BEHIND THE MEDIA'S GAZAN BLIND SPOT
Nigel Parry, The Electronic Intifada (9 August 2006)
electronicintifada.net
As the Israeli war on Lebanon continues to dominate world
headlines, Israel's ongoing war against Gaza seems to be
taking place in a relative media blind spot. United Nations
humanitarian agencies estimated on August 3rd that 1,050
Israeli artillery shells were fired into Gaza in the
preceding week[1], and:
...since 28 June, 175 Palestinians have been killed,
including approximately 40 children and eight women, and
over 620 injured in the Gaza Strip. One IDF soldier has
been killed and 25 Israelis have been injured, including
11 Israelis injured by homemade rockets fired from the
Gaza Strip. Palestinians have fired on average between 8-9
homemade rockets per day towards Israel (319 in total) and
the Israeli military has fired on average 200-250
artillery shells per day into the Gaza Strip and conducted
at least 220 aerial bombings.[2]
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights, based in Gaza,
reported on August 5th that:
In the pre-dawn hours of Friday, 4 August 2006, IOF planes
bombed two civilian houses in Gaza, destroying them
completely. In both incidents, the house owners received
calls to their mobile telephones from Israeli intelligence
telling them to evacuate the house, which will be
bombarded. The warning preceded the bombardment by no more
than 45 minutes.[3]
It is obvious that these demolitions by missile are a form
of collective punishment. Even if one accepted Israel's
'security' rationale for such acts, clearly phone warnings
undermine the notion that the airstrikes are fulfilling
any effective military objective against Palestinian
militants.
Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem reported on
August 5th that:
In July, the Israeli military killed 163 Palestinians in
the Gaza Strip, 78 of whom (48 percent) were not taking
part in the hostilities when they were killed. Thirty-six
of the fatalities were minors, and 20 were women.[4]
On August 7th, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights
published a report on Israeli reprisals against civilians
in Gaza between June 25th and the end of July, which
shines a searing light on the extent of violence against
civilians and the wilful damage to Gaza's civilian
infrastructure.[5]
The individual stories are painful. On August 8th,
Mohammed Omar wrote of the story of a 13-year-old from
Gaza, Tar'er, and how he woke up in a hospital bed to
discover that he had no legs.[6]
Hospitals are overwhelmed with casualties and are running
out of medical supplies. UK-based Medical Emergency Relief
International reported on August 8th that after one recent
attack in Gaza City, 75% of the patients admitted needed
amputations. Due to the destruction of Gaza's power plant,
hospitals are receiving only 4 hours of grid electricity a
day, and backup generators are not able to cope with the
demands of the crisis situation. Doctors are being forced
to make choices between running the operating theater or
the x-ray machine.[7]
The bird's eye view of the humanitarian situation in Gaza
is similarly bleak. The UNDP estimates $15.5 million
dollars in damage to Gaza's civilian infrastructure
excluding the damage caused to the power plant. Sewage
plants are overwhelmed as a result of destruction of the
infrastructure, and 3,400 Palestinians have fled Israeli
attacks to seek shelter in UN facilities.[8]
While Israel's war on Lebanon is getting the media focus
that it deserves, Gazan civilians remain in equally grave
danger, not least because of the larger conflict eclipsing
eclipsing their plight to the north.
Nigel Parry is a cofounder of the Electronic Intifada.
RELATED LINKS
* BY TOPIC: Israel invades Gaza (27 June 2006)
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