Can't Blame This On Israel

Palestinian terrorists torched a UN summer camp for kids in Gaza.

This follows a similar attack in May on another UN-run summer camp.

Some militants view the UN as a symbol of the West and claim that the summer camps allow boys and girls to mix freely - something that the UN denies.

The attackers tied up the guard at the camp in central Gaza before setting fire to chairs, tables, easels and other equipment.

The UN says about 25 armed men attacked the beach camp in the middle of Sunday night.

This wasn't the first attack of this kind. Another attack along these lines occurred in May at another UNRWA-operated summer camp.

UPDATE:
You can't blame this on Israel either. Hamas decided to rob one of Gaza's banks because it was hard up for money to fund Hamas operations. The money had been frozen by the rival group Fatah, which controls the funds:

Hamas security forces seized $16,000 on Sunday from a Gaza bank that had frozen the funds as part of an anti-money laundering campaign launched by the West Bank-based Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA).

A senior official at the Palestine Islamic Bank said Hamas police took the cash from tellers at gunpoint. No one was hurt in the incident. Hamas officials had no immediate comment.

The bank said the money was in an account of an Islamic charity that had been frozen by the PMA, which acts as a central bank for President Mahmoud Abbas' Palestinian Authority, Hamas' rival.

The account was frozen after Hamas, which won a Palestinian parliamentary election in 2006 and took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, brought in its own people to manage the charity.

It was the second time Hamas seized money from a private Palestinian bank this year. In March, its forces took $400,000 from a bank in defiance of the PMA, raising concerns among bankers over the safety of operating in Gaza.

UN Warns of Gaza Sewage Troubles

The United Nations is calling on Israel to immediately lessen its restrictions on the movement of parts and equipment so that Gaza can maintain and upgrade its sewage infrastructure.

That sounds great in theory, but the Gazans have other ideas for the equipment. They've repeatedly used pipes meant for sewage and water transport as kassam missile components, and have had no problem seeking to blame Israel for Gazans' ignoring their infrastructure at every turn.

This isn't a new problem, but an old one. Hamas has no interest in providing basic services to the Gazans. It has used, and will continue to use, equipment and materials provided on humanitarian grounds for terror purposes. The claims of imminent problems are little more than propaganda efforts to continue pressure on Israel.

And while the left brays at Israel's restrictions on Gaza and has made unfounded claims of starvation in Gaza, the facts are quite different. In fact, prices for Halal meat in Gaza is no higher than meat found in the US. If starvation was anywhere near as bad as claimed, the price for meat would be far higher (supply and demand folks). If Gazans were starving, would they be able to get mass quantities of freshly made felafel and other delicacies on streets in Gaza City?

Meanwhile, Hamas is busy claiming that the UNRWA is stealing medicine from Hamas.

At the same time, the AFP is busy breaking bread with the smugglers operating the tunnels between Gaza and Egypt. Those tunnels allow Gazans to bring in weapons and equipment and all other manner of contraband.

Palestinian Spin Cycle

Fatah held elections today to fill slots in its 21-member Central Committee.

The Palestinian Fatah movement elected a group of younger leaders to its top council on Tuesday, bolstering its credentials as the West's best hope for Mideast peace, according to preliminary voting results.

Fatah's first conference in two decades, while plagued by the movement's characteristic wrangling and intrigue, appeared to rejuvenate the pre-eminent Palestinian organization at a critical moment, weeks before President Barack Obama is to unveil a comprehensive plan to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Unofficial results indicated that Fatah's younger generation won a majority of seats on the Central Committee, said polling officials, who declined to be named ahead of the official announcement.

Rejuvenate Fatah? Really? The photo accompanying the AP report shows none other than mass murderer Marwan Barghouti. He's responsible for the deaths of many Israelis and an Israeli civil court found him guilty of murder of five Israelis, while finding insufficient evidence to tie him to 33 other attacks resulting in deaths of Israelis.

This is who Palestinians in Fatah honor. This is the leadership that they ascribe to?

He was one of those winning a seat on the Committee, even as he does his time in Israeli jails for his murderous ways.

Jibril Rajoub also won a seat. He's a former aide to the late Yasser Arafat who led several crackdowns against Hamas.

These are the new faces? Mohammed Dahlan isn't a new name either. He's been behind the scenes in pushing US strategy, working to get Arafathttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif to the negotiating table for Oslo and Camp David in 2000, but most recently to displace Hamas in Gaza. That worked out real well, as Hamas threw Fatah out in a matter of days in 2006's Palestinian civil war.

In other words, this new group doesn't have much of a new outlook either. These high profile thugs have a history of dealing harshly with Hamas, but haven't given up the ghost of Israel's destruction either. This is the group of thugs that Fatah thinks can win back Gaza, or at least stem the tide of Hamas influence in the West Bank.

This group isn't so much interested in peace with Israel as revolution. That's going to come as a harsh reality for the Obama Administration, which hopes to resuscitate the peace process, even as it's all too evident that Israel lacks a partner in peace with which to negotiate.

As for Hamas, they're up to their old tricks, including taking three ambulances provided by UNRWA. Hamas claims that UNRWA lacked sufficient documentation. One should recall that Hamas has repeatedly used UN facilities as shields from which to launch attacks - firing rockets and mortars in close proximity to UN schools and facilities so as to get Israel to return fire hitting those facilities and causing Israel grief with the UN.

UNRWA ambulances have been shanghaied in the past, and Hamas and other terrorists, including Hizbullah, have used UN vehicles to mask their operations and launch sneak attacks against Israel.

For its part, the UNRWA claims that the Hamas and IDF reports are untrue.

UPDATE:
Gee, I can't possibly imagine why Israelis might think that the "calm" isn't going to last. Let's ignore the mortar attacks at Kissufim Junction yesterday, and the incessant calls from Fatah and Hamas for Israel's destruction.

UN Demands Compensation For Gaza Damage?

The UN should be ashamed of itself for demanding that Israel compensate the United Nations for damage to UN property in Gaza as a result of going after Hamas during Operation Cast Lead.

A United Nations demand for financial compensation for Israeli strikes on UN facilities in Gaza could come to $11 million, a government official in Jerusalem said yesterday in response to a UN report that criticized Israel for the attacks. The incidents occurred during Operation Cast Lead in January.

The official said Israel would begin negotiations with the UN on this and other matters in the coming weeks.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon accused Israel yesterday of lying about attacks on the facilities, including one said to have killed more than 40 people outside a school compound, and formally demanded compensation. He said a UN investigation found conclusively that Israel was responsible for attacks on several schools, a health clinic and the organization's Gaza headquarters. Some of the weapons used in these attacks contained white phosphorous, he added.

The report, which was presented to the Security Council yesterday, accuses Israel of intentionally firing on the UN institutions and using excessive force.

Keep in mind that the UN repeatedly looks the other way as the terrorists in Hamas regroup and rearm right under UN noses throughout the Gazan refugee camps that are operated by the UNRWA, UN peacekeepers failed to disarm Hizbullah pursuant to UN Security Council resolutions, which led to a major war in 2006 that decimated Southern Lebanon and severely damaged the Israeli economy.

Israel is being singled out for damaged property? Why is the UN not seeking reparations from Hamas for the damage done by terrorists operating in such close proximity to UN facilities so as to use them as human shields an which led to damage to UN facilities when those terrorists attacked Israel.

Just Another Day In Gaza

Hamas takes over hospitals, fires kassams on Israel, and one of its leading goons sticks his head up in his first appearance since before Operation Cast Lead.

Now, as for the hospitals:

According to Palestinian news agency Ma'an, the Palestinian Health Ministry claimed that Hamas members expelled them and full medical teams from hospital wards despite the serious security situation.

A communiqué put out by the ministry said that "following the unilateral cessation of Israeli aggression against our people, the Ministry of Health, along with all the Palestinian people, was shocked to discover that Hamas militias have returned to their old ways and have expelled all the medical staff responding to the calls of the homeland (to continue their work.) Unfortunately, these same militias used the medical centers, especially in a number of hospitals, converting them into centers for interrogation, torture, and imprisonment."

This is the same situation as during Operation Cast Lead when Hamas not only entered those hospitals for refuge from Israeli airstrikes, but its goons went through the hospitals seeking out those it considered collaborators with Israel and executed them in cold blood.

Hamas cares nothing for the lives of their fellow Arabs, and are concerned instead on its war with Israel. Anything that furthers its war aims is acceptable; whether it is civilian casualties, extrajudicial executions, war crimes, calls for genocide, and violating the Geneva Conventions at every opportunity. It's who they are and what they do.

The Hamas thug caught attempting to bring millions of dollars and euros into Gaza via Egypt apparently got the money from Iran.

Meanwhile, Hamas says that there's no deal for Gilad Shalit, after other reports indicated that there was a deal in the works. That's the same report I've commented upon for years now. Hamas has no intention of releasing Shalit unless Israel empties its prisons of hundreds of terrorists.

And lo and behold, we've got ourselves a flying pig alert: the UN is going to investigate Hamas child abuse. It's so long overdue that I wonder what took them so long. Of course, I don't have much faith in the UN actually acting on its findings because the Arab countries will do all they can to block action.

