Post Israeli war crimes here; We told you Israel uses WP when AP was still calling it "smoke bombs",

[Optimus]

'People Are Being Killed in Their Homes'
http://route24.freehost10.com/index.php/world-at-war/israel/people-are-being-killed-in-their-homes.html

An Eyewitness Account of Conditions on the Ground in Gaza
RAFAH, Gaza, Jan. 5, 2009 —

The Israeli assault in Gaza is taking a particularly cruel toll on children who have been caught in the crossfire.

Gaza's hospitals are said to be at a breaking point, with medical supplies running low and paramedics among the many attacked. Western media have not been allowed into Gaza so far to witness and report on the situation there.

Jenny Linnel is a British volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a Palestinian nonviolent resistance movement, and has been working in the Gaza Strip since August. Since the Israeli assault on Gaza began Dec. 27, Linnel has been working alongside other volunteers to "witness and document the devastation" in Gaza.

Since the ground invasion, Linnel and other ISM activists have been working alongside medical personnel in the territory. Here is her eyewitness account of conditions on the ground in Gaza.

What we are seeing now is like nothing that's ever been seen before in the Gaza Strip. The ground invasion will only worsen things.

Ambulances have been attacked, adding to the great difficulty we are having reaching people. Yesterday five paramedics were killed on duty, three by a missile, and I think the other two were shot.

Conditions in Gaza's hospitals are growing more desperate. At least 2,500 Gazans have been wounded in these attacks. The hospitals here are dealing with such huge numbers. They were already running out of medical supplies before the attacks.

The director of the European Gaza Hospital near Khan Younis, Dr. Abdullatif el-Haj, just sent me a list of very basic supplies, supplies that any other hospital would have plenty of. They need latex gloves, gauze, bandages, syringes, oxide plasters, antibiotics. They are running out because there are so many traumas, and so many people susceptible to infections. They are massively overstretched.

And now, ambulance staff are being targeted. Just today, a missile landed in the car park next to the Al Awda hospital, the entrance of the hospital's emergency room has now been damaged.

There have been so many casualties. Last Tuesday, on the 30th of December, two of my colleagues in Beit Hanoun, in northeast Gaza, witnessed a missile strike that killed three children. These kids went to take out the rubbish. They were afraid to go out alone, so they went out together. The 4-year-old girl died instantly, her 12-year-old sister died upon arrival at the hospital and their 11-year-old brother, who was injured, died a few days later.

I have seen whole families being killed. Five sisters killed in Jabaliya, when their house was hit by a missile. & Their bodies being pulled out from under the rubble, all holding on to each other. I know another family that fled their home near the Gaza airport worried about their safety. They were killed yesterday while making their way to a relative's home. Nowhere is safe in the Gaza Strip.

On Monday, the 29th of December, three boys were killed in their home in Rafah by a missile. They were 4, 12, and 13 years old. We met their sister, who was injured and in a state of shock. Their mother was seriously injured, their father was injured as well. There are so many stories like this.

In Al-Garara village near Khan Younis, three children were killed, a 11-year-old girl and two 9-year-old boys. They were hit by a missile from an unmanned aircraft, locally known as drones. We see them flying over constantly, monitoring the situation. The uncle of these children told us that one of the boys. & His head was missing.

This is just a handful of the stories here. People are being killed in their homes, in their beds while they are sleeping.

Here in Rafah, the border opens intermittently and for very brief moments of time, allowing a trickle of aid to come through. If things continue like this, there will be a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

We are waiting. & We may find that areas will be sealed off, as is already happening in the north of Gaza, so my colleagues will either be stuck in certain areas or won't be able to get into areas. We know Israeli troops are outside Rafah. In time Rafah too could be sealed off, which will make our mobility very difficult. We just have to wait and see. We will continue to do the best we can for as long as we can.


About the Author

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=6578174

[GlobalCordon]

  G.C., was that reported by Press TV?

Yep its on the ticker on the live stream

[adissenter2]

Waiting to here some puppet reactions to this one.

[GlobalCordon]

Waiting to here some puppet reactions to this one.

I was posting some info on ATS about the first kids to be killed who where playing in the street and some bitch said "Well, those kids knew what they where doing"!

Sick

[plantop14]

I was posting some info on ATS about the first kids to be killed who where playing in the street and some bitch said "Well, those kids knew what they where doing"!

Sick

What a moron! Let her kids perish the same way and she'd be hysterical!

[adissenter2]

I was posting some info on ATS about the first kids to be killed who where playing in the street and some bitch said "Well, those kids knew what they where doing"!

there are some seriously disturbed people out there, another reason for the judgment about to be unleashed upon the earth

 

[andy1033]

Waiting to here some puppet reactions to this one.

every time israel does this, the same in 2006, and in every other massacre they have done.

