UN and Israel Clash Over UN School Shooting as Ceasefire Ends

by Rob Walker | January 7, 2009 at 11:15 am

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As the first of a three hour cease-fire lifts in Gaza, conflicting reports are still coming out, even on our site, about the circumstances surrounding the explosions at a UN school in the strip yesterday, which killed at least 40 people.

A UN worker has claimed that the school was filled with people seeking refuge from the fighting and was 99% sure it was not being used by Hamas. Israeli defence forces say they sustained mortar fire and returned fire to save their lives.

Karen Hatter has been posting about the cease-fire, which will continue every other day for three hours a day to allow medical aid and supplies into the strip.

The three-hour truce is scheduled to take place every other day.

NowPublic member Solar Life posted a story from CNN, stating that the United Nations agency is demanding Israel support their claims that there were militants at the school:

A U.N. agency is demanding Israel back up its claims that Hamas was firing on Israeli forces from a U.N. school compound in northern Gaza, forcing Israeli artillery to shell the area and kill more than 40 Palestinian civilians.

Meanwhile, Tikun posted saying that newspapers like the Jerusalem Post and others say there were indeed militants in the school, and provide a witness:

Most of us are on to the next event. I heard that the UN spokesperson said he was 99.9% sure but left a door open for the possibility that in fact it was used by Hamas.

Opinion

Tensions are running high, and a number of opinion pieces have been written on the Gaza crisis over the last week, including this one by Tikun and one by Daily Clarity.

Israel is both an ancient and modern nation; biblically old, but as a modern redrawn state, younger than Iraq and we can see how factionalism impacts there. Israel as a modern state nation is a teenager, and perhaps…just perhaps, we can allow it youthful indiscretion in its policy making decisions.

That is not to say that the tragedy in Gaza is not on my mind. Yes, it is tragic that the suffering in Gaza results from the instigation of a terror organization that forces us to respond in kind in order to protect our people.