#GAZA: Israel strike kills four boys on Gaza beach as 'humanitarian ceasefire' announced | Israel, Hamas agree on 5-hour humanitarian aid ceasefire
Israel strike kills four boys on Gaza beach as 'humanitarian ceasefire' announced
Israel will observe a six-hour 'humanitarian ceasefire on Thursday after a day in which a naval bombardment left four Palestinian children dead on a Gaza City beach
One of the surviving children, suffering from shock Photo
The eight young friends wandered down to Gaza City’s bombed-out harbour on
Wednesday afternoon to try and escape the terrible monotony of war.
Instead, as they played on the beach, they met the full horrors of Israel’s
bloody conflict with Hamas. An apparent naval bombardment left four of them
dead and the rest suffering from serious wounds and shock.
There had seemed little danger as the boys scavenged for metal and played
hide-and-seek around a fisherman’s container hut that lay in ruins after
being a target for heavy shelling in recent days.
Suddenly, with ear-splitting ferocity, the container was on the receiving end
of direct hits that killed four boys – all members of the Bakr families –
and sent four others scurrying for cover.
Moments later, as they fled across the sand close to a scattering of makeshift
tents, another shell struck close to where they ran, seriously injuring
three from shrapnel and leaving another traumatised.
The Israeli army said it was investigating the incident, which it called “a
tragic outcome” and that civilians in Gaza were being “dragged by Hamas into
the reality of urban combat”.
Brig Gen Yoav Mordechai said on Wednesday night that Israel will observe a six-hour “humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza on Thursday. The ceasefire is scheduled for 10am to 4pm local time following an appeal from the United Nations.
The four survivors of the beach attack were dragged, screaming, bleeding and shaking, into the restaurant of the Al-Deira Hotel, where emergency first aid was administered.
A child lies wounded by a shrapnel, after Isreali naval artillery shell was aimed at him
Hamad Bakr, 13, lay flat on his back moaning in pain from a piece of shrapnel that had penetrated his chest. Nearby, his seven-year-old brother, Yunis, crouched by a wall whimpering, his face distorted in sheer terror.
Their cousin Moataem, 11, lay bleeding from stomach and head wounds, a bandage wrapped around his head to staunch the blood.
The beach incident was witnessed first-hand by some journalists who have been covering the conflict from the Al-Deira and other nearby beachside hotels.
One correspondent said a shell seemed to have been deliberately aimed at the boys as they were running away from the earlier strike.
That account was born out by another witness, Ahmad Thabet, 24, a worker for a Malaysian aid agency who saw events unfold from his temporary office in the neighbouring Roots Hotel.
Smoke billows from a beach shack following an Israeli military strike in Gaza, which killed four children and leaving several injured (Getty)
“The whole incident was awful,” he said. “From where I was, I saw a group of small boys playing by the fisherman’s container and I wondered what they were doing there. The first missiles were aimed straight at the container.
“I then saw four escaping and they got about 200 metres from the container and another shell targeted them directly. Because it was so far from the container, I was sure they had been directly targeted. I have experienced three different wars and this is the worst thing I have seen. It’s a real catastrophe.”
Lying on a bed at Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital waiting for surgery, Hamad Bakr said he too was sure he and his friends had been deliberately pinpointed.
“We were playing and there was a rocket fired, which killed one of our group,” he said. “Then there was a second missile and three others died. At that point, we started to run to the hotel.”
Asked if he thought the next shell that injured him and his friends just landed randomly, he replied: “No. We realised they were deliberately targeting us.”
His mother, Taghreed, 35, told her injured son off when she arrived at the hospital, lambasting him for going outside at a time when many Gazans are staying indoors for fear of Israeli missile strikes.
“Why did you leave home when I told you not to,” she said. “Anyone who plays by the sea knows that it’s dangerous. My nephew died in this incident and I thought you had too.”
She also turned her anger on Israel, saying: “Are these children firing rockets or Kalashnikovs? Throughout the world, it’s only our children who cannot go out to play without the danger of being killed. What they are doing is making us agree with the resistance [Hamas] now.”
