Red Cross slams Israel over access to wounded

[laststeamtrain]

Source: AP/Independent

Red Cross slams Israel over access to wounded

AP

Thursday, 8 January 2009

The international Red Cross accuses Israeli forces today of failing to assist wounded Palestinians and of "unacceptable" delays in letting rescue workers reach a Gaza home where four small children were found alive next to their mothers' bodies.

Rescuers had been refused permission by the Israeli army to reach the site in the Zaytun neighborhood of Gaza City for days, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

The neutral aid group's head of delegation for the region described the incident as "shocking."

"The Israeli military must have been aware of the situation but did not assist the wounded," Pierre Wettach said in a statement. "Neither did they make it possible for us or the Palestine Red Crescent to assist the wounded."

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/red-cross-slams-israel-over-access-to-wounded-1232472.html

[DiamondFrank]

1. Israeli Soldiers Stood By and Did Nothing

The Red Cross requested access to the wounded on January 3rd. It wasn't until January 7th that the Israeli army granted them access.

All the while Israeli soldiers posted a mere 80 meters away refused to lend the wounded civilians any medical care.

The Red Cross team found 4 children next to their dead mothers in one of the houses. The children were too weak to stand up on their own.

One man was also found alive, too weak to stand up.

In all there were at least 12 corpses lying on mattresses.


http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/palestine-news-080109?opendocument

[subsuelo]

31. It's a War on Children

They *want* them dead

[DiamondFrank]

2. Israel Leaves Civilians For Dead

Source: Red Cross

"This is a shocking incident," said Pierre Wettach, the ICRC's head of delegation for Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. "The Israeli military must have been aware of the situation but did not assist the wounded. Neither did they make it possible for us or the Palestine Red Crescent to assist the wounded."

Read more: http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/palestine-news-080109?opendocument

---

On January 3rd the Red Cross inside Gaza requested access to wounded Palestinians in one of Gaza's remote neighborhoods close to the border. It wasn't until January 7th that Israel granted them passage.

During those four days Israeli soldiers who were stationed just 80 meters away did NOT lend the wounded civilians any medical care.

The Red Cross team found 4 children next to their dead mothers. The children were too weak to stand up. One man was also found alive, too weak to stand up. In all there were at least 12 corpses lying on mattresses.

[bdamomma]

3. Israel with their American made weapons are a killing machine.

disgusting.

[ShadesOfGrey]

6. Sickening! There is absolutely no excuse for this! nt

[awoke_in_2003]

18. Just wait...

some will be along to try :(

[harmonicon]

4. stupid anti-Semitic Red Cross. How dare they?!

[awoke_in_2003]

19. welcome to my buddy list. nt

[Marrah_G]

5. If I believed in hell........

There would be a very special place in it for grown men who can sit 80 meters away and leave children to die of neglect next to dead bodies of their mothers.

Shame on them.

This is what happens when you dehumanize a group of people in the eyes of a soldier.

Did they no longer consider them "real children" or were they seen as just more vermin too stop before they matured into more of a threat?

[Name removed]

7. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ShadesOfGrey]

8. Maybe there will be a special place on Earth for...

for these inhumane war criminals



(fingers crossed)

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Poll_Blind]

17. Yes, I believe it's apparent that they do not believe the children have souls, are human.

PB

[awoke_in_2003]

21. I made a comment in another thread...

that the reason why there is no humanity in the situation over there is that the Israelis do not see the Palestinians as human. Of course, I got the inevitable "Link?" reply. I think I will use this one. Who needs links to what an Israeli may say in a paper or news link, when you can judge them on their actions.

[Poll_Blind]

22. Actually, you may want to check this article out from Haaretz, Israel's oldest newspaper:

Taliban in the security cabinet This article is at LEAST 3 years old, but many if not all of the people mentioned in it are likely still part of the Israeli government or leaders/players of major Israeli political party.

  Read it carefully.

PB

[awoke_in_2003]

29. Thanks. nt

[SOS]

23. For your research files:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4034765.stm

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/opinion/08khalidi.html

[awoke_in_2003]

30. Thanks. nt

[Scurrilous]

9. If the IDF keeps this up...

...they just might lose their 'Most Moral Army in the World' designation.

[pjt7]

10. What American politican has stood up & been a reasonable

voice for the people getting killed in Palestine & alienated from the World?

Ron Paul, Kucinich ? Anybody else?

[Scurrilous]

13. Jon Stewart on Gaza, “The Mobius Strip of Issues”

"There's only one side!"

http://www.muzzlewatch.com/2009/01/06/jon-stewart-on-gaza-the-mobius-strip-of-issues/

[Scurrilous]

16. An Unnecessary War (Jimmy Carter)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/07/AR2009010702645_pf.html

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[kpete]

14. Red Cross Reports Grisly Find in Gaza-Israel Accused of Blocking Aid to Wounded

Source: Washington Post

Red Cross Reports Grisly Find in Gaza
Israel Accused of Blocking Aid to Wounded

By Craig Whitlock
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, January 8, 2009; Page A01

JERUSALEM, Jan. 8 -- The International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday that it had found at least 15 bodies and several children -- emaciated but alive -- in a row of shattered houses in the Gaza Strip and accused the Israeli military of preventing ambulances from reaching the site for four days.

