LISTEN: Israeli human rights lawyer Michael Sfard speak to Raji Sourani, founder and director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, about the ongoing destruction in Shujaiyeh, the use of human shields and the fate of Gaza’s civilian population.
By Michael Sfard and Raji Sourani
Raji Sourani: Hello
Michael Sfard: Raji? This is Michael. Can you speak now?
R: Yes, yes.
M: So, how was last night?
R: Well last night was difficult, the worst in the last two weeks. This is incredible evil. Ambulances weren’t able to reach the areas which were under heavy bombardment by tanks and F16s. And F22s were used too last night. And these kinds of bombs that we are not familiar making the houses last in an earthquake. You know, it just shakes for a few seconds.
M: There are no warnings before?
R: No no no. It just on the top of the people, on their heads. It is a war zone, not bombing. You see slain [people]. Six to eight bombed per minute. Not for 10 minutes, or one hour, all the east side of Gaza, Zeiton, Shujaiyeh, eastern Jabaliya, nothern area, eastern Khan Younis, eastern Rafah…
M: Israeli friends reported that the IDF, the Israeli army made notifications that the civilians could go to some areas. Are there any areas that are safe to be?
R: No, there is not safe place in Gaza. You can be in the street, in my office or home and you will be bombed and away from my house, sixty meters a house was bombed by an F16. This can anywhere, whether it a drone, F16, and tonight they used F22. Gaza, Michael, I’m telling you, 350,000 square kilometers, two million people are living in it. It is one of the most densely populated areas on earth. Anywhere you move. You can ask people from the northern or eastern areas to move but you are taking about 400,000. They ask eastern Khan Younis, where to go?
So far there is 70,000-80,000 [civilians] that moved since mid-day yesterday (July 19), but where are the people can go? UNRWA? Each school hold 1,500-2,000 people. There is shortages in the UNRWA schools. It’s madness. I have never seen anything like this in my life.
M: Do you think it is worse than Cast Lead?
R: That was a joke. This is very, very serious. I think the army is losing their minds. They really want to inflict pain and terror on the civilians. I have no objection to do that with Fatah, with Hamas, with PFLP, they are competent, they are resistance. But I’m telling about hitting the flash, they are bombarding randomly. Bombing the civilians houses. Many, That is why many families fled. I challenge if in Gaza, one million people, if any of them slept.
M: Raji, what are the PCRH figures of civilians killed since the beginning?
R: Only yesterday we had something between 70 to 80 killings. And injuries you have much, much more.
M: And since the beginning?
R: It has exceeded 420.
M: Now you told me before that there is a suspicion for the use of DIMES?
R: Yes, that is what the doctors are telling us, including international doctors. They see we don’t see clean wounds, they see sharp ones; it is a very strange kind. There are hemorrhages, amputations. You hear the rockets and then it is over, you are hurt. It is like X-Files.
M: And there is no shrapnel?
R: No. Tonight and the night before, they are using tanks heavily, and using heavy artillery. On the civilians areas. Of course the tanks don’t use DIMES – these are tank bombs.
M: Are the Hamas forces visible around the streets of Gaza?
R: No. You can’t figure out one of them. You don’t see them, they are ghosts. They don’t function from the civilian areas. They don’t move anything. Everything was planned in advance.
M: But what do you mean they don’t function from civilian areas? They do shoot.
R: You don’t see any of them them.
M: But some of the rockets are shot from civilian areas. This is something that is quite clear, no?
R: Of course. All of Gaza is a civilian area. By definition. Where these rockets are coming from? Of course. But “using civilians as shields” is nonsense and disgusting. And it doesn’t exist. The plains they (Israel) are using [for targeting Hamas), but you don’t hear any second explosion, Michael. You don’t hear. They would say we bombed the south because it is a storage area, but if they would bomb [a storage area] it will destroy 20-30 houses around them, but this is not the case.
M: Raji, how many PCHR people do you have on the ground now?
R: How many?
M: I mean, are field workers still going out?
R: Yes, we had our own field workers, and we depend only on our accounts. We don’t take any over accounts, including hospitals. We may take these numbers to compare. We have field workers from Rafah to Beit Hanoun, and in between, and we have our lawyers, for this documents, also. We have an aim to represent most of the families who has been raided, including the family who lost their children on the beach.
M: Now I understand that as this time there no indications of use of white phosphate right?
R: No. We haven’t noticed that at all.
M: Raji, take care.