[241727]

I was posting some info on ATS about the first kids to be killed who where playing in the street and some bitch said "Well, those kids knew what they where doing"!

Sick

Who what were is ATS ?
url please ?

[Biggs]

As many as 40 Palestinians have been killed in an attack on a UN-run school, witnesses have said, as aid agencies warn Gaza is in the grip of a major humanitarian crisis.

CLICK HERE FOR LINK



Two tank shells reportedly exploded outside the school, spraying shrapnel on people who had sought shelter in the building.

Earlier at least 12 members of the same extended family, including seven young children, were said to have been killed in an Israeli air attack.

Meanwhile, three Israeli soldiers have been killed by fire from one of their own tanks and two others died in separate incidents as forces press further south.

Speaking from Jerusalem, Oxfam worker John Prideaux-Brune told Sky News: "All the information we are getting is clearly showing there is a real humanitarian crisis going on in Gaza right now.

"We have people with no food, no water, no electricity, no heating in the middle of winter.

"Numerous people have had to leave their homes because they have been destroyed or are too badly damaged to live in," he added, echoing earlier warnings given by other agencies.

Mr Prideaux-Brune also spoke of the difficulty of getting medical aid to those in need after ambulances have become caught up during air strikes.

British volunteer Eva Yeshewitz, who was in a Red Crescent vehicle that was hit, said: "Every day we risk this kind of thing - the medical staff, they're the ones who are paying with their lives."

Israel has said it will not call an end to its offensive until it is assured that Hamas will not have further access to weapons.

Middle East envoy Tony Blair told Sky News that efforts were underway to meet that demand by closing the tunnels into Gaza.

[Biggs]

As many as 40 Palestinians have been killed in an attack on a UN-run school, witnesses have said, as aid agencies warn Gaza is in the grip of a major humanitarian crisis.

CLICK HERE FOR LINK



Two tank shells reportedly exploded outside the school, spraying shrapnel on people who had sought shelter in the building.

Earlier at least 12 members of the same extended family, including seven young children, were said to have been killed in an Israeli air attack.

Meanwhile, three Israeli soldiers have been killed by fire from one of their own tanks and two others died in separate incidents as forces press further south.

Speaking from Jerusalem, Oxfam worker John Prideaux-Brune told Sky News: "All the information we are getting is clearly showing there is a real humanitarian crisis going on in Gaza right now.

"We have people with no food, no water, no electricity, no heating in the middle of winter.

"Numerous people have had to leave their homes because they have been destroyed or are too badly damaged to live in," he added, echoing earlier warnings given by other agencies.

Mr Prideaux-Brune also spoke of the difficulty of getting medical aid to those in need after ambulances have become caught up during air strikes.

British volunteer Eva Yeshewitz, who was in a Red Crescent vehicle that was hit, said: "Every day we risk this kind of thing - the medical staff, they're the ones who are paying with their lives."

Israel has said it will not call an end to its offensive until it is assured that Hamas will not have further access to weapons.

Middle East envoy Tony Blair told Sky News that efforts were underway to meet that demand by closing the tunnels into Gaza.

[larsonstdoc]

   This is the drudge reports main headline now!!---the bombing of the UN school

[Biggs]

Strike on Gaza school 'kills 40'
 
The ICRC said much more needed to be done to protect civilians in Gaza

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7814054.stm

At least 40 people have been killed in an Israeli air strike on a United Nations-run school in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian medical sources have said.

A number of children were among those who died when the al-Falluj school in the Jabaliya refugee camp took a direct hit, doctors at nearby hospitals said.

People inside had been taking refuge from the Israeli ground offensive.

Earlier, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned of a "full-blown humanitarian crisis" in Gaza.

Speaking on the 11th day of the Israeli assault, a senior ICRC official, Pierre Kraehenbuhl, said life in Gaza had become intolerable.

Palestinian medical sources say up to 600 people have been killed since the attacks began, and Mr Kraehenbuhl said much more needed to be done to protect civilians.

At least 70 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday, while four Israeli soldiers were killed by fire from one of their own tanks.

[Biggs]

As many as 40 Palestinians have been killed in an attack on a UN-run school, witnesses have said, as aid agencies warn Gaza is in the grip of a major humanitarian crisis.

CLICK HERE FOR LINK



Two tank shells reportedly exploded outside the school, spraying shrapnel on people who had sought shelter in the building.

Earlier at least 12 members of the same extended family, including seven young children, were said to have been killed in an Israeli air attack.

Meanwhile, three Israeli soldiers have been killed by fire from one of their own tanks and two others died in separate incidents as forces press further south.

Speaking from Jerusalem, Oxfam worker John Prideaux-Brune told Sky News: "All the information we are getting is clearly showing there is a real humanitarian crisis going on in Gaza right now.

