The report documents incidents “too numerous to count” of human rights violations by Israeli troops during the 22-day war in December/January. The report cites the killing of unarmed civilians, sometimes without warning (in other words, in cold blood), and the use of Gazan children as human shields. Read the rest of this entry »
The Israeli newspaper Ha’aretzuses first-hand evidence to report, “Gazans: IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] used us as ‘human shields’ during offensive”.
Afternoon Update: A spokesman has said Hezbollah is not behind the rocket attack from Lebanon into northwestern Israel this morning.
Morning Update (9:20 a.m. GMT; 11:20 a.m. Israel/Palestine): Benjamin Netanyahu (pictured), the Likud Party leader asked on Friday to form the next Israeli Government, has called for unity with other political parties such as Kadima and Labor and declared that Iran “is developing nuclear weapons and poses the biggest threat to Israel since the war of independence”.
Anyone who is under the happy illusion that the US Secretary of State might do something of consequence to try and limit the civilian deaths in Gaza might want to turn away now:
“It is very difficult in circumstances like Gaza, which is a very densely populated area,” Rice told reporters when asked if Israel is living up to its humanitarian obligations in the offensive which has left more than 780 Palestinians dead.
“I might note it’s also an area in which Hamas participates in activities like human shields, using buildings that are not designated as military buildings to hide their fighters. So it’s hard.”
You know, we could inform Ms Rice — perhaps via State’s Twitter-diplomats — of the Zeitoun massacre, the Jabaliya school/shelter shelling, and the firing on UN convoys and Red Cross/Red Crescent ambulances. We could drop her a note that the latest evidence is that “human shields” are a specialism of the Israeli military.
But somethow I don’t think it’s going to make a difference.
1:30 a.m. A bit of downtime. We’ll be back in the morning, updating on the discussions at the UN Security Council, on the humanitarian situation, and on any military developments.
A United Nations Human Rights Council report has concluded that “there are strong and credible reports of war crimes and other violations of international norms” in Israel’s recent military operations in Gaza.
Photograph: Mohammed Saber/EPA
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