R: Last night people were pleading for them to go and take the injured. And they couldn’t do anything for them. People died bleeding, literally, especially in Sajahiya, and Zeiton, and Turkman area
M: I will be in touch, and what can say, I hope this ends soon.
R: We will remember this in a good way. This is tough, it’s unprecedented, it never ever came up to this. Keep well.
Thousands of Palestinians from Al Shaja’ia area flee their homes and look for shelter in Gaza city after a night of intense bombings and shelling by the Israeli army
Des milliers de Palestiniens du quartier d’Al Shaja’ia fuient leurs maisons
et cherchent refuge dans la ville de Gaza après une nuit intense de bombardements et de tirs d’artillerie de l’armée israélienne
Many took refuge at the hospital
Beaucoup se sont refugiés à l’hopital
A firefighter was injured while he was trying to rescue some injured Palestinians
Un pompier qui a été blessé alors qu’il essayait de secourir des blessés
The body of Palestinian video journalist Khaled Hamad, arrives to the Shifa hospital in Gaza city, after he was killed by Israeli attack while covering the violent operation on Al Shaja’ia
Le corps du cameraman palestinien Khaled Hamad, arrive à l’hôpital Shifa dans la ville de Gaza, après avoir été tué par une attaque israélienne alors qu’il couvrait l’opération militaire israélienne à Al Shaja’ia
The morgue was full of bodies, some on the floor
La morgue était pleine de corps, dont certains sur le sol
The body of Ola Salim, a Palestinian child from Al Shaja’ia area
A Palestinian reacts after having seen his dead sister
Un Palestinien réagit après avoir vu sa sœur morte
In Al Shaja’ia, accessible for a few hours during a ceasefire, scenes of devastation and death all around.
Dans Al Shaja’ia, accessible pendant quelques heures au cours d’une trêve,
des scènes de dévastation et la mort tout autour.
“
(c) Anne Paq/Activestills.org, Gaza, 20.07.2014
They say: It is too graphic.
But today Gaza is graphic.
This has been the bloodiest day since the beginning of the Israeli assault.
Yes this is shocking and very disturbing.
This is what is happening, this is the reality and maybe it is time to face it without turning away our eyes.
It was an horrific day with scenes of chaos and death all around.
The panic of the people of Al Shaja’ia who come many of them walking, leaving with almost nothing, still in their pijamas and sometimes even without shoes. They went through a night of horror with shelling and bombings all around. Some got trapped, injured under the rubble. The ambulances could not access the area for hours, and some were attacked. One journalist got also killed. Injured and dead bodies kept arriving at Al-Shifa hospital which was overwhelmed by the flow. The floor of the morgue was covered with blood.
In only one day, 100 hundred Palestinians were killed-, some of them in the streets as they were fleeing from the assault.
60,000 Palestinians fled their homes
The death toll reaches 437 and more than 3,000 injured
60,000 Palestinians fled their homes
I will never forget Ola.
—-Français——————————————————————————————————————–
Ils disent: c’est trop “graphique”. Mais aujourd’hui, Gaza est “graphique”. C’est le jour le plus sanglante depuis le début de l’offensive israélienne. Oui, c’est choquant et très perturbant. C’est ce qui se passe à Gaza, c’est la réalité et peut-être qu’il est temps de faire face sans détourner les yeux. Pour déplorer mais surtout pour agir afin que cela cesse. La journée a été horrible avec des scènes de chaos et la mort omniprésente. La panique des habitants d’Al Shaja’ia qui ont fui pour beaucoup à pied, avec presque rien, encore dans leurs pyjamas et parfois même sans chaussures. Ils ont passés une nuit d’horreur avec des bombardements tout autour d’eux. Certains furent pris au piège, blessés sous les décombres. Les ambulances n’ont pas pu accéder à la zone pendant des heures, et certaines ont été attaquées. J’ai vu un secouriste mort. Un journaliste a été également tué. Les corps et les blessés ont continué à arriver à l’hopital Aj-Shifa qui a été submergé par le flux. Le sol de la morgue était couvert de sang. En une seule journée, 100 Palestiniens ont été tués, certains d’entre eux dans les rues alors qu’ils fuyaient l’assaut. 60 000 Palestiniens ont fui leurs maisons. Le nombre de morts atteint 437 et plus de 3000 blessés. 60 000 Palestiniens ont fui leurs maisons. Je n’oublierai pas Ola.
