At least two Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Wednesday despite the ceasefire, Al Jazeera has reported.
An Al Jazeera correspondent said a child was killed by an Israeli sniper, which came a few hours after a Palestinian was shot and killed by Israeli forces east of the city.
Another Palestinian died due to wounds sustained on the first day of the ceasefire in Rafah’s al-Shaboura refugee camp. The Times of Israel put the death toll in Gaza higher, saying Palestinian media reported four were killed by Israeli forces on Wednesday.
The Israeli military acknowledged that it opened fire on Palestinians in several areas of Gaza. Last week, Gaza’s Health Ministry said more than 80 Palestinians were killed since the ceasefire went into effect on January 19, including 49 in Rafah.
In each incident, it acknowledges, the Israeli military claims its troops opened fire on an “imminent threat,” but in one incident, IDF troops shot and killed an unarmed Israeli contractor who was dressed in civilian clothes simply because he was walking toward Israeli troops, demonstrating the free rein Israeli soldiers have to fire on civilians.
The latest violence in Gaza comes as the ceasefire has become even more fragile following President Trump’s calls for a US “takeover” of the Gaza Strip, an idea roundly rejected by Palestinians and Arab states. Trump’s comments cast doubt on the full implementation of the ceasefire deal.
Basem Naim, a Hamas official, told Middle East Eye: “We demand the mediators, especially the United States, oblige the [Israeli] occupation to implement the ceasefire agreement in its three stages without procrastination or manipulation.”
What does Israel do to potential snipers to prep them to shoot a child? A child!
The full-bore indoctrination begins young, long before they're holding a sniper's rifle it's not a child, it's an "animal." Israelism
During WWII only about 15% of soldiers would actually shoot their weapons at the "enemy". When I first heard this statistic it actually gave me hope for humankind:
'What are you crazy? Shoot and kill someone–I'm not doing that!'
Imagine what the fraction would have been to shoot children…probably 0%
After the war, there was a concerted effort to greatly increase that fraction and it involved getting soldiers to not think at all about what they were doing and to be completely reactive….
I assume nowadays there is lots of training with video games.
I do recall those studies ! From WW1 onwards there was a concerted effort to desensitise soldiers to the idea of shooting another human, "improving" their kill efficiency from Korea to Vietnam to Gulf War 1 and beyond.
The %'s did increase significantly but that's not a brag for anyone !
Hey Mr President, haven't you heard the old saw about being judged by the company you keep? …….
Or is it to be like the back of someone's jacket "I don't care, do you?" ?
Oh that fits perfectly with Trump's press secretary saying that leaving the Palestinians in Gaza and not removing them from those horrible circumstances is "evil".
So we have to remove them in order for Netanyahu not being able to kill them with our weapons. How lofty, humane, generous and moral of us. Trump is such a compassionate human being is believed by most Fox anchors of "Outnumbered".
There is something curiously biblical and circularly-reasoned about it. "You have to repent to Me to avoid being sent to the place I created that I'll send you if you don't repent to Me."
"It'd be evil to make Palestinians stay in Gaza where we aided & abetted the evil process of ruining Gaza into a place that Palestinians cannot live."