UNRWA Suspends Food Shipments In Gaza

That's right folks. You read that correctly. UNRWA has suspended aid shipments to Gaza because Hamas has been stealing the humanitarian aid.

The seizure of the 200 tons of supplies took place Thursday night and in response, UNRWA officials informed the Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration that it was suspending its deliveries to the Gaza Strip until further notice. The supplies confiscated included flour and other basic commodities.

The transfer of 40 truckloads of humanitarian supplies - some 800 tons - planned for Sunday has already been canceled.

It was the second time this week that Hamas stole UN supplies transferred to the Gaza Strip for impoverished Palestinians.

The first incident took place Tuesday evening when armed Hamas police broke into a Gaza warehouse packed with UN humanitarian supplies and seized thousands of blankets and food packages.

This isn't the first time this has happened; it's the first time this month and it's the first time that UNRWA has suspended its shipments.

Hamas will use this to further its agitprop campaign, but the fact is that Hamas steals any and all aid entering Gaza and resells it to support its terror operations and infrastructure. It has its hands in the smuggling tunnel operations, where it not only gets a piece of the action from all manner of products entering from Egypt, but allows it to bring in its weapons and materials for making rockets and mortars.

Israellycool and Muqata have more, including that another mortar shell was fired into Israel from Gaza this morning. That's even as the Israelis transferred 175 Million NIS to Gaza today to the Palestinian Authority.

Yet, Turkey is contemplating launching an investigation into war crimes carried out by Israel. The Islamists demand that if Israeli leaders enter Turkey they be detained. No word on when Turkey will investigate proven instances of Hamas war crimes. As it is, the human rights groups admit to not caring about Hamas war crimes because they're so open and obvious it isn't worth their time.

Actually, the real reason they don't focus on Hamas is because they know that Hamas will never ever listen to them and would just as soon as murder those human rights folks who enter Gaza as they would anyone else. The only ones who have any chance of imposing justice on Hamas are the Israelis, and they do a fairly decent job of it when the politicians get out of the way and let the IDF mete out the justice that Hamas so dearly craves.

With Israel, US and other nations, AI and the other human rights groups are able to cajole and pressure those governments into taking actions that appear to protect human rights - but even there, those groups actually undermine human rights by equating terrorist actions with that of legitimate national security and responsibility of sovereign nations to protect their citizens from terrorist attacks from groups that hide behind women and children.

They are reprehensible in their focus and by ignoring the Hamas war crimes, crimes against humanity, and repeated calls to genocide, misogyny, etc. are actually enabling Hamas to propagandize openly and obviously without any criticism from the very groups that should be at the forefront.

The same goes for these so-called paragons of virtue who claim that they will go after Israeli officials for war crimes if they step foot in their countries. Turkey's actions against the PKK comes to mind when I think of hypocrites. It's not like Turkey is raining roses down on PKK camps inside Iraq or inside Turkey. They're attacking them and killing them and civilians in the process. The world yawns at that, but Israel defending itself against barbaric terrorists? That must stop. It's another day in Israeli double standard time.

Hamas Bagman Caught By Egypt

Hamas continues to try and fund its operations in Gaza globally, but it still takes guys crossing the border with suitcases full of money to distribute to Gazans to buy their support for just a while longer.

Egypt caught one of these bagmen at the border.

Egyptian officials on Thursday detained a senior Hamas official who was carrying nine million dollars and two million euros in cash at the Rafah crossing with Gaza, a security official told AFP.

Border official had held up a six-member delegation on its way back from truce talks in Cairo after insisting that they search their bags.

The officials allowed five members to cross, but detained Gaza-based Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha, who was carrying 10 million dollars and two million euros.

"There are contacts with the finance ministry to decide whether to allow the money in," the official said.

Where did the money come from, who raised it, and for what purposes is the money going to? As I noted, Hamas is likely going to use the money to buy support among Gazans - paying them for damages done to their homes by Hamas' ongoing war with Israel (albeit a fraction of the cost of the damage done to Gaza by Hamas' ruinous thugocracy) and to pay for the influx of weapons and equipment for that war. (HT: NJDhockeyfan at LGF)

Meanwhile, the UN now admits that its prior claims that Israel shelled its UNRWA school were incorrect. They're blaming the mistake on a clerical error. That's not an error; it's a feature of the UNRWA system, where every such instance is automagically attributed to Israel's actions, and not to Hamas, who continues using UNRWA facilities as human shields and Hamas knows that UNRWA will blame Israel for damage done to their facilities, rather than Hamas who initiated the conflict.

The UN Admits Hamas Stealing Its Supplies

It's not the first time this has happened, but when Hamas comes in and raids entire warehouses of humanitarian aid, the UN is going to have to say something.

Hamas police in Gaza have seized thousands of blankets and food parcels meant for needy residents, UN spokesman Chris Gunness said Wednesday.
A Pelestinian man carrying a...

A Pelestinian man carrying a bag of flour given through UNRWA's aid program [illustrative].
Photo: AP
Slideshow: Pictures of the week

Gunness said the policemen raided a UN warehouse in Gaza City, snatching 3,500 blankets and over 400 food parcels - supplies meant for 500 Palestinian families. He said the incident took place on Tuesday evening and that it marked the first time Hamas had seized UN aid.

In a statement released Wednesday, UNRWA condemned the theft "in the strongest terms," and demanded that it be "returned immediately." The statement added that the organization "has a strict system of monitoring aid delivery and ensuring that its assistance reaches only the intended beneficiaries," and that officials were present "taking all possible steps to avoid its diversion."

Israel has charged that Hamas routinely confiscates supplies meant for needy Gazans.

A Hamas government spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

Gunness has repeatedly sided with Hamas and claimed that Hamas didn't steal supplies in the past and that Israel had regularly targeted civilians and UNRWA facilities. This puts his prior statements at odds with the facts.

Hamas has been stealing supplies all along and reselling them to Gazans so that the terrorist group can raise money for its war against Israel.

A number of reports from the Strip paint a picture of very difficult humanitarian conditions, not least because of Hamas itself. The suspicion is that the group's operatives have seized control of any supplies passing through the crossings – including those sent by Israel and international organizations.

Reports say Hamas takes a cut out of all aid that arrives, including flour and medicine. Supplies intended to be distributed without gain among the population is seized by the group and sold to the residents, at a profit to the Hamas government.

One such incident was recorded Monday, when a convoy of trucks carrying supplies through the Kerem Shalom crossing was opened fire upon and seized by Hamas gunmen. Similar incidents occurred with trucks carrying fuel.

This is what you get when you provide humanitarian aid to a terrorist group who controls a region with an iron fist and which considers its jihad against Israel paramount over any humanitarian concerns.

The situation in Gaza is dire because Hamas makes it so, and UNRWA facilitates such actions by looking the other way as the terrorist group operates freely in the refugee camps, hires Hamas thugs as support staff, and is so thoroughly penetrated by Hamas, that it is not much more than a propaganda outfit for Hamas.

As much as the UN would protest otherwise, they have admitted that there is no way to check the background of those they hire, which means that Hamas is on the payroll and does have access to UNRWA facilities.

As Kenneth at LGF notes, UNRWA facilitates terrorism through its operations, and perpetuates the Palestinian refugee situation simply by defining refugee differently than the other UN agency responsible for refugees, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). UNRWA defines refugees to include the descendants of any original refugee, meaning that there are millions more people who are considered refugees than otherwise. It also provides a permanent bureaucracy since there is no incentive to end the operations since you have a constantly growing population.

UNRWA helps millions fewer people than UNHCR, and yet has a vastly larger budget per capita and has far more people on the payroll than UNHCR. Hamas has exploited this situation time and time again, and the UN has sat back and complained about Israel's actions.

The problem resides first and foremost with Hamas, but the UN is also responsible for facilitating the crisis.

You Don't Say: Gaza Death Toll Inflated

Despite all the hysterical rantings of the anti-Israel groups, anti-Semites, and others who considered Israel's Operation Cast Lead to be the start of a massacre, genocide, or worse, the facts always seem to show something quite different.

The UN, as usual, swallowed the Hamas line and proffered casualty figures that have absolutely no bearing on reality.

The number of Palestinians killed in Operation Cast Lead did not exceed five or six hundred, Lorenzo Cremonesi, a correspondent for Italy's Corriere della sera reported on Thursday.

Cremonesi based his report on tours of hospitals in the Gaza Strip and on interviews with families of casualties. He also assessed the number of wounded to be far lower than 5,000, the number quoted by Hamas and repeated by the UN and the Red Cross in Gaza.

"It is sufficient to visit several hospitals [in the Gaza Strip] to understand that the numbers don't add up," he wrote.

In the European hospital in Rafah, one of the facilities which would presumably be filled with wounded from the "war of the tunnels," many beds were empty, according to Cremonesi. A similar situation was noted in the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, and in the privately-run Amal Hospital Cremonesi reported that only five out 150 beds were occupied.

Cremonesi interviewed Gazans who echoed Israel's insistence of how Hamas gunmen used civilians as human shields. One Gazan recalled civilians in Gaza shouting at Hamas and Islamic Jihad men, "Go away, go away from here! Do you want the Israelis to kill us all? Do you want our children to die under their bombs? Take your guns and missiles with you."

