An IDF retraction

According to Ha'aretz, the IDF has retracted its claim (noted here) that they were being fired on from a school in which Palestinian civilians were killed:

The United Nations is claiming Israeli military officers have admitted there was no Palestinian gunfire emanating from inside an UNRWA school in Gaza which was shelled by an IDF tank.

Dozens of Palestinians were killed in the shelling.

[...]

"In briefings senior [Israel Defense Forces] officers conducted for foreign diplomats, they admitted the shelling to which IDF forces in Jabalya were responding did not originate from the school," Gunness said. "The IDF admitted in that briefing that the attack on the UN site was unintentional."

He noted that all the footage released by the IDF of militants firing from inside the school was from 2007 and not from the incident itself.

"There are no up-to-date photos," Gunness said. "In 2007, we abandoned the site and only then did the militants take it over."

The UNRWA is now demanding an objective investigation into whether the school shelling constituted a violation of international humanitarian law, and if so, that those responsible stand trial.

Dawg is crowing (barking?) about this, and I must concede that it looks like - at best - a disastrous error by the IDF. The death of innocent Palestinians is always heartbreaking, even if (as I believe) unintentional, and supporters of Israel should not hesitate to criticize the IDF when it deserves it.

Similar scenes on the Israeli side have been so far avoided, but just barely: these harmless, homemade rockets, fired in desperation by these poor, poor Hamas activists in Gaza, have hit two (thankfully, evacuated) schools in southern Israel. Hamas, I'm sure, is deeply sorry...that they were empty.

Damian P.

Posted by damian at January 9, 2009 02:52 PM