Red Cross: Israeli Behavior in Gaza Shocking

Officials Spell Out "Unacceptable" Israeli Conduct

by Jason Ditz, January 08, 2009

In what Red Cross chief for Israel and the Palestinian territories Pierre Wettlach described as “a shocking incident,” relief workers found four starving children next to their mothers and other corpses in a neighborhood of Gaza City which Israel had denied them access to for days.

“The Israeli military must have been aware of the situation,” Wettlach added, “but did not assist the wounded. Neither did they make it possible for us or the Palestinian Red Crescent to assist the wounded.” The action appears, according to the agency, to have violated international humanitarian law.

The young children were too weak to stand, and the Israeli army erected large earthen barriers and denied ambulances access to the neighborhood for four days. After discovering yet more bodies in another house in the neighborhood, the Israeli military ordered the rescue team to leave the area immediately.

The Israeli military declined to comment on the specifics of the latest atrocities, but insists that it “in no way intentionally targets civilians and has demonstrated its willingness to abort operations to save civilian lives.” The claim carries considerably less weight after the Israeli military intentionally attacked a UN-run school full of civilians on Tuesday and unsuccessfully tried to blame Hamas.