a lot has happened in the past two days and i wanted to take time to update yesterday evening. but then, there were more airstrikes that killed people, including more children of the same family. and THEN the israeli army began shelling gaza MASSIVELY from the sea and perhaps also from the “border” (that is no border). and THEN the ground invasion was announced.
but let me back up and start with wedneday.
Wednesday: more talks about the ceasefire scam
on wednesday, there was more talk about that ceasefire deal that netanayu allegedly agreed to while hamas refused it. this is, as usual, cited as hamas’ rejection of peace in general, yet more proof of hamas’ care for the civilians in gaza, and therefore used as legitimation for yet more murderous attacks on the population of the gaza strip. mark regev, netanyahu’s spokesperson, actually blamed their killing of palestinian children on wednesday on hamas’ refusal to agree to that much-discussed ceasefire (as did the US state department). as i and others have argued before , that ceasefire was a scam, another attempt to push hamas into a corner and to dictate policies and practices. here is another article by ali abunimah on ei with more background on why exactly this ceasefire announcement is a scam and what hamas’ terms have been from the offse.
in addition and as to visualize the ACTUAL context of the rocket attacks and of hamas’ respect of ceasefires, the jerusalem fund has craeted these two graphs and this post.
(here is a video of events just before and after the killing on french tv)
this graph visualises the amount of rockets launched over time. you will notice that the activity peaked during massive israeli military attacks – and that – contrary to what you hear – hamas has a tendency to respect ceasefires. therefore, the ONLY way to protect the residents of “israel” is NOT by attacking the gaza strip, but by agreeing to a fair ceasefire (similarly, the only way to really live safely in historic palestine would be to lift the siege of gaza, to end the military occupation and colonization of the west bank, to end the oppression of palestinians of 48 and if you actually want REAL peace and justice, then also to implement the right of return for the refugees as inshrined and affirmed by international law.
graph by jerusalem fund shows that hamas rockets peaked during major israeli military invasions and that hamas respected past ceasefire agreements
in addition, only a few weeks ago, hamas actually offered the zionists a 10 year truce, but was – as usual – refused. remarkably, yet little surprisingly, very little media or political attention was afforded to such an important offer (and in the past hamas has repeatedly offered different kinds of truce, always based on very sensible conditions, but the zionists refused.
the second graph drives this point further home in that it visualizes israeli breaches of the ceasefire agreement of 2012 that hamas respected until israel broke it yet again on june 29,2014 – AFTER it had already killed almost three times as many palestinians this year as during the same period in the year before, AFTER israeli soldiers shot nadeem and mohammad execution style and faced no consequences even though cnn captured it on video, and AFTER the military raided more than 1500 homes and arrested over 500 people – and among them many hamas members, including those that had just been released as part of the prisoner’s deal – since the kidnapping of the three settlers that hamas had nothing to do with, and AFTER weeks of inciting genodical bloodlust against all palestinians and threatening to expell hamas legistlators from the west bank to gaza.
graph by jerusalem fund visualizes israeli breaches of the 2012 ceasefire
Thursday: israeli army targetted and killed four children who were playing on the beach in front of international journalists
on thursday, a group of children were playing on gaza beach – a space that is wide open and where it would be difficult for militants to hide. the children were actually playing just in front of the fancy hotels were most western journalists tend to stay when in gaza, and as it happens, many of the journalists were at the beach at that time. one journalist, ayman mohyeldin who now works for the NBC but used to work for al jazeera, even briefly joined the children who were playing football. suddenly, a missile hit a structure that was very close to the children and the children scattered and ran away. then, as four brothers were running in one direction, a second missile was fired at them, killing all four instantly and leaving other children injured. my heart hurts as i write this.
images of the targetted murder of the baker brothers
with their precision technology, this could NOT have been an accident (as mark regev later took to claiming); on wide-open space such as gaza beach, during the day, without any buildings nearby, a group of children wearing brightly colored clothes and running away from the site of a missile attack could NOT have been mistaken as anything threatening. in fact, this type of attack is NOT EVEN AN EXCEPTION but common practise by israeli soldiers (if nothing else, please remember mohammad and ibrahim al zaha). but this time, most of the international AND local media in gaza directly witnessed the murder, were there to see the ambulances arrive, and where there to see the parents arrive and despair.
there are MANY first hand witness accounts by journalists for large networks as well as a few by friends of mine of which i’m posting only a few.
here are pictures by anne and here is an account by dylan, a friend.
this accounts on the guardian, tweets by johnathan miller on channel 4 (US), the huffington post, in addition to a post on 972 mag and one on ei.
there is a video of the mother of the boys running, looking for her boys and it’s HEARTBREAKING, but i can’t find it right now.