"Traitors, collaborators with Israel, spies of Fatah, cowards! The soldiers of the holy war will punish you. And in any case you will all die, like us. Fighting the Zionist Jews we are all destined for paradise. Do you not wish to die with us?" the religious fanatics of Hamas reportedly responded.

If the Israelis truly killed and injured as many as claimed, the Gaza hospitals would be overflowing with casualties.

They are not.

If the Israelis truly killed as many civilians as claimed, there would be evidence of such - the cemeteries would be overflowing with hundreds of new burials over the usual numbers.

They are not.

Of course, Hamas was using human shields and civilians did die in the conflict, but those victims were killed not by Israel but by Hamas - who put those civilians into harms way not only by carrying out a rocket war against Israel, but by purposefully using civilian areas to attack Israeli communities. Rockets fired from civilian areas, schools, and even UN facilities.

Gazan witnesses say as much, and that is undeniable. These Gazans know that Hamas would surely kill them if they say the wrong thing, so what is their rationale to lie? Many instead remain quiet because of Hamas intimidation.

The death toll in Gaza was likely no more than 500 or 600, the majority of which were Hamas thugs.

"The number of deceased stands at no more than 500 to 600. Most of them are youths between the ages of 17 to 23 who were recruited to the ranks of Hamas, who sent them to the slaughter," according to the newspaper article.

The doctor wished to remain unidentified, out of fear for his life.

Most of those killed were teenagers who Hamas armed so that they could go out with a bang.

Where is the UN to investigate these claims? They'll much rather find fault with Israel since Israel isn't exactly slinking about Gaza during Operation Cast Lead without uniforms. Hamas purposefully hid their uniforms once Israel started air operations against Hamas, and only when Israel began withdrawing forces from Gaza did the uniforms come back out.

For all the talk about disproportionate force, it sure looks like Israel got their targets alright - which also explains why Hamas is busy trying to kill and intimidate collaborators. Israel had excellent intel.

This is the same kind of agitprop as the Jenin hoax, where Palestinians initially claimed that Israel leveled and killed thousands, but the real death toll turned out to be 54, with 45 being terrorists. The UN in that case also carried terrorist figures long after they had been debunked.

UPDATE:
Once again, the UN serves up the indignation against Israel, while ignoring that Hamas initiated the conflict by firing rockets at Israel during the so-called ceasefire (broken by Hamas 5 days in) and then carried out war crimes against Gazans and Israelis alike - by firing on civilians from within civilian areas without care to protect civilians from undue casualties. Hamas purposefully sought to inflate the casualties, and yet the UN is overly concerned because Israel destroyed buildings Hamas used to carry out their war against Israel.

UPDATE:
Israeli officials dismiss the report by the Italian paper, claiming that about 1,300 were killed, of which 700 were Hamas thugs.

The IDF's Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration has already compiled a list with 900 names of Palestinians killed during the operation, out of which 750 are believed to be Hamas operatives.

The IDF estimated that two-thirds of those killed were gunmen affiliated with Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian terror factions. At least 500 are believed to have been members of Hamas's military wing.

Hamas, defense officials said, purposely covered up the number of dead and on Sunday claimed that only 48 members of its military wing had been killed. Many bodies belonging to Hamas operatives were being stored - officials said - in the morgue in Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

UPDATE:
I think the truth is somewhere in between. I think we're going to find that most were indeed Hamas thugs and that the death toll is lower than Israel believed, but higher than the figures quoted by the Italian paper.

Where the Italian paper gets it right is that the Hamas thugs purposefully inflated the body count by using human shields, forcing attacks from civilian areas, and otherwise engaging in multiple war crimes.

Of course, the UN will claim that it's all Israel's fault, and they're already complaining and whining and seething as they've bought into the Hamas line.

Operation Cast Lead: Day 22

Hamas will continue fighting until it gets what it wants in the form of another hudna. Of course the media will not distinguish it as such, but Hamas does not believe in ceasefires. They only see those periods as pauses in their war to regroup and rearm. Israel would be foolish to accept any ceasefire without Hamas being forced to lay down their arms, unconditional release Gilad Shalit, and someone other than Hamas controlling the border crossings.

The Iranians, who back Hamas, are calling for the assassination of Israeli Foreign Minister Livni. Typical. Iran regularly calls for Israel's destruction, so this is just being more specific than usual.

Journalists are busy showing their objectivity. Three "journalists" called Livni a terrorist. Funny, but that term is all but illegal in American journalism manuals unless you're referring to Israel or the United States. Let's just ignore Hamas and the years of terrorism.

Hamas keeps firing the rockets deep into Israel and there have continued to be casualties.

Meanwhile, the Israelis are contemplating yet another unilateral ceasefire as a test to see whether Hamas will stop attacking Israel. Considering that each and every prior ceasefire has been unilateral with Israel ceasing its attacks while Hamas continues, this only benefits Hamas. The Egyptian Foreign Minister thinks that Israel is the main obstacle to a cessation of fighting. Curious, but what planet is he on given that Hamas has violated every 3-hour humanitarian truce since Israel started running them a week ago. He knows that Israel can be bullied by diplomats and forced to make more concessions, even though it does nothing to improve Israel's security or tactical situation.

If Israel refuses to go along with the unilateral ceasefire, it will be seen as the bad actor here, despite the fact that the only party ceasing its attacks would have been Israel. Hamas was not being forced to stop its attacks on Israel by the international community. They know better. That's why all their efforts are on getting Israel to stop.

The New York Times runs a fairly balanced article examining crimes and ethics in urban warfare. It notes that Hamas' repeated war crimes and violations of human rights have been given short shrift; apparently everyone knows that Hamas is violating international law, human rights laws, engaging in war crimes, etc.

A plethora of Western foreign ministers, United Nations officials and human rights groups, both Israeli and foreign, have expressed shock and disgust; some have called for investigations into possible war crimes. Such groups also say Hamas is clearly violating the rules of war.

Yet, why exactly is Israel repeatedly castigated for its efforts to stop Hamas from engaging in those war crimes? Because it is Israel.

Those groups have written pages of agitprop that does nothing but support Hamas, all while ignoring Hamas' actual and provable violations of human rights, war crimes and the like.

Shooting rockets out of Gaza aimed at Israeli cities and civilians is an obvious violation of the principle of discrimination and fits the classic definition of terrorism. Hamas fighters are also putting civilians at undue risk by storing weapons among them, including in mosques, schools and allegedly hospitals, too, making them potential military targets. While urban and guerrilla warfare is not illegal, by fighting in the midst of civilians, often in civilian clothing, Hamas may also bring risk to noncombatants.

But Hamas’s violations tend to be treated as a given and criticized as an afterthought, Israeli spokesmen and officials say. They say that Israel has never sought to hit civilians, medical workers or United Nations facilities or personnel. “The rules of engagement are very clear,” said Mark Regev, the government spokesman. “Not to target civilians, not to target U.N. people, not to target medical staff. All this is very clear in Israeli military doctrine.”

Thousands of kassams fired at Israel are absolute proof of Hamas war crimes; they were fired not at military targets, but to specifically kill and maim Israeli civilians. In the days right before the Israeli ground campaign, Israeli forces massed on the border with Gaza. Hamas didn't concentrate fire on those targets, but rather continued firing rockets at Ashkelon, Sderot and other Israeli cities, just as they had for years on end. Even today, Hamas fired a rocket that hit an Israeli synagogue but luckily no one was injured.

Israel's unconscionable restraint in the face of the rocket attacks is the reason that we're facing this conflict right now. Hamas saw restraint as weakness, and acted accordingly. They increased the level of attacks and became far more brazen and open with their attacks and goals. The six-month ceasefire was no such thing; it ended after five days when the rocket attacks restarted. It was the diplomats and Israeli politicians who ignored those attacks until even the Israeli public could see the obvious; Hamas was fighting a war against Israel and Israel wasn't fighting back.

Yet the media and the world treat Israel as the pariah and Hamas and the Palestinians are to be supported. The Palestinians continue winning a media and propaganda war because had the facts been out there and people realized the extent to which Hamas had been engaging in such violence, support would drop. Instead, the media only flocks to the region when Israel responds to the incessant terror attacks. It gives one side of the equation, and that is unconscionable.

The Times article also refers to the UNRWA school incidents, and quotes Chris Gunness once again, who claims that UNRWA does its best to not harbor "militants" in its facilities, despite the fact that earlier reports note that UNRWA is incapable of weeding terrorists out of its payroll and that it's clear that they have not done so. The Times reports indicate that Hamas indeed fired from in and around the school, that two terrorists were killed in one salvo, and Israel continued to return fire with one shot landing just outside the school, which apparently caused casualties (the exact number is in question, given the way Hamas is on the payroll at Gaza's hospitals). Yet, the UN condemns the alleged Israeli shelling. Why no condemnation of Hamas for firing from in and around the school?

The question then becomes whether Israel is firing back at the terrorists with the appropriate weapons? What exactly are Israeli soldiers supposed to do, use harsh language? Terrorists are busy firing rockets, mortars, machine guns, and anti-tank rockets at Israel and Israeli forces in Gaza, and Israel is supposed to limit what kind of weapons it has at its disposal? Israel already is doing just that.

