More than 758 Palestinians have died, including 257 children. More than 3,000 Palestinians have also been wounded, and over a third are kids.
(SALEM, Ore.) - War certainly is a bit like golf when it comes to keeping track of casualties; the lower the number the better. Israel's military might, backed largely by tax dollars from a now-dwindling U.S. economy, has never been the question; indeed it is a tried and true machine capable of annihilating hugh numbers of people. The IDF is performing its well rehearsed death dance at a feverish pace in Gaza.
And when it comes to the score, the Israeli's are the dominant victors. 700 Palestinian on the Gaza Strip are dead, and about a third of those killed by the Israeli Defense Forces are children.
Over the same 13-day period, ten Israelis have died, including seven soldiers, four of which died by so-called friendly fire.
The revelation about who is doing the dying there may explain why Israel has blocked journalists from Gaza. It will likely lead to more reprisals from other Islamic militants as the Israeli's do their best to eliminate the elected political party Hamas, known throughout the west as a terrorist oganization.
It is also reported that tens of thousands of Palestinians have fled their homes in the southern town of Rafah. Israel has been taking three hour truces and dropping leaflets advising Palestenians that they should vacate their homes to avoid being hurt or killed by the invading Israeli military forces.
When considering the 250 plus dead kids, it may be fair to assume that enough leaflets are not being dropped.
Although the Israeli government has agreed to a ceasefire, their military is not following suit. U.N. Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon was on the phone this morning with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal in an attempt to reach Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Ban says he is “is appealing urgently to the Security Council to come to a binding agreement to this effect, so this devastating violence can be brought to an end,” spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters.
Israel Attacks U.N. Food Delivery Drivers
On the subject of the United Nations, it was reported today that is a lifeline for 750,000 Palestinian refugees in Gaza has been severed, as Israel attacked United Nations forces delivering humanitarian aid to hungry people cut off from regular life by the military strikes.
Sorely needed food delivery operations stopped today after Israeli strikes killed one of the U.N. drivers and injured a second. These U.N. drivers had received Israeli clearance to move through the area they were attacked in.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said the clearly marked convoy carrying a U.N. flag and picking up supplies at the Erez crossing into Gaza had been coordinated with Israeli liaison officers who gave the green light.
A second equally coordinated and marked U.N. medical convoy on its way to fetch the body of an UNRWA staffer killed in an earlier bombardment came under light arms fire in Gaza City.
"This is heartbreaking… a very, very difficult decision for us to take," UNRWA Director of Operations in Gaza John Ging told a news conference at UN Headquarters in New York, speaking by video link from Gaza.
"The population here are in a dreadful state and really need our help at this point but we have also a responsibility to our staff, and eager as they are, and believe me they are, we cannot fly in the face of the security situation."
While UNRWA is perfectly prepared for reasonable risks in a conflict zone, "added to those is the fact that we cannot rely on firm commitments given by the Israeli side, carefully coordinated with them, green lights given to move… specifics provided, carefully coordinated throughout, and to have the Israeli forces on the ground firing at and now hitting aid workers."
Ging said Israel was investigating the Erez incident, which came two days after Israeli shelling near an UNRWA school killed 40 people and injured more than 100. Israel said it was returning fire from the area of the school. U.N. officials stressed there were no Hamas or other militants inside the school.
The attacks of vehicles with U.N. flags flying is a flashback to the Israeli attack on the U.S.S. Liberty during the Six Day War in 1967; when Israeli jet fighters attacked a flagged American warship with repeated air strikes, killing 34 U.S. Navy sailors and injuring 171.
The Americans commanding the vessel said the Israeli's clearly knew they were American; allies of Israel, like the United Nations. (see my article: The Day Israel Attacked the United States)
The body of another U.N. worker killed in a bombing several days ago was found today. U.N. officials say the suspension of food for Palestinians would continue until they received adequate assurances from Israel that such incidents will not be repeated.
As the Israeli's have intensified their assault on the Gaza Strip, Palestinians report dozens of air strikes overnight, with attacks hitting homes, mosques and tunnels.
At least twenty-nine Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks Wednesday, including a family of four traveling in their car in Beit Lahia.
The U.N. new reports the Palestinian death toll stands at 758, including 257 children.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor.Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 in Afghanistan with Oregon troops. Tim recently returned from Iraq where he covered the war there while embedded with an Oregon Guard aviation unit. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website, affiliated with Google News and several other major search engines and news aggregators.You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com
Israel is Slaughtering Innocent Children at GazaSalem-News.com