Israel And Gaza: The UN School Massacre That Never Was
THE Israelis killed the 43 schoolchildren by bombing Ibn Rushd Preparatory School for Boys, run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Gaza. Fact. The Toronto Globe and Mail has been picking though the debris:
Physical evidence and interviews with several eyewitnesses, including a teacher who was in the schoolyard at the time of the shelling, make it clear: While a few people were injured from shrapnel landing inside the white-and-blue-walled UNRWA compound, no one in the compound was killed. The 43 people who died in the incident were all outside, on the street, where all three mortar shells landed….
A terrible loss of life. But the facts are not quite what the media reported at the time:
Massacre of innocents as UN school is shelled
Shells kill 42 at U.N. school: Gaza medics
Gaza’s darkest day: 40 die as Israel bombs ‘safe haven’ UN school
Israel has shown the first signs of bowing to the international outcry over its 11-day onslaught of Gaza after some 40 Palestinians sheltering in a United Nations school were killed.
And now:
While a few people were injured from shrapnel landing inside the white-and-blue-walled UNRWA compound, no one in the compound was killed. The 43 people who died in the incident were all outside, on the street, where all three mortar shells landed....The teacher, who refused to give his name because he said UNRWA had told the staff not to talk to the news media, was adamant: ‘Inside [the compound] there were 12 injured, but there were no dead. Three of my students were killed,’ he said. ‘But they were all outside.’ Hazem Balousha, who runs an auto-body shop across the road from the UNRWA school, was down the street, just out of range of the shrapnel, when the three shells hit. He showed a reporter where they landed: one to the right of his shop, one to the left, and one right in front. ‘There were only three,’ he said. ‘They were all out here on the road.’
John Ging, UNRWA’s operations director in Gaza explains:
The Israelis are the ones, [Ging] said, who got everyone thinking the deaths occurred inside the school. ‘Look at my statements,’ he said. ‘I never said anyone was killed in the school. Our officials never made any such allegation.’
Or as he said at the time:
Speaking from Shifa Hospital in Gaza City as the bodies were being brought in that night, an emotional Mr. Ging did say: “Those in the school were all families seeking refuge. … There’s nowhere safe in Gaza.”
Do you see?
The UN reported the goings on at a press conference:
Decrying mounting civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip since Israel launched its military offensive there some 11 days ago, the head of United Nations relief operations in the enclave today demanded an independent investigation into a spate of overnight and early-morning air strikes on several clearly marked schools… ‘It’s quite a horrific scene here today,’ said John Ging… In addition to the 30 people killed, 55 others had been injured by three Israeli artillery shells landing on the perimeter of a United Nations school in the Jabaliya refugee camp, where civilians had fled seeking refuge from the ongoing violence…Emphasizing that all United Nations schools in Gaza were clearly marked, he said they flew the Organization’s flag and Israel had long been provided with the GPS coordinates of all its installations in the area. ‘So the people in Gaza feel that nowhere is safe…’ [my emphasis]
And why did the Israelis shoot?
…a group of militants fired mortars from a street near the school, then fled into a crowd of people in the streets. Israel then opened fire. The residents, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared for their safety, said the Abu Askar brothers were known low-level Hamas militants.
As said, this was a huge waste of life. But the accusations of bloodlust should not be confined to the Israelis and Hamas – the media loves as good massacre.
And anyone sensible can make of it what they will. But what does it say about the old media..?
And is there a blogger in Gaza who knows?
Posted: 30th, January 2009 | In: Key Posts, Reviews Comments (19) | TrackBack | Permalink