Israel could choose to drop 2,000 pound bombs on each and every building from which gunfire is reported, leveling them in their entirety. They have chosen not to do so. Instead, ground forces are taking additional risks to avoid civilian casualties that would come from an air campaign and which is also necessary to attack and root out Hamas thugs who have turned Gaza, including all those UNRWA refugee camps into weapons dumps, ammo caches, and a hive of tunnels.

UPDATE:
Shiva at IBAnotes that Hamas had taken over the lower floors of a building used by the BBC and other journalists before they were able to flee the scene, and yet there have been no reports from the BBC to acknowledge that was the case. Why? Would that be acknowledging the blatantly obvious that Hamas is putting everyone imaginable in harm's way to attack Israel, including journalists so that should Israel respond, civilians, including those smug anti-Israel journalists, are caught in the crossfire?

UPDATE:
The headline reads: Israel bombards Hamas hours before ceasefire vote. Israel is contemplating a vote on a unilateral ceasefire that allows Hamas to keep firing on Israel, which Hamas has been more than happy to oblige. Why not have the headline then read: Hamas fires on Israel ahead of Israeli unilateral ceasefire vote? Is that too unwieldy? Hamas continues war despite Israeli ceasefire efforts?

That's what is going on here folks. The media continues taking sides against Israel, whether it's writing biased headlines, omitting key facts like Hamas continuing to fire kassams into Israel and continued calls for jihad against Israel, and details from the conflict, or analysis that is one-sided.

UPDATE:
This is a pretty amazing photo, showing an Israeli WP shell hitting in the vicinity of a UN school. Photographer was able to catch the shell and the fragments landing. So, why was Israel firing on the school and its environs? This photo caption explains:

Palestinian civilians and medics run to safety during an Israeli strike over a UN school in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip early on January 17, 2009. A woman and a child were killed early today in the Israeli strike on the UN-run school in northern Gaza where civilians were sheltering from the fighting, medics and witnesses said. Fierce clashes were underway around the school as Israeli tanks exchanged fire with Palestinian militants, they said.

Hamas was firing on Israel from around the school, and Israeli return fire hit the school. Who will be blamed? Israel of course, because the fact that Hamas was firing from in and around the school will be dropped from reports.

UPDATE:
The Muqata reports that the Palestinian doctor whose three daughters were killed may want to redirect his anger to Hamas. Israeli forces came under sniper fire from the building where his daughters lived.

7:06 PM IDF Update: Snipers were shooting from the home of Dr. El Ayash at IDF forces.

6:31 PM Defense Ministry reporting IDF forces came under fire from the home/medical office building of Gazan (Israeli trained) Doctor El Ayash (who also worked at Seroka hospital in Be'er Sheva). IDF forces returned fire on the terrorist source and among the killed were Dr. Ayash 3 daughters.

Hamas using human shields. Again. War crimes. Again. Will anyone care to report it as such? No.

Outrage in Gaza?

The media and the UN are making a big deal about the building that the Israelis fired on and caused damage to in Gaza. Why would Israel have fired on that building in the first place? Well, turns out that the UNRWA was hosting Hamas thugs who were firing on Israelis with machine guns and anti-tank weapons:

Israeli troops shelled the U.N. headquarters in Gaza after coming under fire from Palestinian militants, a senior Israeli military officer said on Thursday.

The artillery attack set the compound on fire, destroyed tons of food and humanitarian supplies, reportedly injured three people and forced hundreds of refugees to flee.

Israel says it does not target U.N. buildings or personnel. But the Israeli officer said troops opened fire after militants inside the compound shot anti-tank weapons and machine guns. He said the troops used 155 mm artillery shells. Throughout its 20-day offensive in Gaza, Israel has accused Hamas militants of hiding in civilian areas to stage attacks.

The officer spoke on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement expected later Thursday.

U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, who is in the region to press Israel, and Gulf leaders gathered to discuss the conflict, expressed "outrage" over the bombing.

So now Secretary Ban Ki-Moon is expressing outrage? Where was the outrage over Hamas using UN facilities to target Israel? Where was the UN to block Hamas terrorists from infiltrating the UNRWA? Outrage?

You want outrage?

I'll give you outrage:

Hamas has been assisted time and time again by UNRWA and UN largesse and condoning of Hamas activities. Hamas openly indoctrinates terrorists in UNRWA facilities, using schools to fire rockets at Israel and you have the temerity to feign outrage because Israel hit one of your precious buildings? Seriously? That any aid is getting to Gaza is the result of Israel doing more humanitarian relief than the Gazans care to do for themselves. The UN has done nothing to end the years of terrorist attacks and war crimes by Palestinians against Israel. That's right - war crimes. Purposefully attacking Israeli civilians is a war crime. Do you think we'd forget or not notice the thousands of kassams fired - each with an intent to murder and maim Israelis?

Where was your outrage then?

The UN has outlived its usefulness in Gaza, and it is part of the problem there, not the solution. By playing moral equivalents, the UN aids and abets a terrorist group while undermining the sovereign rights of a member nation. No other nation would ever tolerate such an affront, and yet it's expected when Israel is involved.

You want to see the situation in Gaza improve? Kick the UN out altogether. UNRWA, UNDP, the whole bunch.

The outrage is that the UN has done nothing while Hamas has turned Gaza into an armed camp for war against Israel using the population of Gaza as human shields. The outrage is the moral bankruptcy of the UN, even as they're dictating that Israel stop fighting to defend itself while demanding no such actions on behalf of Hamas or the other terrorists.

Yet, we're supposed to believe that the UN will protect Israel from further attack? UNIFIL is useless in preventing Hizbullah from arming in Lebanon, carrying out invasions and wars against Israel (Hizbullah war in 2006), subsequent rearming of Hizbullah despite UN resolutions reiterating the prior resolutions demanding disarmament of militias in Lebanon.

It has played host to Hamas and other terrorists operating from UN facilities. Most egregiously, the UNDP is now going to be headed by Iran, which also seeks Israel's destruction.

Morally bankrupt and yet we're hearing him talk about outrage. That's outrageous.

UPDATE:
MSNBC has edited the story to remove the content I previously quoted. It's since been replaced with the following:

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the military fired artillery shells at the U.N. compound after Hamas militants opened fire from the location. Three people were wounded.

"It is absolutely true that we were attacked from that place, but the consequences are very sad and we apologize for it," he said.

John Ging, director of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency operations in Gaza, described the Israeli claim as "total nonsense" and "typical misinformation."

U.N. officials said hundreds of people sheltering in the compound were forced to flee, and that the Israeli shells contained white phosphorus, an incendiary agent that can cause horrific injuries. After the shelling, fire spread to nearby fuel tankers in the compound, triggering another massive explosion.

It's total nonsense and typical misinformation? Perhaps Ging needs a refresher on what Hamas does with UNRWA facilities.

Or maybe we should ignore the blood libels spewed by UN officials?

Operation Cast Lead: Day 20

The Hamas terrorists continue firing rockets into Israel, and continue attacking Israeli forces operating in Gaza from UN positions. This should come as no surprise. UNRWA admits that they've had Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists on their payroll for years and have been freely teaching anti-Semitic and anti-Israel propaganda in the UNRWA-operated schools. As FoxNews reports:

The United Nations agency that administers a school in Gaza where dozens of civilians were killed by Israeli mortar fire last week has admitted to employing terrorists to work at its Palestinian schools in the past, has no system in place to keep members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad off its payroll, and provides textbooks to children that contain hate speech and other incendiary information.

A growing chorus of critics has taken aim at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in recent years, although momentum on Capitol Hill has been slow. But last week’s incident, which Israel maintains was prompted by Hamas operatives firing mortars at Israelis from a location near the school, has prompted some lawmakers to scrutinize the U.N. agency.

UNRWA isn't the solution. It's a huge part of the problem. It has condoned the activities of terrorists and provides them with safe havens from which to operate, including schools and the very refugee camps that UNRWA administers.

So, it should come as no surprise that Hamas thugs were firing on Israeli positions from in the vicinity of UNRWA administrative buildings in Gaza. Israel responded to Hamas anti-tank fire with attacks of its own. The NYT reports that UN officials (namely Chris Guiness) were told by unnamed Israeli officials that the attack was a mistake. MSNBC says that Ehud Barak told the UN that there had been a "grave mistake", but the Jerusalem Post contradicts that statement claiming that Israel was justifiably firing on terrorists operating in the vicinity of UNRWA facilities. Carl in Jerusalem has more on this. If Hamas or other terrorists were firing on Israeli positions from UNRWA facilities, Israel is more than justified under international law to return fire. Terrorists do not get the benefit of doubt.

Reports also indicate that the nearby hospital was hit by gunfire. Hamas has no care for human life, and purposefully uses human shields to maximize the body count. Israel has sent five of its firetrucks to assist in dousing the fires at the UNRWA headquarters.

The UN continues to push out nonsensical and morally bankrupt statements such as the death toll in Gaza being unbearable. If that's the case, why isn't the UN demanding that Hamas cease attacking Israel and laying down its arms as it operates from within UNRWA administered locations throughout Gaza? But for the Hamas war against Israel, Israel would not be forced to defend itself by going after Hamas terrorists inside Gaza.

