One million Palestinians in Gaza without electricity

[ 06/01/2009 - 05:13 PM ]

GAZA (PIC)--

John Ging, the director of UNRWA operations in the Gaza Strip, has called on Israel, Palestinian factions and European leaders to reach an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

In a press conference in Shifa hospital in Gaza city on Tuesday, Ging described what is happening in the Gaza Strip as "madness" that never occurred before in human history.

He told the world leaders that they should stop eating, drinking and even sleeping until they stop the killing of innocent people in the Strip.

The UNRWA official hailed the efforts of medical teams in Shifa and other Gaza hospitals despite obstacles impeding their work, saying that they also suffer from acute shortage in medicine.

He said that the Shifa hospital is about to collapse after most of its generators went out of order, other than the depletion of its basic medical supplies.

Ging asked Israel to allow entry of fuel to the Gaza power plant, underling that one million Palestinians (two thirds of the Gaza population) were living without electricity while 700,000 (almost half the population) were living without running water.

The UN official denounced the Israeli warplanes' shelling of civilians in one of the UNRWA schools and the murder of three of them on Monday and demanded protection for all civilians.

Massacre: Dozens killed by Israeli shelling of UN school in Jabaliya

Date: 06 / 01 / 2009  Time:  17:04
Updated 21:30

Gaza – Ma’an –

Israeli occupation terrorist forces killed dozens of Palestinians at a UN school that was sheltering displaced people in Jabaliya Refugee Camp in the northern Gaza Strip late on Tuesday afternoon.

John Ging, Director of Operations in Gaza of UNRWA, said that 30 people died and 55 others were injured when three Israeli artillery shells landed at the perimeter of the school.

Ma'an spoke with witnesses who saw two shells exploding at the school. Medical officials at Gaza hospitals said 42 were killed.

Palestinians displaced by the Israeli military onslaught had taken shelter in the school.

Witnesses reported ambulances and private cars evacuating the dead and wounded, some of whom appeared to have been blown to pieces. Many women and children are said to be among the dead. Hundreds of people were reported to be in the area of the school at the time of the shelling.

Ma’an’s reporter said that dozens more, all civilians, were injured in the attack on the Al-Fakhoura School. The death toll is expected to rise as a number of the wounded are said to be in critical condition. Ambulances were initially unable reach the school.

No shelter

The school is operated by UNRWA, the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees. UNRWA has been using its schools to house some of the 15,000 Gazans who have fled their homes due to Israel's ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, which began on Saturday.

UNRWA says it handed over the GPS coordinates of all UN installations throughout the Gaza Strip to the Israeli occupation terrorist forces. The school was clearly marked as a UN facility.

Earlier on Tuesday, the United Nations confirmed that three refugees had been killed at 11:30 on Monday night when Israeli occupation terrorist forces fired directly on a UNRWA school in Gaza City.

According to the UN, Another UNRWA school also came under fire in the city of Rafah. An UNRWA health clinic in Al-Buraij Refugee Camp was also damaged when an Israeli missile hit an adjacent building, injuring ten medics and patients.

"There's nowhere safe in Gaza. Everyone here is terrorized and traumatized," said John Ging, the top UN official in Gaza. He also said that people in Gaza are "entitled" to action by the international community to stop the Israeli invasion.

"I am appealing to political leaders here and in the region and the world to get their act together and stop this," he said, speaking at Gaza's largest hospital. "They are responsible for these deaths."

”I am not apologizing”

Israeli terrorist army Spokeswoman Avital Leibovich claimed that a mortar had been fired from the school, and that Israeli occupation terrorist forces responded with one mortar shell.

Speaking to Al-Jazeera, Leibovich said she had “no information” about whether Israeli forces had obtained the GPS coordinates of the school.

“Let me be clear – I am not apologizing,” Leibovich said in response to a presenter’s question.

Ma’an attempted to contact the Israeli military spokesperson’s office with no success.

Tuesday's attack has drawn comparisons to the 1996 Israeli shelling of a UN compound in Qana, southern Lebanon, in which 106 civilians were killed.

Hamas has condemned the attack as a "massacre."

Israeli occupation forces bomb UNRWA school killing 45 civilians

[ 06/01/2009 - 08:53 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

An Israeli air raid and artillery fire targeting the UN-run Al-Fakhoura school on Tuesday killed 45 Palestinian citizens including children and wounded 50 others some of whom were in serious conditions while three civilians were killed, Monday night, in a direct Israeli attack on another UNRWA school sheltering civilians.

According to the UNRWA, the victims in Monday night raid were among over four hundred people, who, earlier in the evening, had fled their homes in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza and had been given refuge in the UNRWA school.

These attacks raised the number of victims killed to more than 620 Palestinians and the wounded to about 2,750 since the Israeli occupation terrorist forces started their aggression two weeks ago.

UNRWA spokesman Adnan Abu Hasna strongly denounced Israel for targeting the school, describing what happened as a dangerous action.

Abu Hasna pointed out that Israel already know the locations of the UNRWA buildings, adding that there were flags fluttering over the school before it was bombed.

Earlier, Al-Jazeera satellite channel reported that the ambulance crews recovered on Tuesday bodies of 23 Palestinians killed during Israeli raids in different areas in Gaza.

The channel said that 10 Palestinian citizens were killed today as a result of the ongoing Israeli shelling which had started since the early morning hours.

The channel also talked about fierce confrontations between Palestinian resistance fighters and invading IOF troops near Beit Lahia in north Gaza.