UN backtracks on claim that deadly IDF strike hit Gaza school

[ygalg1]

By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent

The United Nations has reversed its stance on one of the most contentious and bloody incidents of the recent Israel Defense Forces operation in Gaza, saying that an IDF mortar strike that killed 43 people on January 6 did not hit one of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency schools after all.

It seems that the UN has been under pressure to put the record straight after doubts arose that the school had actually been targeted. Maxwell Gaylord, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Jerusalem, said Monday that the IDF mortar shells fell in the street near the compound, and not on the compound itself.

Gaylord said that the UN "would like to clarify that the shelling and all of the fatalities took place outside and not inside the school."

UNRWA, an agency whose sole purpose is to work with Palestinian refugees, said in response Tuesday that it had maintained from the day of attack that the wounded were outside of the school compound. UNRWA said that the source of the mistake in recent weeks had originated with a separate branch of the United Nations.

Senior IDF officials had previously expressed skepticism that the school had been struck, saying that two mortar shells could not kill 43 people and wound dozens more.

Questions about the veracity of the claims that the school had been hit by the IDF were also raised last week by the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail. The newspaper said that a teacher in the UNRWA compound at the time of the strike "was adamant" that no people had been killed inside the compound.

The newspaper quoted the teacher as saying that, "I could see some of the people had been injured... But when I got outside, it was crazy hell. There were bodies everywhere, people dead, injured, flesh everywhere."

The newspaper said that the teacher had been told by the UN not to speak to the media. "Three of my students were killed," he said. "But they were all outside."
haaretz (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=1061189)

[Mil]

Typical.....

[Fall]

If media was allowed in this could have been cleared up weeks ago, but either way "I could see some of the people had been injured... But when I got outside, it was crazy hell. There were bodies everywhere, people dead, injured, flesh everywhere." War is hell.

[ItsMyJewty]

Yes, it's a good idea to let journalists into the Strip when you're trying to conduct a war in densely populated urban areas.:rolleyes:

[Sharona]

There was always a one-sided logic to this incident.

Initially it was said that the school held children. Then it was said that there were people (not necessarily children) sheltering in the school. Then it was said that the people were outside. It didn't matter that the location of people changed, the outrage remained - albeit in decreasingly outraged tones.

No one can be unmoved by the loss of innocent lives, but it seemed to me that the blame was always levied at the IDF - leaving Hamas blameless.

This is nonsense. In most countries, every company, school, shop and institution has a definite policy which covers what should be done and where people should go in an emergency. I've actually worked on some and have inspected others in the course of my own work. Such a policy would doubtless be in place and distributed should war come to, say, the UK.

In the UK, shelters would be built - as they were in WWII. There was even a Ministry of Food during those years advising people how to stretch their meagre rations and keep healthy. There were many other institutions designed to keep the people as safe as they could be - including evacuation of children to the country.

If such a war approached my town, I daresay I'd know about it. I'd recognise tanks, shells and such like. I daresay if I went out to the shops it would be suicidal. My children wouldn't be at school because the schools wouldn't be open. In all likelihood, I'd be prosecuted if I knowingly allowed them to be in an unsafe area.

Hamas spent years provoking Israel - yet failed to provide any emergency advice, support or information for what they knew darned well would happen.
How is that blameless?

[Reffo]

If media was allowed in this could have been cleared up weeks agoBut since they were not allowed in (for their own safety), was it appropriate for them to uncritically report the allegations against Israel as facts?

Fall, some sections of the media have a lot to answer for when it comes to their standard (or lack) of reporting about Israel. And this incident was not the first one either! They have done it before .... many times! Shame :rolleyes:

[Mediocrates]

Claiming to be not allowed in is a lie. Western news agencies use Palestinian stringers who are already there, often supplied to them by Hamas and the PLO. All they need is a phone. This was intentional and calculated. Now 10 million bloggers all 'know' the original story is 'true' and all the page 37 retractions in the world won't change that.

[maven]

And now the scandal of UN complicity with Hamas in Gaza deepens:

The United Nations agency that administers a school in Gaza where dozens of civilians were killed by Israeli mortar fire last week has admitted to employing terrorists to work at its Palestinian schools in the past, has no system in place to keep members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad off its payroll, and provides textbooks to children that contain hate speech and other incendiary information.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,479940,00.html