The Civilian Toll of Israel’s Bombs
GAZA CITY — When Israeli bombs struck the Abu Khadra complex for civil administration, they also gutted the sixth floor of the Abu Shabaan complex, located 10 meters across the road. According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), eight Israeli warplane-fired bombs leveled roughly half of the government compound in eastern Gaza City in the early hours of Nov. 21.
The bombings also took a considerable toll on the homes and businesses nearby, including the Gaza bureau of Al Jazeera.
Over 50 percent of the private medical center in the Abu Shabaan building was destroyed, says Dr. Naim Shariff, 42, owner of the Benoon In Vitro Fertilization clinic.
Two weeks after the bombing tore apart the sixth floor and ravaged the fifth floor, Shariff has re-paned the windows, ordered new specialized machinery, and re-opened for clients.
“The problem with replacing my machines and equipment is that most of it doesn’t exist in Gaza. It takes months to arrive and costs more money than it would elsewhere,” he says.
“What else can I do but start again? There’s no insurance here for war damages.”
Three floors down, a privately run dentist’s office has replaced broken windows and office glass and installed a new reclining dental chair in place of the destroyed one.
“The walls were completely black before,” says Doa’a Moshaawi, 32, a dentist. “Everything was damaged here, all the jars of medicine and instruments we use in our practice were destroyed.”
The blown out Abu Shabaan building, and the testimonies of its tenants, add to the mounting body of evidence that Israel’s bombing sprees in the Gaza Strip disproportionately affect civilian property, homes, and lives.
The Geneva Conventions prohibit attacks that will lead to “loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof,” all of which are inevitable in the overcrowded Gaza Strip.
Civilians in the Line of Fire
Around the corner and down the street a few hundred meters, Hani Lulu, 60, watches as a laborer reinstalls his sweets shop’s metal security door, blown off its hinges when Israeli bombs targeted the Saraya, Gaza’s main security complex, just opposite his building.
A year-old baby named Rama al-Shandi was killed in those blasts on Nov. 19, which also left four policemen and four civilians injured.
Lulu has learned from experience. During the Israeli attacks on Gaza in 2008-2009, Israel rained bombs down on the Saraya, causing extensive damage to surrounding residences and businesses.
“We left our home when the Israeli attacks on Gaza started this time,” he says, “so only our building was hurt, not us.”
“There’s no reason to bomb here,” he says. “It’s only the civilians nearby that suffer. We’ve done nothing wrong but the Israelis bomb us.”
The Interior Ministry’s buildings in Tel el Howa, Gaza City, were bombed on two separate occasions on Nov. 16, according to PCHR, causing extensive damage to the surrounding homes, schools, and to the Al Quds hospital, which stands several hundred meters away.
According to the Ma’an News Agency, the blasts caused injuries to nearby Palestinian civilians.
Abu Mohammed, 58, lives opposite the destroyed ministry complex. He and neighbors say the first round of four bombings occurred in the early morning hours.
Then, around 9:30 p.m., Israeli warplanes struck the ministry again with another four bombs. This time, “it was like an earthquake,” according to Abu Mohammed.
A newly built United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) school and the nearby government-run public school less than 10 meters from the ministry buildings were damaged, both with numerous rooms blown out.
Five multi-story apartment buildings across from the ministry are now mere skeletons, completely uninhabitable.
“What does this paper have to do with anything related to Israeli security?” Abu Mohammed asks, shaking a sheaf of papers he has pulled from the rubble. “They processed birth certificates, death and marriage certificates here [in the ministry]. Passports, I.D. cards.”
“There were 15 people living in my home. Where are we supposed to go?”
At the end of the row of destroyed homes stands a solemn Abu Yusef, 42, soft-spoken but equally devastated.
“It was a civilian area. The ministry provided papers for us. The salaried people working for the government are civilians,” he says.
“The Israelis had bombed this area before, so we knew that they’d do it again. They want to hit civilian areas.”
Over 40 people lived in the three-story apartment in front of which Abu Yusef stands. A sofa pokes out of a gaping hole in the wall of a third-floor room.
“Cement was flying, steel was flying. For more than a half hour after the bombing, it was pitch black, no electricity. I couldn’t do anything, couldn’t move an inch.”
Gaza’s Ministry of Health reports that 174 Palestinians were killed, including 34 children, 11 women, and 19 elderly. Roughly 1,399 people were injured, including 465 children, 254 women, and 91 elderly.
The latest round of attacks on Gaza included the bombing of the Dalou family in their home, killing 10 family members and two neighbors.