"We have people with no food, no water, no electricity, no heating in the middle of winter.

"Numerous people have had to leave their homes because they have been destroyed or are too badly damaged to live in," he added, echoing earlier warnings given by other agencies.

Mr Prideaux-Brune also spoke of the difficulty of getting medical aid to those in need after ambulances have become caught up during air strikes.

British volunteer Eva Yeshewitz, who was in a Red Crescent vehicle that was hit, said: "Every day we risk this kind of thing - the medical staff, they're the ones who are paying with their lives."

Israel has said it will not call an end to its offensive until it is assured that Hamas will not have further access to weapons.

Middle East envoy Tony Blair told Sky News that efforts were underway to meet that demand by closing the tunnels into Gaza.

[independentWV]

I can hear the puppet's spin "these were Hamas targets we are only going after Hamas. We have heard this line many times.  

[GlobalCordon]

Who what were is ATS ?
url please ?

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread423970/pg1

poster pluckynoonez

4th post down

[David Rothscum]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/06/gaza-israel-death-un
Israeli shelling kills dozens at UN school in Gaza

The civilian death toll in Gaza increased dramatically today, with reports of more than 40 Palestinians killed after missiles exploded outside a UN school where hundreds of people were sheltering from the continuing Israeli offensive.

Two Israeli tank shells struck the school in Jabaliya refugee camp, spraying shrapnel on people inside and outside the building, according to news agency reports.

The medical director of the hospital in Jabaliya told the Guardian 41 bodies had been brought in so far and more could be on the way. Reuters journalists filmed bodies scattered on the ground amid pools of blood and torn shoes and clothes. A donkey lay on the ground in its own blood.

In addition to the dead, several dozen people were wounded, hospital officials said. The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports.

Elsewehere at least 12 members of an extended family, including seven young children, were killed in an air strike on their house in Gaza City. The bodies of the Daya family were pulled from the rubble of a house in Gaza city's Zeitoun district after it was hit by two Israeli missiles. The dead included seven children aged from one to 12 years, three women and two men. Nine other people were believed to be trapped in the rubble.

Hours earlier, three young men – all cousins – died when the Israelis bombed another UN school, the Asma primary school in Gaza City. They were among about 400 people who sought shelter there after fleeing their homes in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza.

The UN, which said the school was clearly marked, said it was "strongly protesting these killings to the Israeli authorities and is calling for an immediate and impartial investigation".

"Where it is found that international humanitarian law has been violated, those responsible must be held to account. Under international law, installations such as schools, health centres and UN facilities should be protected from attack. Well before the current fighting, the UN had given to the Israeli authorities the GPS co-ordinates of all its installations in Gaza, including Asma elementary school." (!!!)
The killings take the total toll in Palestinian lives since the Israelis launched their assault on the Gaza Strip 11 days ago to above 600. Doctors at Gaza hospitals say that at least one-fifth of the victims are children and a large number of women are among the dead.

Israel continues to insist that the bulk of those killed are Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters, although its claim to be going to extraordinary lengths to target only "terrorists" has been undermined by one of its own tanks firing on a building being used by Israeli troops, killing four.

The sharp spike in the number of civilian casualties came as Israeli troops and tanks moved into Gaza's second largest city, Khan Younis, for the first time today, supported by intensive artillery strikes as the military pledged to press on with its attack.The heaviest fighting has been in northern Gaza, with witnesses reporting wave after wave of bombing strikes across the north of the territory accompanied by gunfire from helicopters and artillery from land and sea. Thousands of Palestinians have been ordered to leave their homes or forced to flee the fighting.

In Shajaiyeh, east of Gaza City, Israeli troops seized control of three apartment blocks and set up gun positions on the rooftops. Residents were locked in their homes and soldiers confiscated their mobile phones, neighbours said.

Three of the four Israeli soldiers killed by friendly fire died when a tank mistakenly fired on a building where the soldiers had taken up positions. There was heavy artillery fire to cover the evacuation of 24 soldiers who were injured, including the commander of the Golani infantry brigade, one of Israel's key fighting forces.

Israel's defence minister, Ehud Barak, said his country's troops would continue their operation despite mounting Palestinian casualties and growing international calls for a ceasefire.

"Hamas has so far sustained a very heavy blow from us, but we have yet to achieve our objective, and therefore the operation continues," Barak said.

The Israeli foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, said the offensive was intended to change permanently the shape of Israel's conflict with Hamas. "When Israel is targeted, Israel is going to retaliate," she said. Israel has rejected calls for a ceasefire.

The military said it had bombed more smuggling tunnels across the border with Egypt, in the south, and hit more than 40 other sites across Gaza including buildings storing weapons and rocket launching areas.