Where is the UN and ICRC to demand access to Gilad Shalit. He's been held by Hamas for more than 2.5 years, and the only reason that he's being held by Hamas is so that Hamas can demand Israel release hundreds of terrorists in exchange for Shalit. Where are the demands by the UN or other human rights groups for Hamas to engage in a humanitarian gesture by releasing Shalit unconditionally. The reason is simple. No one expects the terrorists to engage in humanitarian gestures. That's why Hamas continues violating each and every 3-hour Israeli ceasefire allowing humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. It's why it's sheer folly for Israel to consider any longer ceasefire when Hamas will use that time to regroup and rearm.

That's because the UN too is part of the problem and its organization is riddled with the same anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment that we see from Hamas and other Islamic terrorist groups.

Venezuela is the latest country to break off relations with Israel. [T]hugo Chavez is close warm personal friends with Iran's Ahmadinejad (who's busy calling for the Arab world to cut relations with Israel), so it should come as no surprise that he's doing his friend's bidding. The same goes for Bolivia's Evo Mendes, who broke off relations with Israel yesterday. Never mind that all three countries are busy funding terrorists and call for Israel's destruction.

As per the NYT report, Israeli human rights groups were ignoring Hamas terrorist attacks and tens of thousands of documented terrorist incidents - each and every instance a war crime - and instead are seeking to find war crimes against Israel:

Also on Wednesday, nine Israeli human rights groups called for an investigation into whether Israeli officials had committed war crimes in Gaza. The groups say that tens of thousands of civilians in Gaza have nowhere to flee, the Gaza health system has collapsed, many people are without electricity and running water, and some are beyond the reach of rescue teams.

“This kind of fighting constitutes a blatant violation of the laws of warfare and raises the suspicion, which we ask be investigated, of the commission of war crimes,” the groups said in a news conference on the 19th day of the war.

The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Jakob Kellenberger, who spent Tuesday in Gaza City, agreed that the situation with civilians was dire but said that the principal hospital was making do with medical supplies, and that doctors, working around the clock, were mostly coping with the flow of the wounded.

Let's ignore the Hamas use of human shields, attacking from civilian areas, putting civilians at risk, purposefully targeting Israeli civilians, and calls to genocide and ethnic cleansing of Israel. Instead, these "human rights groups" stand human rights on its head and attack a nation's right to defend itself from attack. Hamas is responsible for the events in Gaza, and but for the rocket attacks, Israel would not have responded. Indeed, Israel didn't respond to the rocket attacks for years, and didn't respond to the hundreds of kassam attacks during the last ceasefire, which is why Hamas continues to believe that it can and will destroy Israel.

If Israel injures or kills civilians accidentally, it rushes to apologize. Hamas attacks civilians purposefully and cheers gleefully when Israelis die. Yet the media, the human rights groups, and the diplomats ignore this crucial difference. Do mistakes happen during wars? Yes. Do civilians get killed during wars? Yes. Do terrorists deserve the benefit of doubt. Absolutely not. The death toll in Gaza is higher precisely because Hamas seeks to maximize the casualties by operating outside the bounds of the laws of war and the Geneva Conventions.

Where can Gazans flee? Egypt doesn't want them. Israel left Gaza in 2005 precisely to see whether Gaza could live in peace with Israel. Gazans have to choose between war and coexistence; and that means finally standing up against Hamas and Islamic Jihad. They have a choice to make, and knowing how Palestinians have chose in the past, they will again choose Hamas and terrorism, despite the terrible toll.

UPDATE:
Israeli operations killed five Hamas terrorists, who happened to be bodyguards to one of the Hamas bigwigs, Mahmoud Al Zahar. Arab reports suggest that the IDF has Zahar's home surrounded. Israellycool has the details and more extensive updates.

The Muqata reports that Israeli soldiers came under fire from UNRWA positions and from buildings being used by journalists, which explains why Israel returned fire to those locations and their vicinity. Hamas is using journalists and the UN as cover to carry out their terror operations and hopes that Israel kills civilians, UN officials and/or journalists to further Hamas propaganda aims.

Muqata also has this report:

12:12 PM Italian reporter, one of the first members of the foreign press allowed into Gaza claims that there is no real humanitarian crisis in the strip and, surprisingly enough, reports in the Arab media are greatly exaggerated. This is in line with G.S.S. Yuval Diskin's statement for a couple weeks ago. (source in Hebrew)

UPDATE:
UNRWA is claiming that Israel fired on the warehouse using white phosphorus (WP). Expect to see whining and seething from the human rights groups that this is somehow a human rights violation or war crime, when Israel is within its rights to use WP.

There's nothing controversial about the use of WP, other than the fact that Israel is using it. It isn't an illegal weapon, it isn't a chemical weapon, and nations the world over have it in their arsenals. Human rights groups and anti-Israel groups are trying to make it controversial, but they're treading on thin ice. They're hoping that the repeated mention of it creates outrage and forces Israel to stop using yet another tool in their defense.

UPDATE:
Expect to hear complaints about how Israel killed Hamas' interior minister.

Hamas' interior minister, Said Siam, considered one of the most senior members of the Palestinian group's leadership, was killed Thursday afternoon in an Israeli air strike on his brother's home in Gaza City, the Israel Defense Forces said.

Siam's brother Ayad and the head of Hamas' security organization in Gaza, Salah Abu Sharah, were also killed in the strike. Palestinian sources reported that 20 other people were injured in the attack.

Siam, 50, is the most senior Hamas figure assassinated in Operation Cast Lead so far, and is the most senior Hamas figure killed by Israel since the assassination of Dr. Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi in April 2004.

People will attempt to claim that there's a difference between Hamas military and political wings, but that's a smokescreen. Both are Hamas and both are dedicated to the same goal. What are the Siams' role in Hamas? These guys organized the top level terror infrastructure.

UPDATE:
Hamas is now more accepting of a ceasefire? I guess when your top terrorists are dying in airstrikes, you reconsider your alternatives - a hudna lets you regroup, rearm, and prepare for the next battle. Of course, note too that Hamas wants to do everything possible to make the ceasefire one-sided. It claims to be doing so in the name of the Palestinian people, but if that ever were the case, Hamas would not have started a rocket war against Israel and attempted to negotiate a peace deal on the basis of the 2000 Camp David outlined proffered by Ehud Barak. In fact, Palestinians could have already had their state if they offered up counterproposals rather than rockets and mortars and suicide bombers in response to the Barak offer. Instead, we've got nothing but death, pain and misery because Arafat refused to provide a counteroffer to Barak, and Arafat, the PA, Fatah and Hamas launched into another Intifada.

UPDATE:
Photo review time.
Palestinians transport wounded people. I'd get hurt just attempting to ride in a car like that.

If Israel really wants you dead, here's what they do to your home. That was the home of a major Hamas terrorist. That's a clarion call that terror masters understand. Despite their bravado, they're cowards at heart and aren't keen on dying. They'd much rather have others die for them - the more Palestinians who die, the better since Hamas doesn't have a clue how to govern but it churns out the propaganda like clockwork.

Propaganda masquerading as captions.

Operation Cast Lead: Day 18

The rockets keep coming, and Israel continues to attack Hamas positions in Gaza.

If you want to know why UNRWA keeps complaining about the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza, just ask Hamas why they're stealing all that humanitarian aid coming in from Israel and selling it to the highest bidder.

Hamas on Monday raided some 100 aid trucks that Israel had allowed into Gaza, stole their contents and sold them to the highest bidders.

The IDF said that since terminal activity is coordinated with UNRWA and the Red Cross, Israel could do nothing to prevent such raids, Israel Radio reported.

UNRWA has an obligation to the people living in its refugee camps, but it long ago abdicated that responsibility when it offered aid and comfort to terrorist groups operating openly in those camps. Now, UNRWA sees its mission not to provide ultimate resettlement of those people living in the camps, but to perpetuate its own existence. That means ignoring the underlying causes of the problems in the camps - Gazans themselves and the terror infrastructure and Islamist ideology that is pervasive in the camps and only means death, destruction, mayhem and misery for all. Hamas is a cancer upon Gaza and the region as a whole, and yet UNRWA seems more interested in attacking Israel for providing humanitarian aid than attacking Hamas which keeps stealing it and appropriating it for their war effort.

The EU diplomats keep thinking that Israel is using excessive force in Gaza. They wouldn't understand excessive force if they were being bombarded by thousands of rockets a year since 2000. None of these diplomats would ever allow their own nations to tolerate being attacked in the way that Israel has endured for years on end. They would demand nothing less than the destruction of all those who attack their respective countries, and demand victory. Israel is the only nation on the planet whose sovereign right to defend itself from attack is constantly undermined by the diplomats, media, and leftists who seek to hamstring Israel and prevent it from defending itself from terrorists who seek nothing less than Israel's destruction.

The diplomats are actually extending the misery and inhumanity of Hamas rule in Gaza by pushing Israel to stop fighting Hamas, which has never once waivered from its goal of Israel's destruction. Ceasefires are hudnas for Hamas; they enable Hamas to regroup and rearm, and when Hamas starts talking hudna, you know that it is on the ropes and it's the time to press forward to destroy Hamas, not talk. Otherwise, we are right back in the same situation months later. That's the ultimate inhumanity of the diplomatic efforts. It completely fails to take into account the theological underpinnings of jihad and the Hamas efforts are wholly intertwined.