BECAUSE international media was actually THERE to witness the direct targetting of obvious children, there was some outrage. and because channel 4’s own reporter had witnessed the killing, channel 4’s actually got a bit tough in an interview with netanyahu’s spokesperson mark regev, who repeats the same zionist crap and lies that we are dismantling, (and that i try to dismantle on this blog as well).
friday: more people killed in spite of ceasefire and THEN military groud invasion
yesterday, before the humanitarian ceasefire started, a number of palestinians were killed over night and in the morning. in fact, apparently just before the ceasefire, three children from the shubaibar family, who were playing on their roof, were killed in another targetted attack, and five of their family were injured. i would like to write more about them, but i can’t right now for time priority reasons. here are accounts instead.
please read here and here and anne’s update here.
more children were killed yesterday, i know some names and some numbers, but i’ll leave it at this. overall, at this time, 237 palestinians had been killed, including 48 children, and over 1700 injured since the beginning of this military onslaught.
then: intense shelling and announcement of ground invasion
yesterday evening, israel began very very heavily shelling gaza in the north, east, and west from the sea and – i think – also from tanks. friends were saying that everything was shaking, that this was one of the worst nights yet and very scary – and something to understand is that shelling is much less precise than airstrikes. i coulnd’t count any more how many people were injured and how many killed. it was very scary even from afar.
during all of this, and in spite of the presence of international activists as human shields and a lot of media attention generated since last friday, wafa hospital was shelled as well.
last friday, israel bombed the roof of the hospital and then apparently called to ask if anyone had been injured. those patients who could leave left, but 14 patients longterm patients who could not be moved stayed. international activists moved into the hospital and a huge media campaign began in the hope that the attention would spare a future attack. i didn’t write about the fears of attacks for the hospital because i thought that with all this media attention, they would not attack it. but they did. and during the attack, they called the hospital and recommended that people evacuate. the staff then tried to evacuate, which was very difficult because electricty was cut immediately and dangerous because the shelling was ongoing. in spite of fears of casualties, eventually, they managed to evacuate the entire hospital, but the hospital was apparently destroyed. here is one account.
also yesterday, before the shelling, the army had disributed leaflets to evacuate in 14 areas in gaza – this while so many people had already been displaced by the danger and warnings that all unrwa schools where they could take shelter were overcrowded. the language of the flyers of the israeli army is insulting, but i’ll skip my thoughts on that.
and THEN, the zionists launched a ground invasion… the last major ground invasion was during cast lead, when over 1400 palestinians were killed, thousands maimed for life, tens of thousands of homes destroyed,and numerous war crimes committed. since cast lead, any time the zionists attack gaza for more than a few nights, we fear a ground invasion, we fear that the next round of cast lead is about to begin. rumors of a ground invasion spread quickly among activists.
last night, it began like that, again with rumors of a ground invasion. at one point, anne told me that she thought one was about to start. we had had the same conversation a few nights ago, with me saying there were reports of one, and her saying we should wait and stay calm. this time, i told her to wait until we had confirmation – and then it came. the army itself announced it.
and i cannot describe to you the fear this means. airstrikes, shelling, it’s horror. but ground invasions, these soldiers who are pumped up, young, equipped with the best military technology this earth currently contains, and geared up with weeks and weeks of genocidal incitement…. it’s terrifying. and as much as i dislike hamas (not for their response to the zionists but for their practices in quiter times towards palestinians – and i dislike fateh just as much for the same reasons), last night, images of hamas fighters ready to meet the incoming soldiers were my only hope. because this is were we leave people in gaza, with only hamas and their mostly self-made weapons between israeli arms and their bodies.
that said, DO something to stop this. if you can’t get organized, at least join bds and start with signing this petition.