In Gaza, Mahmoud Zahar, the most senior leader of Hamas in the strip and a hardliner in the movement, appeared on the party's al-Aqsa television station and gave a defiant speech threatening attacks not only in Gaza but elsewhere.

"The Zionists have legitimised the killing of their children by killing our children. They have legitimised the killing of their people all over the world by killing our people," Zahar said. He urged Hamas fighters to "crush your enemy".

Another Hamas figure, a recognised military spokesman called Abu Ubaida, said thousands of Hamas fighters were waiting in Gaza to take on the Israeli military, and that rocket attacks would increase. More than 40 were fired into southern Israel yesterday, including one that landed in an empty kindergarten, which, like all schools near the Gaza border, has been closed since the conflict began.. Israeli police said a total of 520 rockets had been fired in the past 11 days of fighting.

Israeli troops are now deployed in and around the major urban areas of Gaza, particularly to the north, in Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahiya and Jabaliya. Using leaflets, telephone calls and radio announcements, they have ordered residents in many areas to leave their homes, forcing at least 15,000 Palestinians to flee to safety elsewhere. At least 5,000 are staying in 11 different UN schools and shelters.

The UN said more than 1 million Gazans were still without electricity or water and that it was increasingly difficult for staff to distribute aid or reach the injured. It said more industrial diesel was needed to reopen the strip's sole power plant, which has been shut for a week. Ten transformers have been damaged in the fighting.

More wheat grain is needed for food handouts, and the UN said Karni, the main commercial crossing, should be reopened to allow it in. Four ambulances and three mobile clinics were destroyed when bombs hit the headquarters of the Union of Health Care Committees in Gaza City.

John Holmes, the UN emergency relief coordinator, said Gaza represented an "increasingly alarming" humanitarian crisis, and that the territory was running low on clean water, power, food, medicine and other supplies since Israel began its offensive. Israeli leaders claim there is no humanitarian crisis.

[OldSchool]

How can they determine that Hamas is using human shields, when there 1,500,000 people crammed in an area the size of New Jersey?

[David Rothscum]

Missiles in Lebanon aimed at Israerl were discovered. Killing 500 people didn't work, Hezbollah decided to stay calm unlike Hamas that seems to fall for every trap. Now it's time to slaughter civilians, perhaps that'll get Hezbollah to commit suicide by attacking Israel.
Any government that sells or donates weapons to Israel is guilty of state sponsored terrorism, and those responsible must be criminally prosecuted!

[sociostudent]

They're exterminating them if they've resorted to bombing schools and hospitals.

[GlobalCordon]

They're exterminating them if they've resorted to bombing schools and hospitals.

Get the innocent first....... That way you get enemy's for life. more war and more money

[Jackson Holly]

Collateral Damage

http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2009/01/06/phopto-gallery-of-gazas-martyred-children/

[GlobalCordon]

How can they determine that Hamas is using human shields, when there 1,500,000 people crammed in an area the size of New Jersey?

That is their main psyop weapon on the sleeping MSM masses, That Hamas are using human shields and hiding behind civilians....... Like you said. There is nowhere to go. Im waiting for them to say that Hamas where the ones who bombed the schools, and killed JFK.

There is nowhere for Hamas to go..... Its a cage there! 

[ellas95]

I saw the images and they were disturbing. Images are of the Israeli assault against civilians in Gaza. I did not imagine things in Gaza are going as they are; therefore I forwarded it on to you so that you witness the crimes against humanity that the Israelis carry out

http://www.elfarra.org/gallery/gaza.htm#

[Dig]

Gaza medics: 40 killed in Israeli strike on UN school
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Airstrike_hits_U.N._school_in_Gaza_0106.html
David Edwards
Published: Tuesday January 6, 2009



An Israeli strike on Tuesday killed at least 40 people who had taken refuge inside a UN school in the Gaza Strip, the third such attack in a day, medics said.

The strike hit near a school run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, in the northern town of Jabaliya, they said.

People inside the building had taken refuge from the raging conflict in the territory, witnesses and medics said. The toll quickly rose as rescuers struggled through the rubble.

Earlier in the day, two people were killed when an artillery shell slammed into a school in the southern town of Khan Yunis and three people were killed in an air strike on a school in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, medics said.

CNN's Kiran Chetry talked with the director of the U.N. Refugee and Works agency, John Ging, who said that there is no place for innocent civilians to take refuge in Gaza.

"There is no safe sanctuary in Gaza at the moment," Ging said, adding that "even in UN installations people are not safe."

This video is from CNN's American Morning, broadcast Jan. 6, 2008.

[Truth researcher]

I saw that and read it,too
And they still killing Hamas!