Meanwhile, two "journalists" have been indicted of selling secrets to Hamas.

Two east Jerusalem reporters were incited Tuesday for providing the enemy with sensitive and confidential information.

The two are employed by a production company which services various media outlets worldwide, including the Iranian Alalam Television.

And people wonder why Israel is limiting access of the media to Gaza beyond the stringers that are already in Gaza or the Israeli approved media embedded with the Israeli military? Not only are some operating as propaganda outlets for Hamas, but they're actively assisting the terrorists carry out their terror operations.

Some Israeli politicians get it. Avigor Lieberman wants Israel to carry on until they succeed in winning an unconditional victory; likening the fight to the US victory over Japan in World War II.

Israel meanwhile will carry out another 3-hour truce to allow humanitarian aid to flow, which means that Israel will stop fighting, but Hamas will continue its attacks on Israelis.

Following an attack on Israel from gunmen firing into Israel from Syria, we get reports of a similar attack across the Jordanian border.

The Islamists have been taking a theological thumping from Israel for years, including Hizbullah's war in 2006 during which Hizbullah claimed victory, but at a terrible cost to Hizbullah weapons and the Lebanese people; terrorist attacks courtesy of Islamic terrorists haven't destroyed the country or its will to survive.

It's a black eye on the Islamic movements, which push for Israel's destruction as an integral part of the ultimate goal of establishing a caliphate across the region and the world. One has to wonder what the constant losses do to the Islamists and their acolytes who think that the outcome is preordained and that Israel's destruction is assured for standing in the way of Islam. Yet another loss, despite the propagandists efforts to spin losses as victories, will not aid their cause. Under normal circumstances, such a loss would lead to a necessary examination of how and why the loss occurred, but Hamas is not a normal organization and it's ideological and theological underpinnings will not allow for such an examination.

A Hamas defeat will mean that the Islamists will likely redouble their efforts to wage war against Israel asymmetrically. They will likely seek out weapons of mass destruction that will destroy Israel; Iran's nuclear ambitions are part and parcel of this goal. Not only is Iran Hamas' biggest backer, but Iran's nuclear ambitions, tied with its missile technologies, is looking to dominate the region along the Sunni-Shi'ite schism and destroying Israel is among its top priorities because it would force the rest of the countries in the region to kowtow to the mullahs in Tehran. The Islamists will see that they lack the weapons to destroy Israel, and will seek out those weapons capable of inflicting the largest numbers of casualties, rather than actually engaging in the work of peace precisely because the Islamists cannot tolerate Israel's very existence.

UPDATE:
Time Magazine has a propaganda piece that masquerades as news, although you'd be hard pressed to actually find news in there, or even any reporting from named sources. It's conjecture, speculation, and opinion of the author, and nothing more. Stephen Green has the details.

The cover of the Time magazine this week is a real winner too, although I think the editors may have mixed up their metaphors and the facts (not that the facts have gotten in the way of Time lately.

Time's editors want people to think that Israel is imprisoning Gazans and engaging in human rights violations, but the cover gets it wrong. Israel wants to keep Gazan terrorists out of Israel. It builds the fence to protect itself from suicide bombers, who used to ply their deadly trade until the fence was completed. Now, the terrorists rely on kassam attacks to attempt to murder Israelis in the streets, schools, businesses, restaurants, buses, and homes. But for the incessant terror attacks, Israel would have not needed the fences and the current military operations in Gaza. Hamas chose war - it's an integral part of Hamas - and only now when Israel responds to defend itself does the media find its voice to attack Israel.

UPDATE:
UNRWA bears culpability for this situation as well:

Does UNRWA provide protection to Palestine refugees?

Protection is what UNRWA does to safeguard and advance the rights of Palestine refugees. In particular, UNRWA promotes respect for Palestine refugees’ rights through monitoring, reporting and intervention; delivers its services in a manner that promotes and respects the rights of beneficiaries; and ensures that protection needs are addressed in all aspects of programming, policies and procedures.

Apparently none of UNRWA's officials on the ground seem to notice that Hamas has coopted their operations, openly operates in UNRWA refugee camps, using Palestinians as human shields, and is running up a body count right under UNRWA noses, despite UNRWA pledges to protect and advance the rights of Palestinian refugees. It's a most curious way that UNRWA safeguards and advances the rights of those refugees; by supporting, condoning, and looking the other way as Hamas and other terrorist groups use the UNRWA as cover to carry out attacks against Israel.

The UNRWA mandate expires in 2011, and they think that it should be extended further. It should end. UNRWA has been one of the biggest reasons that the conflict persists; it fosters an environment that Hamas and other terrorists exploit, and a welfare class that knows of nothing else but handouts. The definition of refugee is such that grandchildren and great grandchildren of those who live in the camps are considered refugees, despite the fact that all that they've known is living in the camps because Palestinians refuse to settle in Gaza or the West Bank where they have civil administrative control.

UPDATE:
This is particularly rich. Another Hamas thug laid to rest, and the caption is not without a sense of irony.

Palestinian relatives bury Hamas militant Mohammed Asaliya at Sheikh Radwan cemetery in Gaza City, Tuesday, Jan.13, 2009. In crowded Gaza, relatives have always struggled to bury their dead. But Israel's shelling and deep ground incursion into the territory to crush militant group Hamas mean residents can't reach Martyrs Cemetery, Gaza City's only open graveyard on its eastern border with Israel, at a time when there's a rush of people needing burial.

No need to bury those thugs and terrorists and all others killed in the fighting if Hamas simply chose not to attack Israel repeatedly for years on end.

If Gazans were so worried about being able to bury the dead, they should have thought about who they voted for and why they chose a genocidal group - Hamas - to lead them. Where are the calls by Gazans to demand Hamas stop their attacks and to stop their destructive war against Israel? I have to believe that Gazans figure that the world would sooner force Israel to stop their defensive actions than they could get Hamas to stop their offensive war against Israel.

UPDATE:
MSNBC is at it again, this time with a headline reading that Gazans feel that they're alone in this world. Let's see. Demonstrations and protests supporting Hamas and Palestinians all over the world, including in Damascus, Jordan, Yemen, Rome, Beirut (to show just a few), and Gazans still feel alone? How about Israelis who are bombarded by Hamas rockets on a near daily basis for the last eight years, including during so-called ceasefires? You've got millions of people around the world demanding Israel's destruction, and Gazans feel lonely?

UPDATE:
I'll be damned... the ICRC finds that the IDF wasn't using white phosphorus as the human rights groups were busy complaining - and that in fact Israel was complying with international conventions on weapons as they had been saying all along.

The International Committee of the Red Cross urged Israel to exercise "extreme caution" in using the incendiary agent, which is used to illuminate targets at night or create a smoke screen for day attacks, said Peter Herby, the head of the organization's mines-arms unit.

"In some of the strikes in Gaza it's pretty clear that phosphorus was used," Herby told The Associated Press. "But it's not very unusual to use phosphorus to create smoke or illuminate a target. We have no evidence to suggest it's being used in any other way."

The only evidence that it was being used in any other fashion was from self interested Palestinians who want to propagandize against Israel and human rights groups that have repeatedly bent over backwards to ignore Hamas violations of every international law on the book but attempt to hold Israel to a standard of international law that doesn't even exist.

I guess the propagandists will have to try again. Meanwhile, Israeli teams are busy scouring through Gaza collecting evidence so as to defend their actions should the inevitable lawsuits crop up. In the process, they're busy gathering evidence of Hamas' depraved indifference to civilian casualties, using civilians as human shields, and storing weapons and hiding in and among civilians so as to avoid detection or evade retaliatory strikes.

Meanwhile, Israeli security discovered a tunnel leading to the vicinity of the Nahal Oz fuel terminal, which supplies much of Gaza with fuel supplies. It is likely that Hamas was planning on using the tunnel to carry out an attack against the terminal. It also wouldn't be the first time terrorists targeted that fuel depot or others in the vicinity.

Israel's shipments of humanitarian aid to Gaza has been repeatedly delayed not because of Israel, but because Hamas continues to plot attacks against the border crossings and the shipments themselves.

On Monday, the IDF opened the chute at Karni for a test run during which 23 truckloads of grain were sent into Gaza, according to Lerner.

It was shut on Tuesday, however, after the army found a tunnel on the Gaza side, meant to be used for a mine attack.

On Wednesday the IDF hopes to open the chute for the passage of 60 truckloads of grain.

After that, Lerner said, the IDF wants to operate Karni every day.

It has also begun pumping fuel through Kerem Shalom, so that it can serve as an alternative to Nahal Oz, which is often closed for security reasons.

In addition, Lerner said, the IDF plans to open Erez for cargo on Wednesday. Until now, Erez has been used only for emergency medical cases.

If all goes as planned, 180 truckloads of humanitarian assistance should enter Gaza on Wednesday, compared with 106 on Tuesday.

Those crossings could have been open full time and cross-border traffic at normal levels for the past three years had Hamas not engaged in repeated attacks on Israel, the crossings, and their environs. Instead, Hamas has brought upon a humanitarian crisis largely because they have no interest in peace with Israel, even during the 6-month ceasefire.

Operation Cast Lead: Day 17

Even as the rockets keep hitting Israel, there are rumblings that yet another ceasefire agreement deal is in reach between Hamas and Israel.

