(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Israel admits to targeting an ambulance, killing 15 and injuring 60. This is a war crime [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-11-04 Israeli forces admitted to striking an ambulance outside of the entrance to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City Friday, according to BBC News. Fifteen people were killed, including bystanders; sixty more were wounded, Al Jazeera reported; the count earlier had been reported as thirteen killed with twenty-six injured. Al Jazeera English also ran a segment in which Ashraf Al-Qudra, a spokesperson from the Palestinian Health Ministry, gave a statement. (Click through for playback, as view is restricted to YouTube.) ~ 0:50: Given the increasing number and the huge number of the injured people that are arriving at the Indonesian hospital and other medical centers that are unable to absorb and treat those huge numbers, and after approving that some of the patients will be transported and transferred to Egypt, we then have decided to send those ambulance vehicles that would leave or depart from the medical complex from the south at 4:00 p.m. And before the vehicles departed, we have informed everyone through a press conference, and we have also been in touch with the international council and the Red Cross and also the United Nations agencies to inform them. The whole world [has] watched that those vehicles departed from al Shifa Medical Center at 4 p.m. However, Israel, and the aggression of Israel, has attacked and targeted and attacked the ambulance, causing a massacre against victims, civilians, and wounded people. As Al Jazeera reported, the Palestinian Red Crescent (PRCS) stated, “The deliberate targeting of medical teams constitutes a grave violation of the Geneva Conventions, a war crime.” Channel 4 News ran a longer piece, running approximately 27 minutes. At the end of the segment is an interview with Mark Regev, a spokesperson for the Israeli government. His remarks indicate that Israel at first intended to cast doubt on their role in the strike: x YouTube Video ~ 17:33: Correspondent: I know the IDF has said they’re looking into this. They’ve said they, you know, they might be responsible essentially. Can you tell us anything else? Regev: I can’t go beyond what the IDF has said. I would only ask you to be very cautious before you rush to judgment. We had a similar situation. Correspondent: We’re not rushing to judgment. Regev: Yeah, I was just saying, yeah, we had a similar situation at a hospital about a week ago where Hamas was saying it was Israel and we butchered innocent people…. So it’s good to be skeptical. Let’s wait for all the facts to come in. Correspondent: Indeed. But if it is indeed the case that the IDF was responsible for this, there will be many people around the world who will say that is a war crime. Regev: That, of course, is a knee-jerk reaction that many people would have, blame Israel. But let’s remember the facts here. We know that under the Shifa hospital Hamas has established its command and control. Mr. Regev went on to say (~ 22:00), I don’t want to see any children killed in this conflict, full stop. But I also know that there hasn’t been a war in recent history, in any history, where there hasn’t been people caught up in the crossfire. What is our obligation as a democratic country? Like Britain, like the United States, when we fight wars we do our best to minimize civilian casualties. But if you say to me that, when Hamas has turned and uses Gaza civilians as a human shield, as is seen in an example of Al-Shifa Hospital where they’re committing a war crime, built their military infrastructure deliberately under a hospital, surely they have to be blamed for turning what is ultimately a humanitarian structure into a war zone. (Emphases added.) Israel has yet to produce any evidence to back their claim of Hamas militants being at the hospital, let alone in the convoy. As Marwan Bishara told Al Jazeera English (~ 0:26): The burden of proof is on the Israelis, if indeed they suspect that an entire hospital staff is complicit in the smuggling of, to use Israel’s words, ‘terrorists’ into the southern part of Gaza. Then Israel should show some proof of that. That’s just common sense. It’s not international law, that’s just common sense. If you kill someone, you need to show why you’re killing them, right? You can’t just go around randomly killing people without showing some proof that they are guilty of something. In recent days, Israel has threatened more hospitals, struck schools, and also blasted refugee camps. There have also been reports of Israeli airstrikes targeting south-bound civilian vehicles. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/11/4/2203549/-Israel-admits-to-targeting-an-ambulance-killing-fifteen-and-injuring-sixty-a-war-crime?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/