[vladimir]

Letter to all Gypsy People about the plight of the Dom Gypsy People in Gaza.
Website URL: http://domarisociety.googlepages.com/

Dear Friends,
 
As the director of the Domari Society of Jerusalem, an organization taking care of Dom people, I would like to give you some insight about the realities of our life.
 
I am saddened to inform you about the plight of our Gypsy sisters and brothers in Gaza. They live together with Palestinian people, thus also becoming the victims of the conflict. Until now the people in Gaza Strip did not have an easy life, it was riddled with poverty, anxiety and lack of hope.
 
Recently, the situation is really miserable. We receive a lot of information and alarming signals from Dom families. Many Gypsies have already lost their lives, and many more have been left wounded. Those, who are left live in fear and despair, worrying about what is yet to come. The ones living in Gaza have often lost everything they had. It is heart breaking for us, also because our ethnic group, already small, is decimating. Watching our relatives suffer is not easy as well.


   
On the behalf of Gypsy community from the Holy Land, I would like to ask you to remember about us, and keep our troubles in your minds. The Gypsies should stand united and supportive of each other, in order to survive and protect our culture.
 
I do hope and believe something could be done, to make the life of Gaza Gypsies a bit better. Let’s pray for peaceful times to come, as well as take action to make the world a better place. We count on you and your support. It is important for us, that the people know the facts and mishaps we face.
 
May God bless you and keep you safe!
 
Amoun Sleem
Director, Domari Society of Jerusalem
 

[OldSchool]

That is their main psyop weapon on the sleeping MSM masses, That Hamas are using human shields and hiding behind civilians....... Like you said. There is nowhere to go. Im waiting for them to say that Hamas where the ones who bombed the schools, and killed JFK.

There is nowhere for Hamas to go..... Its a cage there! 

My point exactly. Would the IDF prefer all of them stand on the highest building waving their arms to get the attention of every tank and chopper in the sky?

[Aerioch]

Israeli Tanks kill 40plus by shelling a UNITED NATIONS SCHOOL HOUSE

Up to 40 killed in Israeli strike on Gaza school:

GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli tank fire killed up to 40 Palestinians at a United Nations school in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, medical sources at two Gaza hospitals said.

Two tank shells exploded outside the school, residents said, spraying shrapnel on people inside and outside the building, where hundreds of Palestinians had sought refuge from fighting between Israeli soldiers and Hamas militants.

Reuters journalists filmed bodies scattered on the ground amid pools of blood and torn shoes and clothes. A donkey also lay on the ground in its own blood.

In addition to the dead, several dozen people were wounded, the hospital officials said.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports.

Doctors said all the dead were either people sheltering in the school or residents of Jabalya refugee camp, in the north of the Gaza Strip.

A separate Israeli air strike near another U.N. school earlier on Tuesday killed three Palestinians, medics and witnesses said.

(Writing by Luke Baker; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE50544520090106

[Doctor No NWO]

Israeli strike kills 40 in UN school
Wednesday, January 07, 2009 » 07:12am
Live News:

An Israeli strike has killed at least 40 people who had taken refuge inside a UN school in the Gaza Strip, the third such attack in a day.

The strike hit near a school run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, in the northern town of Jabaliya.

People inside the building had taken refuge from the raging conflict in the territory, according to witnesses.

Earlier in the day two people were killed when an artillery shell slammed into a school in the southern town of Khan Yunisand three people were killed in an air strike on a school in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City.

More than 600 people have been killed in the 11-day operation.
 

[Devotional Soul]

From Yahoo news:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090106/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians

Israel shells near UN school, killing at least 30

GAZA CITY, Gaza – Israeli mortar shells struck outside a U.N. school where hundreds of Palestinians had sought refuge Tuesday, killing at least 30 people — many of them children whose parents wailed in grief at a hospital filled with dead and wounded.

The Israeli army said its soldiers came under fire from militants hiding in the school and responded. It accused Gaza's Hamas rulers of "cynically" using civilians as human shields. Residents confirmed the account, saying militants were seen staging attacks from the area.

Despite international criticism over civilian deaths and a diplomatic push to broker a cease-fire, Israeli said it would push on with the offensive against Hamas.

Israeli ground forces edged closer to two major Gaza towns, and a total of 70 Palestinians were killed Tuesday — with just two confirmed as militants, health officials in Gaza said. A top U.N. official called for an investigation into the civilian death toll.

Past Israeli ground offensives have been cut short when an errant shell or missile hit a civilian center, leading to international outcries that forced Israel to stand down.

The shelling Tuesday in the northern town of Jebaliya marked the second time in hours a U.N. school came under attack; three people were killed in an attack on another U.N. school in Gaza City on Monday night.

