Israeli snipers killing at random: children, adults, even sheep
Israeli snipers have been targeting Palestinians in Gaza during Israel's military onslaught in the territory (photo)
In the context of Israel’s massacre of tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, there are random acts of gratuitous cruelty.
by IAK staff, from reports
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud reports from Rafah: A 14-year-old girl was out in Khan Younis trying to get water when she was shot by a sniper. This is definitely not the first time, and people here are certain it’s not going to be the last.
She was left in the street until she bled to death. It is another example of how unsafe the situation is in the southern city. There are Israeli attack drones, intense bombing and snipers on the rooftops.
Hours before this murder, a 40-year-old woman was also shot and killed by a sniper just meters away from the main gate of Nasser Hospital. She was trying to get food and water for her wounded son inside.
In Khan Younis, Israeli snipers shot and killed 3 sheep in the streets.
A Palestinian man was shot in the back and killed by a sniper as he searched for food.
On 5 February, 9 internally displaced persons were reported shot and killed at schools in Khan Younis in three separate incidents, according to UNRWA.
Earlier in the war, an Israeli sniper killed a Palestinian woman “older than Israel“; when snipers killed 2 women in a Christian church, the Pope called it “terrorism“; other cases have been documented of Palestinians being killed while they carried white flags (as well as 3 Israeli soldiers also waving a white flag).
Ramy Abdu, the Euro-Med monitor’s chairman, said: “Daily, Israeli snipers positioned on rooftops murder dozens of civilians & restricting movement of ambulances”.
Al Jazeera reports: Six people were reported killed in the Israeli shelling of a vehicle with a police logo in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, according to reports from Wafa and the French news agency AFP.
Witnesses told the AFP that the six people were traveling in the vehicle which had been securing the passage of an aid truck carrying flour in Rafah’s Khirbat al-Adas neighborhood.
Photographs from the scene show first responders taking a body covered in blankets to an ambulance. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the attack when contacted by the AFP.
Six people were reported killed in the vehicle struck by an Israeli attack in Rafah (photo)
Al Jazeera reports: Footage authenticated by Al Jazeera’s Sanad verification unit shows dozens of Israelis setting up tents at the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing to block trucks carrying humanitarian aid from entering Gaza.
Demonstrators are demanding the release of Israeli captives in Gaza before any more humanitarian relief crosses into the besieged Palestinian enclave.
On Tuesday, 132 aid trucks were stuck at Karem Abu Salem, unable to enter Gaza because of the demonstration.
Gisha, an Israeli group that for years has advocated increased humanitarian relief for residents of Gaza, said the Israeli government was not doing enough to keep the protesters from blocking aid.
“Gisha continues to call for the immediate release of the hostages and we extend our solidarity to the families of the hostages,” it said. “Israel must respect their right to protest while preventing the obstruction of vital aid to Palestinians in Gaza and ensuring continuous operation of the crossing.”
Israeli activists set up tents for blocking trucks carrying humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip at the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Israel and Gaza, in southern Israel, Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024. The activists say no aid should enter the territory until Israeli hostages held captive by the Hamas militant group are released. (photo)
Andalou Agency reports: Nearly 3,000 residential units have been burnt out by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, the government media office said Wednesday.
“These houses were set on fire upon clear and direct instructions from army commanders to render these housing units uninhabitable,” it added in a statement.
It called on the international community to hold Israel accountable “for these ongoing crimes against the Palestinian people.”
Last week, Israeli media outlet Haaretz reported that army commanders had ordered soldiers to burn houses in Gaza “without legal approval.”
NOTE: More than 360,000 residential units in Gaza are destroyed or damaged, along with 390 educational facilities, and 221 places of worship.
Regarding the entrance of life-saving fuel into Gaza, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA says unimpeded access would have allowed for the delivery of at least 386,400 liters (102,076 gallons) of fuel in January.
Instead, Israel allowed access for fuel deliveries in northern Gaza only twice in January, with a single hospital receiving just 38,400 liters (10,144 gallons) and the other facilities remaining without fuel.
There were 13 consecutive access denials for deliveries to water and wastewater pumping stations.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) noted that fuel numbers should be considered indicative only because some missions were denied multiple times.