A medic in Gaza checks an infant for injury.
By Craig Harrington
IMEMC. The Gaza
Strip was besieged by airstrikes from the Israeli military once again Monday
morning. Conflicting reports from Israeli and Palestinians sources leave the
total number killed or injured unknown.
The densely
populated Gaza Strip witnessed yet another day of airstrikes and bombings from
the Israeli military and air force on Monday. Israeli military sources report
that the attacks were launched against Palestinian militants known to be in a
neighborhood south of Gaza City.
Ma’an News
Agency initially reported that no Palestinian civilians were injured in the
attack, though it had nothing to report on whether or not alleged militants had
been killed or injured. Other reports from the Palestine News Network reveal
that an unconfirmed number of civilians were harmed in the early morning air
raid.
Israeli military
sources have claimed that the airstrikes were a success but it has not released
the names of its targets. As is often the case the Israeli military claims that
all victims of its attacks are militants ~ either including women, children and
other non-participants as so-called ‘militants’ or ignoring them entirely.
.
Hadeel
Haddad (2) was one of the first children killed in the latest round of Israeli
attacks in Gaza
Regardless of who was targeted, and for what reason, the grim reality on the ground is that dozens of Palestinians have been killed or injured by Israeli attacks in the past three weeks. Many of these casualties are undoubtedly women, children, and other civilians. The youngest, two-year old Hadeel Haddad, was killed during the evening of June 19.
Other children and
teenagers have also been confirmed killed during weeks of intermittent
bombings.
The Israeli
military claims that it is carrying out attacks on Qassam rocket brigades who
have fired homemade rockets into Israel during the same period. Both sides
claim that the other struck first, but Hamas authorities in Gaza did put a
ceasefire on the table before it was summarily rejected by Israel.
Israeli forces
have criticized Palestinian militants in the past for hiding amongst civilians
and using them as ‘human shields’. The military charged that such actions
amount to war crimes on the part of the Qassam brigades. The known presence of
these civilians has never stopped Israel from launching attacks on population
centers leaving the Palestinians as ‘collateral damage’.
No comments:
Post a Comment
If your comment is not posted, it was deemed offensive.