Tuesday's assault was the deadliest since Israel sent ground forces into Gaza last weekend as part of a larger offensive against Hamas that has killed more than 600 Palestinians, according to local hospital officials. Nearly half of the dead are civilians, according to U.N. and Palestinian officials.

"There's nowhere safe in Gaza. Everyone here is terrorized and traumatized," John Ging, the top U.N. official in Gaza, said after the Monday night attack on the compound of a U.N. school. The school has served as a shelter for refugees fleeing the 11-day offensive.

A Palestinian rocket — one of two dozen fired from Gaza on Tuesday — wounded an Israeli infant.

Dr. Bassam Abu Warda, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, said 36 people were killed in the Israeli strike on the U.N. school in Jebaliya. The United Nations confirmed 30 were killed and 55 injured by tank shells.

In a statement, the Israeli army said an initial investigation found that "mortar shells were fired from within the school at IDF soldiers. The force responded with mortars at the source of fire. The Hamas cynically uses civilians as human shields."

The army said two Hamas militants — Imad Abu Askar and Hasan Abu Askar — were among the dead.

Two neighborhood residents confirmed the Israeli account, saying 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.

The attack occurred at mid-afternoon, when many people were out and about. Many people apparently stepped outside the shelter to get some air, thinking an area around a school was safe.

Palestinian militants frequently fire from residential areas. However, Mohammed Nassar, a medic who treated the wounded, said he saw no gunmen among the casualties.

Footage broadcast on Hamas' Al Aqsa TV showed gruesome scenes at the hospital. At first, medics carried in at least five younger boys who were laid out on the hospital floor. It was not clear whether they were alive.

Other medics then started unloading bodies of men who had been stacked up in the back of an ambulance, three high, and were dragged without stretchers. One man's legs had been turned into bloody stumps that dragged on the ground as he was pulled from the ambulance.

The emergency room was packed, with all beds occupied and barely a patch of ground unoccupied by either a body or a doctor. In other rooms, there were bloodstains and bodies on the floor. Medics ran in to take pulses.

"I saw a lot of women and children wheeled in," said Fares Ghanem, another hospital official. "A lot of the wounded were missing limbs and a lot of the dead were in pieces."

Majed Hamdan, an AP photographer, said he rushed to the scene shortly after the attacks. At the hospital, he said, many children were among the dead.

"I saw women and men — parents — slapping their faces in grief, screaming, some of them collapsed to the floor. They knew their children were dead," he said. "In the morgue, most of the killed appeared to be children. In the hospital, there wasn't enough space for the wounded."

He said there were marks of five separate explosions, all in the area near the school.
U.N. officials say they provided their location coordinates to Israel's army to ensure their buildings in Gaza are not targeted.

Speaking shortly after the school attack Monday, Maxwell Gaylard, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, demanded an investigation.

"As one of the most densely populated places in the world, it is clear that more civilians will be killed," he said. "These tragic incidents need to be investigated, and if international humanitarian law has been contravened, those responsible must held accountable."

Venezuela, meanwhile, said Tuesday it was expelling the Israeli ambassador and all embassy personnel in response to Israel's onslaught on Gaza. President Hugo Chavez had criticized the Israeli offensive the day it began.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called it "the darkest moment yet for the Middle East." He said he had been in touch with world leaders, including from Egypt and Turkey, to discuss ways to forge a cease-fire.

Israel launched its offensive Dec. 27 to halt repeated Palestinian rocket attacks on its southern towns. After a weeklong air campaign, Israeli ground forces invaded Gaza over the weekend.

Ten Israelis have died since the operation began, including a soldier who was shot on Tuesday.

United Nations staff estimate around 15,000 people have fled to 23 U.N.-run schools they have turned into makeshift shelters. U.N. food aid has halted in the northern Gaza Strip because officials fear residents would risk their lives to reach distribution centers.

Tanks rumbled closer to the towns of Khan Younis and Dir el Balah in south and central Gaza but were still several kilometers (miles) outside, witnesses said, adding that the sounds of fighting could be heard from around the Israeli positions. Israel has encircled Gaza City, the area's biggest city.

The civilian death toll has drawn international condemnations and raised concerns of a humanitarian disaster. Many Gazans are without electricity or running water, thousands have been displaced from their homes and residents say food supplies are running thin.

"This is not a crisis, it's a disaster," said water utility official Munzir Shiblak. "We are not even able to respond to the cry of the people." He said about 800,000 residents in Gaza City and northern parts of the territory had no access to running water from Tuesday. Gaza's overall population is 1.4 million people.

Israel says it won't stop the assault until its southern towns are freed of the threat of Palestinian rocket fire and it receives international guarantees that Hamas, a militant group backed by Iran and Syria, will not restock its weapons stockpile.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he hoped to stop the offensive soon, but said it would depend on Hamas' willingness to stop attacks and stop smuggling weapons into Gaza from Egypt.

