Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Gaza Bloodbath

Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans FrontièresMSFreleased a statement Monday condemning the brutal attacks on unarmed protesters in Gaza by the Israeli military.

"What happened today is unacceptable and inhuman," said spokeswoman Marie-Elisabeth Ingres. "The death toll provided this evening by Gaza health authorities—55 dead and 2,271 wounded—including 1,359 wounded with live ammunition, is staggering. It is unbearable to witness such a massive number of unarmed people being shot in such a short time."

Ingres said that the doctors have been overwhelmed by the number of people needing care: "Our teams carried out more than 30 surgical interventions today, sometimes on two or three patients in the same operating theater, and even in the corridors. "

Ingres also made it clear that, despite the USA blaming of the killings on Hamas, Doctors Without Borders believes Israel's policies are the cause of the brutality.

"This bloodbath is the continuation of the Israeli army’s policy during the last seven weeks: shooting with live ammunition at demonstrators, on the assumption that anyone approaching the separation fence is a legitimate target..."

Amnesty International called the events a “horror show”. "We are witnessing an abhorrent violation of international law and human rights"

B'Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, condemned Israel for its violent response to the protests, "The fact that live gunfire is once again the sole measure that the Israeli military is using in the field evinces appalling indifference towards human life on the part of senior Israeli government and military officials." B’Tselem called for "an immediate halt to the killing of Palestinian demonstrators," and said, "If the relevant officials do not issue an order to stop the lethal fire, the soldiers in the field must refuse to comply with these manifestly unlawful open-fire orders."

Jane Ferguson, a journalist for PBS Newshour, reported the protesters are largely unarmed. "They haven't really been able to get to the fence itself, or in any way threaten the Israeli soldiers there with being really able to come over it. But every time they approach the fence, they are fired upon."


In the interests of Israel’s security the only legitimate struggle for Palestinians, it seems, is keeping quiet, allowing their lands to be plundered and their children to be starved.

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