“Most of them arrived with their brain matter outside of their skulls,” Dr. Ayman el-Sahabani, head of Shifa hospital’s emergency department, tells IPS.
“The majority of injuries we dealt with included shrapnel throughout the body, hemorrhaging, multiple fractures, amputated lower or upper limbs, internal bleeding, damaged internal organs.”
“On the second day, I received an 11-month-old child who was 95 percent burned but still breathing. I couldn’t do anything for him. He died within 20 minutes.”
Four-year-old Reham Nabaheen didn’t survive the Nov. 21 drone attack outside her Nusseirat home. She was dead on arrival at the hospital, with shrapnel lodged in her brain.
With less than an hour to go before the Nov. 21 ceasefire was enforced, Nader Abu Mghaseeb, 14, was en route to a shop to buy food for his younger siblings when he became the target of a drone strike in his eastern Deir al Balah village.
The vast majority of those killed and maimed were civilians who did not participate in resistance activities, proving that, again and again, Palestinian civilians are the primary targets of Israeli bombs.
(Inter Press Service)
Read more by Eva Bartlett
- Israeli Soldiers Fail to Cease Firing – December 4th, 2012
- Undefeated, Gaza’s Freedom Flotillas Expand – June 1st, 2011
- Gaza’s Historical Treasures Under Seige – October 22nd, 2010
- Injured Workers Man Gaza’s Battered Services – August 9th, 2010
- These Explosions Are Saviors – July 7th, 2010
sherban
December 11th, 2012 at 2:05 am
Attacking a population by planes,a population which has not any possibility to defense is a crime against humanity.Israel has the insolence to claim that Hamas attack Israeli population but this population is very well defended by all what is in the arsenal of defense.But more than that Hamas has not a comparable capacity to attack.And more than that is Israel which provokes every time.But last time Israel could not offer the number o f victims demanded by its brainwashed extremist population
Augustbrhm
December 11th, 2012 at 2:33 am
american taxpayers love the carnage their bombs cause on the Palestinians no war crimes here we are just defending ourselves you dont dare suggest the war crimes tribunal america will veto herself out of existence.
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December 11th, 2012 at 4:57 am
[...] Eva Bartlett: The Civilian Toll of Israel’s Bombs [...]
ch162
December 11th, 2012 at 6:11 am
Israel, as opposed to Hamas is not targeting civilians… Ifthey were they could kill tens of thousands very easily.. Hamas fires rockets into areas where there are only civilians to terrorize them. Israel fires rockets at Hamas Terrorists, Infrastructure and munitions. The fact that Hamas decides to shoot and store weapons in civilian areas is also a war crime. Israel targets hamas building to make sure they understand their grip on power in Gaza is in Israels hands and they should learn not to attack civilians. As for teh capacity to attack, that is a ridiculous argument.. would you rather israel shoot kassams and grads directly aiming at civilian populations? Do you realize how much more death that would cause? Are you blaming Insrael for investing BIllions of dollars to build defense systems and bunkers to protect it civilians while Hamas use them their own civilians as human sheilds. As for the authors "vast majority of those killed and maimed were civilians who did not participate in resistance activities" – firstly not true, secondly how is attacking homes, schools, synagogues in any way resistance, it is the definition of terrorism. Israeli morns the death of Palestinian civilians, hamas celebrates it… that is the difference.
#PALESTINE NEWS | Dec 11, 2012 | Occupied Palestine | فلسطين
December 11th, 2012 at 6:16 am
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John Watson
December 11th, 2012 at 7:23 am
You must be very naïve, I'm afraid.
tom dee
December 11th, 2012 at 7:39 am
I find it amazing your defense of Israel. You try to say there would be less civilians killed is Hamas did not do things. You have to understand there would be much less civilians killed if Israel has not invaded Gaza, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon in 1967 in a war of aggression. If you read the diary of Moshe Sharet who was second prime minister you would see the the invasion was long planned and it was intended to avoid buying the west bank. What was a shock was how bad Egyptian Leader was. How they were totally down at 7 am sunday to allow the destruction of the Egyptian air force is one of the great questions. It came as a total shock to the Israel generals. No one expected such a total disaster. Once an air force is gone the country can be destroyed quickly. Look at Germany or Japan during WWII.
So before you ride that high horse look at how got into the position..There is a clear and very long history of terrorist on all sides in the middle easst.
