforce the urgency of our call
for an immediate ceasefire.” The UN agency, which looks
after four million Palestinian refugees in the region, suspended its
operations in Gaza after the attack, in which three of its staff were
injured. Amnesty International called for an immediate investigation into the
shelling and Israel’s apparent use of white phosphorus. “[It] is an
incendiary weapon which should never be used in densely populated civilian
areas due to its devastating effects,” Malcom Smart, a director of the group,
said. Ban Ki Moon, the UN
Secretary-General, who is in the region to put pressure on Hamas and Israel
to reach a ceasefire agreement, demanded a full investigation. Ehud Olmert, the Israeli
Prime Minister, said that the military had fired artillery shells at the UN
compound after Hamas militants opened fire from inside it. “It is absolutely
true that we were attacked from that place, but the consequences are very sad
and we apologise for it. I don’t think it should have happened and I’m very
sorry,” Mr Olmert said. The shelling came as Israeli
forces struck deep into Gaza’s urban centres, pushing farther into the city
and hitting two hospitals. At least 15 Palestinians were killed, medical
officials said, pushing the death toll towards 1,100.Israeli officials said
that they had killed Said Siam, one of Hamas’s top five leaders in Gaza.
Hamas fired twenty rockets at southern Israel, injuring ten Israelis,
including two wounded when a rocket hit a car in the city of Beersheba. The Egyptian-brokered
ceasefire talks continued in Cairo yesterday, with Hamas saying that it would
agree to a year-long renewable ceasefire in Gaza if Israel pulled out all its
forces within five to seven days and reopened border crossings immediately.
Neither side would say how close they were to reaching an agreement. External link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5526929.ece |