i broke down yesterday and i am still having difficulty to face the horror. while i was talking to mohammad in gaza, a very very heavy campaign of shelling and airstrikes began. it was my turn to update a social media page, so i followed reports coming out of gaza, and while in the beginning, it seemed terrible – yes – but familiar, by saturday night, it was clear that something so horrible and scary was happening that it’s beyond my capacity to verbalize.
by this time, already, tens of thousands palestinians had been displaced as their homes were destroyed or they were told to evacuate (this in a place where building materials are withheld by the occupier and where housing was already scarce due to previous massive bombings such as during cast lead). journalists reported they had received more “warnings” – or threats – essentially saying they can leave, and if they decide to stay, they might get killed. this, in addition to an announcement of an expansion of the ground invasion – which until that time had not really been one, perhaps in part because hamas fighters kept them at bay and had, by then, killed at least four soldiers and injured 29.
saturday night – massive shelling and airsrikes in eastern gaza (especially sheja’iya) amd northern gaza
then… saturday night, the shelling began, indiscriminately, then airstrikes began as well. soon, there were reports of people injured and trapped in the neighborhood sheja’iya east of gaza city, reports of people injured or killed elsewhere. in so many places, i couldn’t count. and over and over again in sheja’ya, east of gaza city. reports of buildings on fire. people were getting frustrated with the red cross because they either weren’t answering their phones, or they were not sending ambulances to retrieve the injured and trapped. more reports came in of mobile phones in sheja’iya not working. of buildings shelled EVERYWHERE, especially in eastern and norther gaza, of everything shaking, electricity cuts. i lost contact to mohammad and others.
here is video of shelling/airstrikes on eastern gaza saturday night, i only found it on fb
map circulating saturday night of places getting shelled in gaza
i went to sleep at one point with nightmares. and when i woke up, the emerging truth.
yesterday: rescue workers, ambulances, and red cross still not allowed to reach targetted areas
yesterday, it became clear that saturday night was a massacre beyond words although the scope of the massacre and horrors only emerged slowly as people were still unable to reach the injured and dead due to continuous airstrikes. only now, we know that 72 were killed in sheja’iya alone. beit hanoun was also heavily shelled and those who could fled yesterday. at least 263 homes were destroyed, 33 of which were completely leveled, at least 100 educational facilities such as kindergardens, schools, and universities were damaged or destroyed. among those killed were paramedic fuad jaber and photojournalist khaled hamid, both murdered doing their work (another war crime). ten members of the siam family were killed when their home was bombed. they are just examples. we learned that firefighters and ambulances, including from the red cross had NOT BEEN ALLOWED to reach the wounded,the trapped, the burning houses, because the army declared the targetted areas in eastern gaza “closed military zones”. in total, saturday alone, “Israeli forces launched 756 raids on the Gaza Strip including 156 from the air, 210 from the sea, and 390 artillery shells.“
yesterday, during the day, ambulances were still getting fired at if they tried to reach the areas. at one point, the red cross demanded a three-hour humantiarian ceasefire to evacuate the wounded and dead bodies, israel initially refused, then agreed to a ceasefire from 1.30-3.30 pm. less than an hour into the humanitarian ceasefire, they resumed the attacks. (pictures on fb here and a compilation of pictures on fb here)
photo by mohammad abed, afp
evacuation of a body in sheja’iya yesteday. photo: thomas coex, afp
photo: joe catron
young man executed in front of internationals while searching for his family during humanitarian ceasefire
during the humanitarian ceasefire, internationals from ism went to shija’iya to help evacuate people of they could. they were wearing fluroscent wests. in sheja’iya, they met a young men, about 20 years old, who was searching for his family. they joined him in his search. the young man was walking quickly, frantic for his family, and a little ahead of the group. as soon as they reached an opening, a sniper shot at them. the second shot hit the young mean (wearing green on the photo) and he fell. a thirs shot hit him, a fourth missed him. the internatonals witnessed this, the young man was just in front of them, but they didn’t dare go out and help him, feeling certain that they too would be killed if they dared. as you can see in the pictures, there can be NO MISTAKING any of them as a threat, it was an execution. another one. read more here.