"We have no interest in endlessly continuing the campaign. It will stop when the conditions that are essential for Israel's security are met," he said in the rocket-scarred southern Israeli town of Sderot.

The army says it has dealt a harsh blow to Hamas, killing 130 militants in the past two days and greatly reducing the rocket fire. Hamas is believed to have 20,000 fighters.

Israeli forces have seized the main Gaza highway in several places, cutting the strip into northern, southern and central sectors. Israel also has taken over high-rise buildings in Gaza City and destroyed dozens of smuggling tunnels — Hamas' main lifeline — along the Egyptian border.

A high-level European Union delegation met with President Shimon Peres on Tuesday in a futile bid to end the violence. Commissioner Benita Ferraro-Waldner acknowledged Israel's right to self-defense, but said its response was disproportionate.

Israeli leaders say there is no humanitarian crisis and that they have allowed the delivery of vital supplies.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy left Israel after a day of meetings with leaders.
Sarkozy continued to Damascus, urging Syria on Tuesday to pressure Hamas to end the fighting. His Syrian counterpart, Bashar Assad, slammed the Israeli assault on the coastal strip as a "war crime" and "barbaric," an "aggression" that Israel must halt.

In Washington, the State Department said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was traveling to the United Nations on Tuesday to try to broker a sustainable cease-fire.

She planned meetings with Arab and European diplomats to lobby for a three-tiered U.S. truce proposal and will then attend a U.N. Security Council meeting on Gaza, spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Key elements demanded by the U.S.: an end to rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza and securing border crossings between Gaza and Israel and between Gaza and Egypt.

Israel's operation has angered many across the Arab world and has drawn criticism from Turkey, Egypt and Jordan, which have ties with Israel and have been involved in Mideast peacemaking.

[GlobalCordon]

Press.tv just reported that Israel said that gunfire MAY OF come from the school

UTTER LIES!!!!!!!!!

[chris jones]

How many kids have they slaughtered so far, one is too many

This is almost a mirror image of our genocide in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Not the numbers yet, ours is hitting a high note, 1,297,996 dead the majority innocent civilians. Our troppers well about 4,200, if we can trust the numbers.

Yes, thats Iraq, no figures on Afghanistan that are so called official numbers.

Their leaders and ours together, what a duo. They need to be in chains.

[Weasel]

And what really sucks, most of America is more concerned with John Travoltra's kid.  Makes me think someone snuffed the kid to distract from what Israel is doing.

[voodo0]

Press.tv just reported that Israel said that gunfire MAY OF come from the school

UTTER LIES!!!!!!!!!

Lies indeed.

GAZA CITY (CNN) -- Three artillery shells believed to have been fired by Israeli forces struck near the perimeter of a U.N. school in northern Gaza on Tuesday, killing at least 30 people and wounding 55, a U.N. official said.


In a handout photo from Israel Defense Forces, troops deploy Tuesday in northern Gaza.
1 of 2more photos »

The Israeli military said Hamas militants had fired mortar shells at Israeli forces, prompting return fire, according to its initial investigation.

U.N. Relief and Works Agency Director John Ging said most of the casualties were outside the school in the Jabalya refugee camp.

"It's a very built-up area, so of course it was entirely inevitable that if artillery shells landed in that area there would be a high number of casualties," he said at a U.N. briefing from Gaza City.

Palestinian sources said 44 were killed in the attack.

The Israeli military said it is checking the report. The Israeli government has barred CNN and other news from entering Gaza.

A short time later, another artillery shell struck inside a second U.N. school in Jabalya, but Ging said the boys' prep school was empty at the time.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/06/israel.gaza/index.html

[sociostudent]

Lies indeed.

GAZA CITY (CNN) -- Three artillery shells believed to have been fired by Israeli forces struck near the perimeter of a U.N. school in northern Gaza on Tuesday, killing at least 30 people and wounding 55, a U.N. official said.


In a handout photo from Israel Defense Forces, troops deploy Tuesday in northern Gaza.
1 of 2more photos »

The Israeli military said Hamas militants had fired mortar shells at Israeli forces, prompting return fire, according to its initial investigation.

U.N. Relief and Works Agency Director John Ging said most of the casualties were outside the school in the Jabalya refugee camp.

"It's a very built-up area, so of course it was entirely inevitable that if artillery shells landed in that area there would be a high number of casualties," he said at a U.N. briefing from Gaza City.

Palestinian sources said 44 were killed in the attack.

The Israeli military said it is checking the report. The Israeli government has barred CNN and other news from entering Gaza.

A short time later, another artillery shell struck inside a second U.N. school in Jabalya, but Ging said the boys' prep school was empty at the time.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/06/israel.gaza/index.html

Blame the victim. Works every time.