Red Cross officials said rescue crews had received specific reports of casualties in the houses and had been trying since Saturday to send ambulances to the area, located in Zaytoun, a neighborhood south of Gaza City. They said the Israeli military did not grant permission until Wednesday afternoon.

In an unusual public statement issued by its Geneva headquarters, the Red Cross called the episode "unacceptable" and said the Israeli military had "failed to meet its obligation under international humanitarian law to care for and evacuate the wounded."

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/07/AR2009010700791.html

[Divernan]

15. Blocking reporters & humanitarian groups from Gaza is disproportional

And disproportionality is a major factor in the eyes of international law. I have very strong opinions on the suffering and deaths of so many civilians, and the photos showing whole neighborhoods and blocks of apartment buildings blown to pieces. But I don't want to have this post deleted, as my earlier ones have been.

[frylock]

20. good to see the NYT and WaPo reporting on this..

oh, wait...

[TahitiNut]

24. I see "Name Removed" has already responded in his inimitably denialist way.

I can imagine the rationalizations. :puke:

[The Magistrate]

25. 'Name Removed', My Friend, Works All Sides Of the Street....

Obviously, on the facts as reported, this is criminal behavior.

[TahitiNut]

26. Yup. Underneath and above it, as well.

:silly:

[Cherchez la Femme]

27. ICRC: Israel delayed access to wounded for days

Source: Yahoo News/AP

GENEVA – The Red Cross accused Israel Thursday of "unacceptable" delays in letting rescue workers reach three Gaza City homes hit by shelling where they eventually found 15 dead and 18 wounded, including young children too weak to stand.

The Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross said the Israeli army refused rescuers permission to reach the site in the Zaytun neighborhood for four days. Ambulances couldn't get to the neighborhood because the Israeli army had erected large earthen barriers that blocked access.

Israeli officials said the delay was caused by fighting in the area. Since Wednesday, Israel has observed a daily three-hour halt in operations to allow humanitarian evacuations and aid deliveries throughout Gaza.

~clip~

"The ICRC/PRCS team found four small children next to their dead mothers in one of the houses. They were too weak to stand up on their own. One man was also found alive, too weak to stand up," the statement said. "In all, there were at least 12 corpses lying on mattresses" in one of the houses, it added.

The ICRC said the children and the wounded had to be transported to ambulances on a donkey cart.

~clip~

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090108/ap_on_re_mi_ea/eu_red_cross_gaza

---

My comment? As Goya said, and etched: "What more can one do?"

[Name removed]

28. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Barrett808]

32. 100 Survivors Rescued in Gaza From Ruins Blocked by Israelis (Red Cross blocked for 4 days)

Source: Washington Post

100 Survivors Rescued in Gaza From Ruins Blocked by Israelis
Relief Agencies Fear More Are Trapped, Days After Neighborhood Was Shelled
By Craig Whitlock and Reyham Abdel Kareem
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, January 9, 2009; 7:05 AM

JERUSALEM, Jan. 9 -- Emergency workers said they rescued 100 more trapped survivors Thursday and found between 40 and 50 corpses in a devastated residential block south of Gaza City that the Israeli military had kept off-limits to the International Committee of the Red Cross for four days.

Relief agencies said they feared more people remained in the rubble of several shattered houses in the Zaytoun neighborhood. Red Cross officials said that they began receiving distress calls from people in the houses late Saturday but that they were blocked by the Israeli military from reaching the area until Wednesday.

"There are still people under demolished houses -- we are sure of it," said Khaled Abuzaid, an ambulance driver for the Red Cross who treated survivors at the site Wednesday and Thursday. "But without water or electricity, we are sure they will die."

In an interview at al-Quds Hospital, a Red Cross medical center in Gaza, Abuzaid said rescue workers found 16 bodies Wednesday in a large room of a house in Zaytoun: seven women, six children and three men, all members of the al-Samuni family.

Most had sustained trauma injuries from shelling, but many had gunshot wounds as well, he said. Four children, weak but alive, were found lying under blankets, nestled next to their dead mothers, Abuzaid said. Red Cross officials had said earlier that 12 adult bodies had been found in the house but otherwise corroborated Abuzaid's account.

...

He said Israeli soldiers told the crew of Red Cross and Palestinian Red Crescent workers in advance that they were forbidden to take cameras, radios or cellphones to the site. It is standard practice for crews to carry such equipment on rescue missions.

The Red Cross has accused the Israeli military of repeatedly refusing to grant permission for ambulances to go to Zaytoun, even though soldiers were stationed outside the damaged houses and were aware people were wounded inside. In a statement issued early Thursday, the agency called the episode "unacceptable" and said the Israeli military had "failed to meet its obligation under international humanitarian law to care for and evacuate the wounded."

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/09/AR2009010901139.html