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Friday, January 23, 2009
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UN releases Gaza attack photos

UN pictures show what appears to white phosphorus 'wedges' raining down on one of its compounds in Gaza

The United Nations has released images of what it believes are white phosphorus munitions raining down on one of its compounds during Israel's war on Gaza.

The pictures, broadcast by Al Jazeera on Thursday, show what appears to be flame-generating munitons, thought to be white phosphorus "wedges", falling into a UN compound in Gaza where hundreds of people were sheltering.

Two Palestinian boys, aged five and seven, were killed in the attack on January 17.

Israel has said it will investigate the issue, but has not publicly acknowledged using the controversial chemical.

Al Jazeera has learnt that a total of 53 installations used by the United Nations Relief and Works agency, Unrwa, were damaged or destroyed during Israel's Gaza campaign including 37 schools - six of which are being used as emergency shelters - six health centres, and two warehouses.

White phosphorus - a high-incendiary substance that burns brightly and for long periods on contact with the air - is often used to produce smoke screens.

But it can also be used as a weapon producing extreme burns when it makes contact with human skin.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz has reported a brigade of paratroop reservists fired about 20 white phosphorus shells into the built-up area of Beit Lahiya on January 17, which landed in the UN-run compound where the two Palestinian children were killed and severe burns were inflicted on 14 other people.

Amnesty International, the London-based rights group, has accused Israel of war crimes over its use of the munitions in heavily populated areas.

Children killed

International law forbids white phosphorus use against military targets within areas where civilians are concentrated, except when the targets are clearly separated and "all feasible precautions" are taken to avoid casualties among non-combatants.

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If the claims are proved, Israel's use of the chemical could form the basis of war crimes charges.

Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, on Wednesday repeated his demand for a full explanation of Israel's attacks on UN facilities in the Gaza Strip.
 
With the UN secretary general unable to speak due to a sore throat, Lynn Pascoe, the UN under secretary-general for political affairs, read out a statement on his behalf saying Ban wanted "a thorough investigation by Israel into every single one of these incidents".

The attacks, which Ban described as "outrageous", included strikes on a compound of the UN agency providing aid for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) and on a UN school last week during Israel's three-week war on Gaza.

"I expect a full explanation of each incident and that those responsible will be held accountable for their actions," the statement quoted Ban as saying.

Deadly weapons

The Israeli military has also been accused of using Dense Inert Metal Explosive (Dime) weapons in urban areas, causing horrific abdominal and leg injuries.

When detonated, a Dime device expels a blade of charged tungsten dust that burns and destroys everything within a four-metre radius.

Israel has been criticised by human rights groups and foreign officials over its suspected use of a number of weapons during its aerial, naval and ground assault on the Palestinian territory in which over 1,300 Palestinians were killed.

The UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Wednesday it will open an investigation into whether Israel used depleted uranium, which is added to munitions as its density allows them to penetrate armour more easily, during the conflict.

It is thought that the dust left at blast sites after the weapons have hit also pose a health risk, but a definitive link has not yet been proven.

 Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
Feedback Number of comments : 11
 
Nouri
United Kingdom
26/01/2009
ISRAEL DEAF DUMB BLIND TO INTERNATIONAL CRITICISM
If Israel can get away with murder literally speaking with the blood of hundreds of children and women that were slaughtered just because they happen to be Palestinians and couldnt leave their houses, it will send a strong message of hypocrisy from the International community and so called civilised nations from US administration to UK to France, Germany and other European states watching this massacre and genocide from the touchline. It is a black spot in the world history.

Clement
Namibia
27/01/2009
UN Gaza Photos
Africans are tried for war crimes, but whites like the Israeli's are above the law. War crimes and war crimes and the UN needs to take action against Isarel for the brutal slaughter of innocent women and children in Gaza and Lebanon. You can't blame Hamas for the Israeli phosphorus boms!!

F. Harrison
United States
28/01/2009
Gaza
Israel must look at the holocaust as a case of "whose ox is being gored".

Manzoor Ahmad
Afghanistan
28/01/2009
Gaza War
The whole creation of Israel is a Policy of West especially US who have forced this hideous and criminal state to exist for their own agendas, which they could not have pursued without criticism. The Israel is being supported Monetarily as well as Militarily not only by the US but the West as a whole, to fight against the ever increasing fame of Islam.. All those who may seem to have a sympathy for Gazans is because of the public pressure, inside they are whar they are and they remain to be so.

Aafaq Bashir
India
28/01/2009
Gaza War
Being a Muslim, we always had sympathy for Palestine, but many documentaries shown by you have really shred a light on the miseries of Palestine People. I have a message for those who think Jesus won't come until all the muslims of Middle East are wiped out, " If suppose, the Jesus would come, whom do you think he will come to support, Has God or the messenger of God ever come to help Oppressors, Surely, if he comes, he will not come for you, he will come to the rescue of Palestine, not you"

Les MacDonald
Afghanistan
27/01/2009
UN releases Gaza attack photos
The calls that are being made for Israel to investigate the war crimes committed by it's soldiers is a waste of time and effort. There has never been an instance, out of the many thousands of instances where Israeli soldiers have targeted civilians, where the IDF have found against them. The investigation needs to be undertaken by the UN and the soldiers and their superiors must be tried by the International Court of Justice.

Erica
United Kingdom
27/01/2009
non-combatants
How do the fighters distinguish themselves from the civilian population, so as to protect children from attack? I saw one news report interview a woman who said everyone in Gaza is Hamas. How many rockets were launched from UN installations? Surely the number is larger than zero.

Sandra
Canada
28/01/2009
If This is OK with You, Maybe Ill Do It
Erica, you have to go back 60 years. I'm 62, so I'm 2 years older than Israel. The Israelis felt they had Divine Right (for 2000 years) to Palestine, and after WW II they made their Exodus there, and took over 2/3rds of Palestine. The US backs Israel as a gigantic "aircraft carrier" amongst Muslims who fervently believe in a much stronger, more fervent religion. Israelis kill (really) 100 times more Palestinians than vice-versa. If I killed your family and moved in, would that be OK in 60 years?

Sherpa
Afghanistan
28/01/2009
UN releases Gaza attack photos
The Génocidaire lied and said white phosphorus was to provide cover for troops... I see no troops in the pictures just panicked civilians fleeing

Hechicera
United States
28/01/2009
International Warcrimes
I'm confused. Obviously, from a human perspective, white phosphorous in a civilian area is horrible. But, for it to be a war crime legally, doesn't Israel have to be a party to the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, and have ratified Protocol III, the one that covers WP? It seems from the UN's pages: http://www.unog.ch/__80256ee600585943.nsf/(httpPages)/3ce7cfc0aa4a7548c12571c00039cb0c?OpenDocument&ExpandSection=1%2C2#_Section1 .. that Israel has not ratified Protocol III.

gaille Boyd
Palestinian Territory
28/01/2009
Isreal
I can not believe that the Israeli could even consider this as a way forward - Then I read some quotes from Israeli leaders. "The Palestinians are like crocodiles, the more you give them meat, they want more".-Ehud Barak, Prime Minister of Israel at the time - August 28, 2000. "[The Palestinians are] beasts walking on two legs." Menachem Begin, speech to the Knesset,The Palestinians" would be crushed like grasshoppers ... heads smashed agains -what do you expect from a sub human species

 
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