One of the surviving children, suffering from shock
The four dead boys were buried hours later at a mosque several hundred yards from where they had died. Their bodies were laid out in the yellow flags of Fatah – the secular rival Palestinian faction to Hamas, the Islamist group that is in de facto control of Gaza.
The Israeli army said in a statement: “The IDF has no intention of harming civilians dragged by Hamas into the reality of urban combat. We are carefully investigating the incident in question,” it said in statement. “Based on preliminary results, the target of this strike was Hamas terrorist operatives. The reported civilian causalities from this strike are a tragic outcome.”
Wednesday’s deaths brought the Palestinian death toll to 220 since Israel launched its military offensive, known as Operation Protective Edge on July 8. One Israeli has been killed from missiles fired from Gaza in that time.
Dror Khanin, 37, was killed by a Hamas mortar shell on Tuesday as he distributed food packages to Israeli soldiers stationed on the Israel-Gaza border. Palestinian militants have fired more than 1,200 rockets at Israel since the start of the conflict.
Israel had promised to intensify its bombardment of the impoverished coastal territory, bombing the homes of five prominent Hamas leaders overnight.
The fisherman's container where the children were scavenging for metal when the first shell struck
The Israeli army also dropped leaflets and made recorded phone calls warning 100,000 residents in the Shujaiyya, Zeitoun and Beit Lahiya districts to leave their homes for their own safety.
The warnings went unheeded by many residents. The UN reported only an increase of 3,000 overnight in the number of people seeking shelter at schools that have been turned into refuges.
In Shujiyya, Saleh al-Amrani, 52, a construction worker, said he would not leave his home despite Israel’s warnings. “We are not afraid and we are not going anywhere,” he said. “We don’t think Israel is going to come in with ground troops. They are bombarding us all the time, so there is no security anywhere.”
Similar defiance was displayed at Shujaiyya’s Wafa Hospital, where the executive director, Basman Alashi, rejected to entreaties to evacuate 16 critically ill patients, saying that moving them would endanger their lives.
“If a hospital isn’t a safe place, where is,” he said. “This is a humanitarian building, not a military centre. We are staying here.”
Israel and Hamas on Thursday agreed to a five-hour ceasefire on
humanitarian grounds at UN’s request after nine days of intense fighting
in Gaza that has claimed 226 Palestinian lives, as hectic parleys were
on in the region to broker a permanent truce.
UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Robert Serry asked Israel for a humanitarian ceasefire following an incident in which four Palestinian children were killed on a beach in Gaza.
“Factions of the resistance have agreed to accept the offer of the UN regarding a ‘field calm’ for 5 hours from 10 am until 3 pm (local time) Thursday for humanitarian needs,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zhuri said in a text message.
Israel had already accepted the proposal, however, its military warned it would not sit idle if attacked.
“Should the humanitarian window be exploited by Hamas or other terror organisations for the purpose of launching attacks against Israeli civilian or military targets the IDF will respond firmly and decisively,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.
An effort to permanently stop the killing was stalled when Israel resumed airstrikes following a brief, one-sided cease-fire brokered by Egypt. While Israel paused for six hours, Hamas leaders rejected the deal and continued firing rockets.
They said they had not been consulted, and complained the deal did not address their demands for greater freedom for Gaza’s 1.8 million residents.
Ahead of Thursday’s temporary ceasefire, hostilities continued this morning with Israel’s airstrikes, taking the death toll to 226 killed and 1,678 wounded, Gaza medical services said.
The one fatality on the Israeli side so far was a man killed Monday after being hit by a mortar shell at the Erez border crossing.
Meanwhile, hectic parleys were on in the region to broker a permanent truce between Israel and Hamas.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas held talks in Cairo yesterday, as did Quartet envoy Tony Blair, in an effort to come up with a package that would be acceptable to both sides.