international activists from ism accompanying a young man (green t-shirt) in sheja’iya during the humanitarian ceasefire. the young man was looking for his family.. photo: joe catron
thousands displaced, many seeking shelter in front of al shifa hospital in gaza city
those who survived the massacre in sheja’iya and could get out, ran towards gaza city yesterday,many wearing only their pyjamas. UN shelters are already overcrowded, many peope, like mohammad’s family, are staying with family or friends in gaza city. yesterday, many from sheja’iya thought refuge in front of al shifa hospital in gaza city. by now, 135,000 palestinians are displaced by this ongoing onslaught,
survivors from al sheja’iya ran to al shifa hospital for shelter yesterday. families sitting in front of the hospital hoping for safety.
survivors from al sheja’iya ran to al shifa hospital for shelter yesterday. families sitting in front of the hospital hoping for safety.
video of people trying to escape sheja’iya amid ongoing attacks yesterday (graphic)
continued attacks through yesterday night
last night, residents of bein hanoun reported that they received sms telling them to leave because they will attack “with an iron fist”. my friend received a message that said “you’ve never seen something like this before”, as an intimidation and twisted warning of yet more attacks. and indeed, heavy shelling and air strikes continued throughout last night. this morning, rescue workers were again digging out people out of the rubble, this time about 20 people in khan younis. just as anne was telling me that she was going back to sheja’iya, al jazeera tweeted that hospitals are reporting the use white phosphorus in the area (as i wrote last week, the zionists had decided to not use white phosphorus because “it doesn’t photograph well”. i guess they don’t care how their ongoing massacres look at this point, which is scary.)
the hamas military wing al qassam announced yesterday that they captured a zionist soldier. the UN immediately called in an emergency meeting over the capture (they are very slow when it comes to meeting and deciding regarding murder, injury and displacement of so many palestinians). the zionists still have not confirmed the capture.
this morning, the gaza ministry of health reports 508 death since the beginning of this military onslaught, over 3150 injured. among those killed last night, nine were members of the syam family in rafah, including a 12 year old, an 8 year old, and a baby. 13 occupation soldiers were killed in total and two israeli civilians, one of which a bedouin (the bedouins and the palestinian citizens of “israel” don’t get warning sirens or bomb shelters to protect them from qassam rockets.)
according to this euromid graph, 170,000 palestinian were displaced in the past 13 days, 52000 of whom due to the direct destruction of their homes in bombings/shellings. according to the un office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs, 84,000 palestinians are seeking shelter in overcrowded UN schools. this is significantly higher than the number of people displaced during cast lead. as food, water, mattresses, clothing and urgently needed building/repair materials are becoming scares, the occupation radio has reportedly announced there will be no pause in the military campaign before the muslim holidary of al fitr at the end of july (i can’t find a source for this). people are saying this is already worse in many aspects to the horrors of cast lead.
during all of this, obama AGAIN expressed his “full support” for israel, a day after the senate had voted 100-1 on a rhetorical resolution that also expressed absolute support the zionists.
personal stuff
i broke down yesterday. i couldn’t do anything, the place i live in looks like shit, i can’t communicate with people here, i can’t socialize and yesterday, i couldn’t blog or update a page i’m supposed to be updating together with two friends. when i don’t feel paralyzed, i’m crying. there are encouring news all the time of people taking to the streets, of people divesting, bds growing, of actions. i try to take solace from that, but right now, where i am, i don’t feel the strength that we have. i wished we would stop this NOW. but since we aren’t, i wished i was in palestine. as i write this, there are more airstrikes, more reports of dead, of people trying to pull bodies and perhaps survivors out of rubble…
dr. med. mads gilbert: “4,5,6 children without heads” (brought into gaza from shija’iya yesterday)! (yesterday’s video)
as gaza is getting shelled massively as i’m writing this, and i’m losing contact to friends, i urge you to watch the reports (and read the tweets) by jonathan miller (yes, channel 4, i guess when you see what’s happening in gaza, there is no room for “both sides are to blame”-type of reporting left)
the video (first is of yesterday, which is the most recent) is really good, except the part where he explains that israel has warned residents to evacuate, but then hamas told them to stay, thinking it was a bluff, and it wasn’t. the truth is, at the time people in sheja’iya had been warned, people in 13 other areas had been told to evacuate as well – IN THE FREAKING GAZA STRIP, a place that is smaller than many cities. i was following social media during the attacks, and i feel like people didn’t stay because they thought “but hamas said” (palestinians CAN think for themselves, they don’t just blindly follow suicidal orders), but because people have been warned before without something this terrible happening, because the UN shelters were already full and you don’t sleep on the street unless you KNOW that you HAVE TO, and because the areas “warned” were too many to actually act upon.