Just in case anyone forgot who is really pulling the strings in the Gaza war, Iran has warned Hamas not to accept any ceasefire deal. You can be assured that Hamas' Khalid Meshaal, who's operating out of Hamas' offices in Damascus was listening quite intently when Iran laid out what they want Hamas to do.

Iran's playing geopolitics and is looking to thwart Egypt's influence in the region. Egypt is looking to do the same to Iran. Hamas is a useful pawn in that game for both - and Israel is the foil. Iran seeks Israel's destruction, and Hamas, as Iran's proxy army gets to show the region and the world that Hamas means business and that Iran's reach is greater than just its bellicosity. Egypt is playing the game by hosting the diplomats who are attempting to work out a ceasefire deal and while they are agnostic as to Israel's destruction, allowing Iran's terror outfit to reside in such close proximity to Egypt cannot be allowed. Egypt is playing the middleman and facilitator between Israel and Hamas so as to thwart Hamas and Iran's intentions. Saudi Arabia is also playing a role here to a lesser extent.

Take any ceasefire deal with a grain of salt as Hamas will consider them only as a hudna, not a real and lasting ceasefire. Hamas considers itself at war with Israel and seeks Israel's destruction. It will not tolerate anything short of Israel's destruction, which is why the terrorists have been launching rockets and mortars at Israel for years, including hundreds during the 6-month "ceasefire" that just ended prior to Israel's initiation of Operation Cast Lead. Any deal that relies on Hamas for normality is suspect given Hamas' penchant for violating ceasefire deals and carrying out terrorist attacks. The problem, of course, is that the diplomats consider such violations scattered incidents not worthy of a response by Israel - there were hundreds of them during the 6-month "ceasefire."

Egypt is also reconsidering an idea to thwart the smuggling tunnels that have enabled Hamas to rearm and smuggle supplies and equipment into Gaza from Egypt. They're now open to the idea of a moat, which would make tunneling under the border prohibitive.

Meanwhile, Fatah is also playing up the fact that Hamas has destroyed Gaza through its actions. They don't forget the civil war the two terror groups fought to control the Palestinian Authority and the future of the Palestinians. Fatah lost control of Gaza in that conflict, and the Gaza war has enabled Israel to take Hamas down a few pegs.

I've been saying for some time now that the diplomats are trying to invent their own reality. This story proves my point. They're trying to suggest that the two-state plan is dead. Well, it's been dead since Hamas and Fatah have essentially hit upon an alternative; a 3-state plan in anticipation for a 1-state plan that doesn't involve Israel. Hamas has their own reichlet; Fatah has theirs in the West Bank, and both are looking towards the eventual destruction of Israel and supplanting it with their own. Fatah at least pays lip service to a 2-state solution, but is hardly in any position to make a deal that they can actually adhere to, and they certainly don't have the backing of Gazans, who roundly supported Hamas in 2006 when Hamas kicked Fatah to the curb.

For those who were wondering about that UN official, Chris Guiness, who claimed that unnamed Israeli officials privately stated that there were no terrorists at that UNRWA school when they fired on it, the IDF has responded.

According to The Associated Press report, Israeli defense officials have said in private that at the time of the attack, the IDF was returning fire at Hamas men who had just fired a rocket at Israel.

The army fired three mortar shells, two of which hit the target and one missed by about 30 meters, causing the casualties at the school, whose number the IDF believes was inflated by Hamas.

"We are still sticking by our official position that according to our initial inquiry, the whole thing started when terrorists fired mortar shells from the school compound [at soldiers]," Capt. Ishai David told The Jerusalem Post.

"The IDF returned fire to the source, and the unfortunate result was the death of innocent civilians," David said. He added that two terrorists, who were part of a Kassam squad, were also killed in the incident.

UNRWA has insisted that there were no terrorists in the school compound.

Already last week the aid organization told the Post, "The Israeli army in private briefings with diplomats have admitted that the militant fire from Jabalya yesterday came from outside the UNRWA school compound, and not from inside the UNRWA school compound," spokesman Christopher Gunness said.

As I've noted previously, terrorists have a way to fire the mortars without actually being at the weapon itself. They can fire it remotely using a rope to trigger the mortar round to drop in the barrel. Mortar crews don't have to have personal firearms and can blend in to civilian areas. Two such Hamas terrorists were identified among those killed in the incident.

Hamas is crawling all over Gaza, looking to provoke Israel to attacking positions that have civilians in them - with the express intention of causing a mass casualty incident that harms the most number of people possible. Hamas is looking for a body count, and they couldn't care that there were kids there or anything else. Casualties are props to further their goals that undermine Israel's ability to defend itself from the Hamas war on Israel's existence.

We've seen that time and time again. Terrorists use civilians as human shields, and this is no exception. Hamas is to blame for those casualties, pure and simple - but the UNRWA and UN consistently stand up for Hamas and against Israel and its right to defend itself.

Oh, the UN continues to claim that a UN aid worker was killed by Israeli forces while transporting aid into Gaza was killed by a Palestinian sniper, despite evidence showing that Palestinian snipers were involved. Figures.

Elsewhere, the IDF continues its operations in urban areas of Gaza and continues to discover that Hamas has planted bombs and boobytraps at every turn. As I noted yesterday, Hamas even planted bombs in a school and rigged it to explode from a nearby zoo. Human rights groups aren't exactly jumping over themselves to condemn Hamas for that, but they are going out of their way to complain, whine and seethe over Israel's legitimate and lawful use of white phosphorus. You don't hear the UN complaining about that either, despite the fact that the UNRWA is supposed to have been policing those refugee camps and preventing the militarization of the same.

UPDATE:
The UN Human Rights Council, a misnomer if there ever was one, has once again ignored Hamas' innumerable human rights violations, war crimes, and calls for genocide, in favor of attacking Israel.

On Monday, the Human Rights Council's 47 members voted 33 in favor and 1 against the resolution that also accuses Israel of systematically destroying Palestinian infrastructure and of targeting civilians and medical facilities.

European Union countries abstained and Canada voted against the resolution.

The resolution approved in Geneva Monday urges an end to the rocket attacks but mentions neither Hamas nor violations of Israeli civilians' rights.

The EU shows that it has lost its moral bearing and that it cannot condemn the moral equivalence that exists throughout UN related entities. Hamas is a terrorist organization, and yet the HRC can't find the time to condemn the repeated and cataloged human rights violations? It's worse than useless; it's propaganda for Hamas.

Where are the condemnations for Hamas hiding out in Gaza hospitals inside bunkers? As for the propaganda being spewed from Shifa hospital in Gaza, this goes to what I've been saying about the hospital being firmly within Hamas control. They're on the payroll.

Speaking on Army Radio, Dichter noted that "on Saturday, January 10, which is the day salaries are distributed in Gaza, several Hamas commanders who cannot come out of their hiding places were given their salaries at their hiding places. But commanders who can move around Gaza made their way to Shifa Hospital to receive their salaries."

Regarding Israeli intelligence reports that the Hamas leadership had taken refuge in the hospital, Dichter said that the "Shifa Hospital has long ago ceased to be just a hospital, just as the UNRWA humanitarian and health services in Gaza long ago ceased to be just humanitarian services providing food and medical services."

"UN schools in Gaza long ago stopped being just schools," the minister said. "All these services and places are refuge for Hamas terrorists and commanders."

Israel is contemplating erecting a field hospital in Gaza to treat Palestinians rather than enabling Hamas to continue operating with impunity from the Hamas infested hospitals. They also carried out yet another 3-hour truce to allow humanitarian aid to pass into Gaza. Hamas didn't oblige, continuing to fire those rockets at Israel.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces have found yet another mosque stuffed to the brim with weapons and explosives.

UPDATE:
Well, Mads Gilbert has done his duty. He's already back in Oslo, Norway after spending a few days mugging for the cameras in one of Gaza's hospitals. Some humanitarian. He was there long enough to get involved in a propaganda video, mug for the cameras, and then jet back to Oslo to be lauded. Classy.

No doubt we'll be hearing more from him and how Israel is targeting civilians all while ignoring all the Hamas crawling over that hospital. Then again, he's a pro 9/11 terrorist sympathizer, so we know that he's not going to criticize Islamic terrorists.

UPDATE:
How'd that get in there? Hamas has attempted this before, and they'll be trying again. Last year, they tried to smuggle 2 tons of fertilizer used in making kassam rockets among the humanitarian aid making its way into Gaza.

Security workers employed by the Israel Airport Authority uncovered two tons of fertilizer used in the manufacturing of Qassam rockets on Monday afternoon, the substantial amount of explosive material was concealed in a truck allegedly transporting humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

The security officials manning the Kerem Shalom border crossing discovered the smuggling attempt during a random inspection of vehicles carrying humanitarian equipment and goods.

Hamas uses the cover of humanitarian aid to secure the very armaments needed to continue its war against Israel. (HT: mich-again at LGF)

UPDATE:
This is worth repeating:

According to army estimates (based on intelligence and information obtained by the Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration), at least 400 of the palestinians killed are known Hamas operatives. Furthermore, the IDF believes that among the remaining 500, at least half are Hamas operatives. In other words, more than 750 of the 905 dead could well have been Hamas terrorists, which is a starkly different picture to the one being painted by the likes of Hamas, UNRWA, and the world media.