Abbas met with Hamas official Musa Abu Marzouk, and Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, and even Tunisia and France were reportedly involved in efforts to quell the violence.
President Barack Obama also backed Egypt’s efforts to broker a ceasefire, offering US’ full diplomatic support.
“Over the next 24 hours, we’ll continue to stay in close contact with our friends and parties in the region, and we will use all of our diplomatic resources and relationships to support efforts of closing a deal on a ceasefire,” Obama said.
Anger is rising over civilian deaths — including those of four Palestinian children killed while playing on the beach.
The boys, aged 9 to 11, died yesterday when a shell from an Israeli gunship exploded near them at the Al-Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza, according to Palestinian officials.
Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said that it was “carefully investigating” the incident, adding
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Brig Gen Yoav Mordechai said on Wednesday night that Israel will observe a six-hour “humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza on Thursday. The ceasefire is scheduled for 10am to 4pm local time following an appeal from the United Nations.
The four survivors of the beach attack were dragged, screaming, bleeding and shaking, into the restaurant of the Al-Deira Hotel, where emergency first aid was administered.
A child lies wounded by a shrapnel, after Isreali naval artillery shell was aimed at him
Hamad Bakr, 13, lay flat on his back moaning in pain from a piece of shrapnel that had penetrated his chest. Nearby, his seven-year-old brother, Yunis, crouched by a wall whimpering, his face distorted in sheer terror.
Their cousin Moataem, 11, lay bleeding from stomach and head wounds, a bandage wrapped around his head to staunch the blood.
The beach incident was witnessed first-hand by some journalists who have been covering the conflict from the Al-Deira and other nearby beachside hotels.
One correspondent said a shell seemed to have been deliberately aimed at the boys as they were running away from the earlier strike.
That account was born out by another witness, Ahmad Thabet, 24, a worker for a Malaysian aid agency who saw events unfold from his temporary office in the neighbouring Roots Hotel.
Smoke billows from a beach shack following an Israeli military strike in Gaza, which killed four children and leaving several injured (Getty)
“The whole incident was awful,” he said. “From where I was, I saw a group of small boys playing by the fisherman’s container and I wondered what they were doing there. The first missiles were aimed straight at the container.
“I then saw four escaping and they got about 200 metres from the container and another shell targeted them directly. Because it was so far from the container, I was sure they had been directly targeted. I have experienced three different wars and this is the worst thing I have seen. It’s a real catastrophe.”
Lying on a bed at Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital waiting for surgery, Hamad Bakr said he too was sure he and his friends had been deliberately pinpointed.
“We were playing and there was a rocket fired, which killed one of our group,” he said. “Then there was a second missile and three others died. At that point, we started to run to the hotel.”
Asked if he thought the next shell that injured him and his friends just landed randomly, he replied: “No. We realised they were deliberately targeting us.”
His mother, Taghreed, 35, told her injured son off when she arrived at the hospital, lambasting him for going outside at a time when many Gazans are staying indoors for fear of Israeli missile strikes.
“Why did you leave home when I told you not to,” she said. “Anyone who plays by the sea knows that it’s dangerous. My nephew died in this incident and I thought you had too.”
She also turned her anger on Israel, saying: “Are these children firing rockets or Kalashnikovs? Throughout the world, it’s only our children who cannot go out to play without the danger of being killed. What they are doing is making us agree with the resistance [Hamas] now.”
One of the surviving children, suffering from shock
The four dead boys were buried hours later at a mosque several hundred yards from where they had died. Their bodies were laid out in the yellow flags of Fatah – the secular rival Palestinian faction to Hamas, the Islamist group that is in de facto control of Gaza.
The Israeli army said in a statement: “The IDF has no intention of harming civilians dragged by Hamas into the reality of urban combat. We are carefully investigating the incident in question,” it said in statement. “Based on preliminary results, the target of this strike was Hamas terrorist operatives. The reported civilian causalities from this strike are a tragic outcome.”