Roger Lafontaine
December 11th, 2012 at 8:05 am
The fact that 'they could kill tens of thousands' does not excuse them from killing hundreds. The US could probably torture millions if they chose to but that does not absolve them from those who were tortured.
ch162
December 11th, 2012 at 9:04 am
No excuse needed for killing terrorists my friend. Civilians are an unfortunate consequence of terrorists hiding weapons and shooting from civilian areas… strange how no one seems to blame Hamas at all for doing that….
ch162
December 11th, 2012 at 9:08 am
Firstly, no need "what I am trying to say" – what I am saying is that Israel tries to protect civilian life and Hamas trys to end it… War is not terrorism, targeting and using civilians as human shield is… My horse is high and fast urs looks sick.
tom dee
December 11th, 2012 at 10:00 am
Wow It is amazing that you try to make the side that has started every military conflict except 1973 sound like it is just protecting the poor farmers from being attacked. First off it is Israel who invaded the land of Hamas. They did it in 1955 killing 39 police men and the used the help of England and france to sound like it was a noble cause over the suez canals. Ike told them to get out. The 196 war was planned as early at 1953 according to Moshe Sharet who was the second prime minister of Israel. He stated that Israel decided it was better to take the wes bank instead of just buying it. The disaster of Egypt was a not planned and that is one reason why Israel pushed for a cease fire so quickly even when it looked like they were able to march on Washington. Aftert Syria agreed to the cease fire Israel attacked the Golan Heights and took the land after the Syria army stood down. During that time Israel forces clearly planned and attacked the USS Liberty. Few zionist even try to defend it as the official lie of an accident which happened with 7 jet attacks along with 4 patrol boat attacks over a 10 hour period.
If you care to make statements like Israel tries to keep civilian out of the way you might want to post something to support that fact. The 50 to 1 injury and death rates between Israel and arab kind of states your position is unlikely to be the truthful one.
Israel owns our elected officials and we have had our children killed in wars as a result. Can you name me one of the largest industries in Israel? Hinit look under military equipment suppliers.
libori
December 11th, 2012 at 11:27 am
Thank you ch162, you make me feel much better about my great uncle's role in putting down those nasty terrorists who were hiding among the civilians in the Warschau ghetto!
ch162
December 11th, 2012 at 11:57 am
There were 10 times more German civilians killed in WW2 the English… that does not make the Nazi cause just….. the fact is Israel is not only the only real democracy in the mideast, it is the only one that gives its citizens full rights and Israel Arabs are the only ones in the mideast that have human rights…….
The fact that Israel is living in a bad neighborhood with murderous dictatorships requires it to defend itself and time and time again, they have shown they can… eventually Arabs will learn the only way to survive will be peace. Until then Israel will continue to have a strong arm and Arab dictators will continue to hope for more dead babies.
ch162
December 11th, 2012 at 1:15 pm
I can tell you are true peacemaker trying to compare the Palestinian issue with the Holocaust, you should be ashamed. On one hand your relative was slaughtering millions of civilians like sheep and Israel sends at flyers and SMS to warn civilians about incoming bombings…. I am sure you do a fine job of living up to your ancestors wishes…
davidgrayling
December 11th, 2012 at 4:46 pm
The whole of the Israeli Government should be put on trial for war crimes and hanged.
Then their criminal accomplices in the U.S. should be treated exactly the same way.
The U.S. and Israel are a danger to the world and should be treated as criminals who are worse than the NAZIS!
Eileen Kuch
December 11th, 2012 at 6:30 pm
Amen to that, Brother David. You just told the truth; the Zionist shrills just mouthed off worthless propaganda. They know who they are.
In every war but the one fought in 1973, Israel was the aggressor. It was the aggressor in the attack on the USS Liberty in the Six-Day War in 1967, as well as every war since. It's so amazing that these shills refuse to see the light. If the American people as a whole had been given the truth all these years instead of all of these lies, the world would be a much better place. They aren't all stupid; instead, they're all misled by all the propaganda that's being shoved down their throats.
Zephyr Global Report 12/12/2012 | Zephyr Global Report
December 11th, 2012 at 9:43 pm
[...] The Civilian Toll of Israel’s Bombs by Eva Bartlett [...]
ch162
December 12th, 2012 at 12:52 am
So its the US and Israel liberal open democracies should be tried for war crimes…. Not Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Iran, Sudan… ALl these countries kill their citizens when they want, have pretty much no due process, prosecute homosexuals, women, minorities, have no human rights but in your mind Israel and US are war criminals… Tell that to the families of the 40,000 murdered in Syria in tehj past ~year…
ch162
December 12th, 2012 at 12:55 am
Eileen, I think its amazing that revisionist histories such as yourself always point the USS Liberty conspiracy from 45 years ago to prove a point… are you joking? 34 american were killed that day – thats almost an average day of the amount of civilians killed in Syria Daily for teh last year+… talk about propaganda…