Far from the multitudes of civilian casualties claimed, the overwhelming majority are Hamas turned humus. That's 82.8% of all dead being attributed as Hamas thugs. 100% of those dead were killed because Hamas waged war against Israel.

Operation Cast Lead: Day 16

Hamas continues firing long range rockets into Israel. The battle in Gaza rages on as Israeli forces have pushed into more urban areas around Gaza City. Hamas is taking a serious pounding but don't expect to see a white flag raised anytime soon. However, note that once Hamas starts talking about a ceasefire, be suspicious. That means that Israel is in a position to crush the group once and for all, and Hamas is looking for a hudna in which to once again regroup and rearm.

The Israeli investigation into the UN school incident notes that an Israeli tank shell missed its intended target - a group of terrorists firing mortars in the vicinity of the school:

One of the deadliest single incidents since the offensive began was an Israeli strike near a U.N. school Tuesday that Gaza health officials said killed 39 Palestinians. On Sunday, Israeli defense officials said an investigation by the military concluded that an Israeli mortar shell missed its target and hit near the school.

The Israeli investigation concluded that troops fired three mortar shells at Hamas militants who had just launched a rocket, the officials said. Two shells hit the target, but a third missed by about 30 yards, striking near the school and killing bystanders. The Israeli military believes the number of casualties was inflated by Hamas.

The defense officials spoke Sunday on condition of anonymity because the investigation has not been made public, and there was no official comment from the military.

That's right folks, the terrorists were busy firing from in and around the school, but somehow it's Israel's fault? Sorry, but that's not how it works under international law. Terrorists operating with human shields are responsible for those casualties. Terrorists operating in dense urban environments and firing mortars within yards of a school are responsible. Are the deaths and casualties in the school tragic? Absolutely, but I will not blame Israel one whit for them because but for Hamas firing mortars at those Israelis, Israel would not have returned fire.

Hamas attempted to shoot down an Israeli aircraft, but was unsuccessful. There had been reports that the terrorists got their hands on surface to air missiles (one of the nasty surprises that they claimed to have for Israel), but the IAF pilots have been prepared for that possibility. Pilots routinely fire off flares (which the idiots in the media call weapons systems) to deter heat seeking missiles from locking on to their aircraft. Helicopters are more susceptible to missile attacks, but they too have flares and jammers.

Overnight Saturday, IAF aircraft bombed over 60 Hamas targets in Gaza, including the home of Hamas military chief Ahmed Ja'abri.

Ja'abri was not expected to have been at home at the time as he is believed to be in hiding, possibly under Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, in another bunker, or in an apartment building filled with civilians.

Also in overnight air raids, the IAF hit a mosque in Rafah which served as a training camp and meeting place for Hamas operatives as well as an anti-aircraft missile warehouse, the army said.

The air force also bombed nine tunnels along the Philadelphi Corridor and about ten other weapons storehouses throughout the Gaza Strip.

An IDF official told Army Radio that soldiers reported killed over 40 Hamas gunmen during overnight operations, while troops themselves emerged unscathed.

At least 820 Palestinians, roughly half of them civilians, have died since Operation Cast Lead was launched on December 27, according to Palestinian medical officials. Thirteen Israelis, among them 10 soldiers, have been killed.

Take the Palestinian casualty figures with a grain of salt the hospital officials are co-opted by Hamas and aren't likely to know which men coming in are Hamas; it's not as though they wear uniforms.

The New York Times has a major article about the smuggling tunnels and how that they are a lifeline for Gazans. Gaza wouldn't need those tunnels at all had Hamas not engaged in a war against Israel forcing both Egypt and Israel to close the border. Hamas has breached the Egyptian border twice - invading Egypt twice in 2008 - because Egypt wants nothing to do with Hamas either.

The smuggling tunnels are owned and operated by Hamas, or are partnered with Hamas, which takes a cut of every transaction. Those tunnels are how Hamas makes money and sustains its operations. They are also used to transmit weapons and equipment. They serve no other purpose despite the photos taken by journalists cozy with the smugglers depicting them bringing in sheep and goats. Put bluntly, those photos are staged especially since there are farms in Gaza and no one has stopped Gazan farmers from tending their flocks but Hamas.

Allahpundit at Hot Air wonders how a UN official could go on the record and claim that the Israelis told him privately that there were no mortars being fired from the UN school in Jabilya while the Israeli ambassador to Austria stated explicitly that Hamas was storing weapons under that same school.

I've previously reported that two Hamas thugs were killed in the school incident. Allahpundit notes the reports stating that they were unarmed at the time. If they were a mortar rocket team, they could easily have been unarmed at the moment they were killed. How? Simple. Watch this video and see. The terrorists use rope to hang the mortar round in the barrel and when they pull the rope, the mortar round drops into the barrel and fires. It's a way to fire the mortar remotely and it makes the rounds fired even more inaccurate since you would be changing the trajectory of the round each time. It certainly isn't proper technique to fire an aimed round. If the terrorists are attacked, they look like they're just another bunch of civilians killed in the return fire when the reality is so much different.

Prime Minister Olmert has slammed the international media and diplomats for one-sided calls for Israel to stop its national defense, ignoring Hamas and their incessant attacks on Israel.

"For many years we've demonstrated restraint. We reined our reactions. We bit our lips and took barrage after barrage," said Olmert in remarks at the opening of the weekly meeting of government ministers. "No country in the world – not even those who preach morality to us – would have shown similar patience and self-control."

The prime minister's comments appeared to be aimed at the United States, which abstained last week from a vote and allowed the United Nations Security Council to pass Resolution 1860, calling for an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of all IDF forces from Gaza.

On January 8, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice praised the Council for passing the resolution, which she called "a step toward our goals." Although she noted that the U.S. recognizes the right of Israel "like other states, to exercise its right of self-defense," she softened the statement by adding "We have said to Israel that it is obligated to take feasible steps to minimize the impact of any actions on civilians."

Israel has taken feasible steps to minimize the impact, including telegraphing where and when Israel is to attack. The Israelis have repeatedly dropped leaflets warning Gazans of impending attacks, phoned Gazans to warn them that Israeli airstrikes are to occur, and I've actually argued that these are counterproductive because it tips Hamas off to the location of attacks so that they can increase the numbers of human shields kept in the vicinity to maximize the civilian casualties.

Meanwhile, Hamas says that they're no longer interested in Gilad Shalit's wellbeing. They were never interested in his life; he was a pawn they were hoping to use to secure the release of hundreds of terrorists from Israeli jails. I've repeatedly stated that the world should have been demanding humanitarian gestures from Hamas, including Shalit's release, but they instead focus on demanding concessions from Israel in the name of humanitarian relief. Gaza needs humanitarian relief - in the form of the riddance of Hamas from its midst. So much of the suffering there is due to no one but Hamas.

Fatah has been doing its best to clamp down on pro-Hamas sympathies in the West Bank. That's most likely because they expect to be called upon to take over Gaza once Israel is done destroying Hamas' capabilities to function. Hamas and Fatah have fought a civil war over the future of Gaza, and Fatah lost; its forces fled Gaza, and those who were captured were killed or displayed for propaganda purposes. There's no love lost between the two terrorist groups.

Israellycool continues his daily coverage of the situation in Gaza.

UPDATE:
Ralph Peters slams the propaganda spewed by the media - noting how the casualties in Gaza are the fault of no one but Hamas. Israeli weapons may have caused the injuries and ended lives, but Hamas killed them.

Hamas is a Jew-killing machine. It exists to destroy Israel. What is there to negotiate?

When Hamas can't kill Jews, it's perfectly willing to drive Palestinian civilians into the line of fire - old men, women and children. Hamas herds the innocent into "shelters," then draws Israeli fire on them. And the headline-greedy media cheer them on.

Hamas isn't fighting for political goals. "Brokered agreements" are purely means to an end. And the envisioned end is the complete destruction of Israel in the name of a terrorist god. Safe in hidden bunkers or in Damascus, the Hamas leadership is willing to watch an unlimited number of civilians and even street-level terrorists die.

UPDATE:
Note that various media reports will indicate that Israel has attacked a number of mosques. There's a damned good reason for that. Hamas has turned many into ammo dumps and they store weapons there. Carl in Jerusalem has video of one such airstrike. Note too that Hamas is storing weapons in schools at under hospitals, hoping and knowing that Israel would not purposefully strike those targets. In that way, Hamas hopes to retain weapons and equipment it needs to fight Israel for the long term.

UPDATE:
So, I'm checking Getty Images this morning, as I've been doing for some time now as part of my morning ritual, and guess what they're leading with?

Photo montages of the Israeli occupation of Gaza since 1967.

Memo to Getty Images.

Israel has unilaterally withdrawn from Gaza since 2005. Israel provided civil administrative control over Gaza to the Palestinians as part of the Gaza Jericho Accords, Wye, and the Oslo Accords beginning in 1993. Israelis living in Gaza were forcibly removed in 2005. No Israeli occupation since then.

By running the photo series as an occupation since 1967, it is a blatant lie about the current situation in Gaza. It is a purposeful misrepresentation and distortion.

And it's now captured for posterity on my blog.