Wednesday’s deaths brought the Palestinian death toll to 220 since Israel launched its military offensive, known as Operation Protective Edge on July 8. One Israeli has been killed from missiles fired from Gaza in that time.
Dror Khanin, 37, was killed by a Hamas mortar shell on Tuesday as he distributed food packages to Israeli soldiers stationed on the Israel-Gaza border. Palestinian militants have fired more than 1,200 rockets at Israel since the start of the conflict.
Israel had promised to intensify its bombardment of the impoverished coastal territory, bombing the homes of five prominent Hamas leaders overnight.
The fisherman's container where the children were scavenging for metal when the first shell struck
The Israeli army also dropped leaflets and made recorded phone calls warning 100,000 residents in the Shujaiyya, Zeitoun and Beit Lahiya districts to leave their homes for their own safety.
The warnings went unheeded by many residents. The UN reported only an increase of 3,000 overnight in the number of people seeking shelter at schools that have been turned into refuges.
In Shujiyya, Saleh al-Amrani, 52, a construction worker, said he would not leave his home despite Israel’s warnings. “We are not afraid and we are not going anywhere,” he said. “We don’t think Israel is going to come in with ground troops. They are bombarding us all the time, so there is no security anywhere.”
Similar defiance was displayed at Shujaiyya’s Wafa Hospital, where the executive director, Basman Alashi, rejected to entreaties to evacuate 16 critically ill patients, saying that moving them would endanger their lives.
“If a hospital isn’t a safe place, where is,” he said. “This is a humanitarian building, not a military centre. We are staying here.”
Israel, Hamas agree on 5-hour humanitarian aid ceasefire
Gaza/jerusalem | July 17, 2014 10:12 am
Palestinians flee their homes in the Shajaiyeh neighborhood of Gaza City.
Summary
Israel had already accepted the proposal, however, its military warned it would not sit idle if attacked.
UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Robert Serry asked Israel for a humanitarian ceasefire following an incident in which four Palestinian children were killed on a beach in Gaza.
“Factions of the resistance have agreed to accept the offer of the UN regarding a ‘field calm’ for 5 hours from 10 am until 3 pm (local time) Thursday for humanitarian needs,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zhuri said in a text message.
Israel had already accepted the proposal, however, its military warned it would not sit idle if attacked.
“Should the humanitarian window be exploited by Hamas or other terror organisations for the purpose of launching attacks against Israeli civilian or military targets the IDF will respond firmly and decisively,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.
An effort to permanently stop the killing was stalled when Israel resumed airstrikes following a brief, one-sided cease-fire brokered by Egypt. While Israel paused for six hours, Hamas leaders rejected the deal and continued firing rockets.
They said they had not been consulted, and complained the deal did not address their demands for greater freedom for Gaza’s 1.8 million residents.
Ahead of Thursday’s temporary ceasefire, hostilities continued this morning with Israel’s airstrikes, taking the death toll to 226 killed and 1,678 wounded, Gaza medical services said.
The one fatality on the Israeli side so far was a man killed Monday after being hit by a mortar shell at the Erez border crossing.
Meanwhile, hectic parleys were on in the region to broker a permanent truce between Israel and Hamas.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas held talks in Cairo yesterday, as did Quartet envoy Tony Blair, in an effort to come up with a package that would be acceptable to both sides.
Abbas met with Hamas official Musa Abu Marzouk, and Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, and even Tunisia and France were reportedly involved in efforts to quell the violence.
President Barack Obama also backed Egypt’s efforts to broker a ceasefire, offering US’ full diplomatic support.
“Over the next 24 hours, we’ll continue to stay in close contact with our friends and parties in the region, and we will use all of our diplomatic resources and relationships to support efforts of closing a deal on a ceasefire,” Obama said.
Anger is rising over civilian deaths — including those of four Palestinian children killed while playing on the beach.
The boys, aged 9 to 11, died yesterday when a shell from an Israeli gunship exploded near them at the Al-Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza, according to Palestinian officials.
Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said that it was “carefully investigating” the incident, adding
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