[psychicpollution]

I really get disgusted by how the corporate Amerikan media waters down the stories coming out of Gaza.
How will they spin killing all of these innocent children? Oh they will say we did kill ONE Hamas member in the process of murdering babies.
Where the hell is the outrage across the world at these people bombing schools?
Americans are more worried about Barrack Huessein Obama and going to McDonalds and watching American Idol.
How would you feel if your child died today because their school was bombed because Al Qaeda was lurking about? Doesnt quite seem worth it.

[GlobalCordon]

Lies indeed.

GAZA CITY (CNN) -- Three artillery shells believed to have been fired by Israeli forces struck near the perimeter of a U.N. school in northern Gaza on Tuesday, killing at least 30 people and wounding 55, a U.N. official said.


In a handout photo from Israel Defense Forces, troops deploy Tuesday in northern Gaza.
1 of 2more photos »

The Israeli military said Hamas militants had fired mortar shells at Israeli forces, prompting return fire, according to its initial investigation.

U.N. Relief and Works Agency Director John Ging said most of the casualties were outside the school in the Jabalya refugee camp.

"It's a very built-up area, so of course it was entirely inevitable that if artillery shells landed in that area there would be a high number of casualties," he said at a U.N. briefing from Gaza City.

Palestinian sources said 44 were killed in the attack.

The Israeli military said it is checking the report. The Israeli government has barred CNN and other news from entering Gaza.

A short time later, another artillery shell struck inside a second U.N. school in Jabalya, but Ging said the boys' prep school was empty at the time.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/06/israel.gaza/index.html

Silly me.......... CNN never lies to further the agenda of their Zionist overlords do they?

Go back to sleep!

[Devotional Soul]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7814772.stm

Israel offers Gaza aid corridor

Israel has agreed to set up a "humanitarian corridor" in the Gaza Strip, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said.

Israel's military will open up "areas for limited periods of time, during which the population will be able to receive the aid", it said.

The office said the goal was to "prevent a humanitarian crisis".

The UN Security Council is meeting in New York to discuss a resolution on the Israeli offensive.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and key European and Arab foreign ministers are attending.

Libya's representative has circulated a new draft resolution, on behalf of Arab nations, calling for an immediate ceasefire and an end to military operations and the firing of rockets.

The draft also calls for the establishment of an international observer force to monitor the truce and for the opening of border crossings into the Gaza Strip.

The BBC's Laura Trevelyan at the UN says momentum for a diplomatic solution to the crisis is building but the question is whether it will amount to anything.

It is unlikely that the Libyan draft will win US and Israeli support, says our correspondent, as it does not contain any suggestions for policing tunnels into Gaza used by Hamas to smuggle in weapons.

France is also working on proposals which would include placing monitors along Gaza's border with Egypt to contain that smuggling.

In another development, Venezuela ordered the expulsion of Israel's ambassador in protest at the Gaza offensive and its "flagrant violations of international law".

School hit

Earlier, at least 30 people were killed and 55 injured when Israeli artillery shells landed near a UN-run school in Gaza, UN officials said.
   
The al-Fakhura school in the Jabaliya refugee camp had been a refuge for hundreds people fleeing the 11th day of fighting.

The Israeli military said its soldiers had come under mortar fire from Hamas militants inside the school. A spokesman for Hamas denied there had been any hostile fire coming from the school.

At least 70 Palestinians and five Israeli soldiers were killed on Tuesday.
One soldier was killed in an exchange of fire with militants in Gaza City, while four others were killed by shellfire from their own tanks earlier in the day, Israeli military officials said.

Israel says its offensive is stopping militants firing rockets, but at least five hit southern Israel on Tuesday, with one reaching the town of Gedera, about 40km (25 miles) from Gaza, and injuring a baby.

Four Israeli civilians have been killed by rocket fire from the Gaza Strip since the offensive began.

Casualty claims cannot be independently verified. Israel is refusing to let international journalists into Gaza, despite a supreme court ruling to allow a limited number of reporters to enter the territory.

In other developments:

• Israeli forces pushed further south in the Gaza Strip and clash with militants near Gaza City
• Skirmishes were reported on the edges of the Deir al-Balah and Bureij refugee camps in central Gaza
• Israeli tanks and soldiers were reportedly advancing on the southern town of Khan Younis

[sociostudent]

I think they're just trying to AVOID Nuremburg-like trials by putting anecdotal blurbs like this in the media to make people think, "Oh, well, LOOK....see, they're being nice now...."

[OldSchool]

Well, they want to open up a corridor for humanitarian aid during certain periods, but I didn't read anything there about allowing refugees to leave the slaughterhouse project. So what the US/Israel have said is 'here's some bread water and bandaids, get back to your house, the bombing starts in 2 hours'