Picnickers die in attack on Gaza - Staff and agencies

Staff and agencies

Israeli forces today attacked the northern Gaza Strip with a series of air strikes and artillery fire, killing at least nine Palestinians, including six civilians who had been enjoying a family picnic at the beach.

The shells struck a large crowd at a beachside picnic, killing six people and wounding more than 30 others, the Palestinian health minister, Bassem Naim, said. A woman and two young children, six months old and 18 months old, were among the dead, medical officials said. All of the dead were believed to be related.

The barrage scattered body parts along the beach, destroyed a tent and sent bloody sheets flying into the air. A panicked crowd quickly gathered, screaming and running around in confusion

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1794304,00.html

Bastards

they have done everything possible to provoke the Palestinians, and still the palestinians did nothing.
Now, they kill a high ranking official, bomb a beach of picnic'ers and attack children and their moms the past few days.

And the Bush administration does nothing, except try to cut $$ from Egypt.

These people (the bushistas and the israeli goverment) are bastards indeed.

Palestinians are a people under occupation (Gaza is still considered occupied, because it is it is mostly contained by Israel, no international entity, or nation, considers Gaza to be anything but under occupation by Israel).

Shelling from Gaza has resulted in little property damage, and little loss of life, although any loss of life is a grave tragedy.

Attacks on the civilian population of Gaza has resulted in much loss of life, massive property damage (that had already seen billions and billions loss from years of military attacks on homes, crops, infrastructure. thousands of homes have been destroyed in the last few years alone.

Too bad the Pals have such shitty leaders.

I cannot speak. I am too stunned.

Redstone

From Ha'aretz Flash News:

02:02 Train authority suspends Be`er Sheva-Kiryat Gat traffic until Sun. (Army Radio)

00:34 In interview to U.K. paper, PM calls Palestinian referendum plan `meaningless` (AP)

23:53 France regrets Israel`s `disproportionate` shelling on Gaza Strip beach (AP)

23:03 Solana: EU concerned by developments in Gaza, urges IDF to curb actions (Haaretz)

22:54 Egypt condemns IDF attacks on Gaza, says excessive force against int`l law (Reuters)

22:48 After Gaza shelling, MK Beilin (Meretz) urges Defense Min. Peretz to resign (Haaretz)

22:39 Hamas staging series of large demonstrations across Gaza Strip (AP)

22:18 Abbas declares 3-day mourning period for victims of IDF artillery strike in Gaza (AP)

22:17 MK Barakeh (Hadash): Peretz can wear a war criminal badge on his lapel (Haaretz)

21:22 British Foreign Secretary concerned by deaths in Gaza from Israeli shelling (Haaretz)

PB

that also makes sense

and these bastards will be accused of war crimes.

US never say that the Palestinians have the right to defend themselves? They are sitting ducks and the US just watches. Things will never get any better as long as this is our policy.

Death on the beach: seven Palestinians killed as Israeli shells hit family picnic

Chris McGreal in Jerusalem
Saturday June 10, 2006
The Guardian

A barrage of Israeli artillery shells rained down on a busy Gaza beach yesterday, killing seven Palestinians, three of them children. The attack put further strain on the 16-month truce between Israel and the governing Hamas movement.

Witnesses described several explosions that also injured dozens of other people who lay on the beach, screaming and pleading for help. Some ran into the sea for fear of more shells hitting the sands at Beit Lahia, in the north of the Gaza strip.

Among the dead were three children, aged one, three, and 10. Their sister was swimming and survived.

The beach was packed with picnicking families enjoying the Muslim day of rest, and the explosions landed among them, scattering body parts along the dunes. Television footage showed a woman and a child laying dead on the sand, and another child screaming in agony while a lifeless man was carried away by an ambulance crew.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1794536,00.html

From Ha'aretz's News Flashes:

15:25 MK Zahava Gal-On: Peretz is responsible for killing of civilians in Gaza (Army Radio)

14:54 Peace groups plan Sat. protest outside Chief of Staff Halutz`s house in Tel Aviv (Itim)

14:04 Lebanon, Syria denouce IDF shelling that killed 7 Palestinian civilians (AP)

13:04 Funeral procession of Gaza family killed in IDF shelling underway in Beit Lahia (AP)

11:33 Peretz expresses regret directly to Abbas for civilian killings in Gaza (Haaretz)

11:14 MK Tibi, on killing of Gaza cilivians: Peretz is responsible for this war crime (Haaretz)

10:28 Palestinian boy seriously wounded in Gaza shelling taken to Israel for care (Haaretz)

10:05 Peretz to receive results of Gaza beach shelling probe Saturday evening (Israel Radio)

PB

10 June 2006: Israeli Human Rights Organizations: End Killing of Civilians

Five Israeli human rights organizations demanded today in an urgent appeal to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense that they take immediate action to end the killing of Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Territories, and to eradicate the factors contributing to these killings.

The organizations (B’Tselem, ACRI, PCATI, HaMoked and PHR-Israel) state that the killing of a family at the Gaza seashore on Friday (a father, mother and four children), apparently by a shell fired by Israeli soldiers, is a terrible addition to an already horrifying statistic: according to B'Tselem data, since the onset of the second Intifada, 3,446 Palestinians in the Occupied Territories have been killed by Israeli security forces. Of those, 704 were minors under the age of 18 years. At lease 1,647 of those killed were in no way taking part in the fighting at the time they were killed (and an additional 246 people were the targets of targeted killings). These dismal figures result directly from a series of Israeli policies, including illegal expansion of Israel's open-fire regulations, deliberate vagueness and double messages regarding the use of force, violation of the principle of proportionality and the failure to conduct independent investigations into civilian deaths.

The organizations add that it is indeed Israel's obligation to take all legitimate steps at its disposal to defend the lives and security of its citizens from attacks by Palestinian organizations. These attacks by Palestinian groups, which deliberately target civilians, constitute a war crime for which there can be no justification. However, it is unconscionable that a sovereign state should use illegal means, some of which reach the level of war crimes. The organizations reiterate that one of Israel's central obligations under international humanitarian law is to minimize the impact of military action on the civilian population, and to ensure the life and security of Palestinian civilians, also during armed conflict.

http://www.btselem.org/english/press_releases/20060610.asp