Israel has unleashed hell in Gaza.
An excerpt from, "Gaza: International Red Cross abandons residents during al-Shujayeh massacre" by Orouba Othman, July 21, 2014:
The Shujayeh massacre, which took the lives of over 70 martyrs, showed that the mottos of the International Committee of the Red Cross are nothing but empty rhetoric. This organization that has been tasked with protecting and assisting victims of armed conflict based on the Four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and its Two Additional Protocols of 1977, has exposed itself for what it is after showing “clear bias towards the Israelis,” as activists and journalists who were at al-Shifa medical complex said.An excerpt from, "‘We know that Israel has no red line when it attacks us’: Civilians bear the brunt as Israel’s offensive on Gaza continues" by Yousef Alhelou, Mondoweiss, July 23:
Before the war, the organization harped for years on its alleged neutrality, impartiality and advocacy for prisoners. But its decision to leave al-Shujayeh residents to face an Israeli death sentence on their own created a widespread state of popular discontent among Palestinians who considered the Red Cross complicit in the process of wiping them out.
“People are dying in the street, they don’t know what to do, houses are burning and gas is everywhere and the Red Cross hangs up on us and says, it’s not our job. If it is not the job of the Red Cross, then whose job is it? I don’t get it.” With these words and with a tone full of pain and rage, one of the people who witnessed the massacre appealed for help.
Amid this popular condemnation of the Red Cross’ failure to fulfill its role, the organization tried to allay Palestinian anger by facilitating a humanitarian truce with the Israelis for two hours to pull the bodies from under the rubble in the neighborhood.
But Israel violated the truce after an hour of declaring it. The deadline was then extended until 5:30 pm after it was set from 1:00 pm until 3:00 pm. This attempt by the Red Cross to patch things up did not fool the Palestinians and did not stop them from pouring out their wrath on the organization.
As indiscriminate Israeli military attacks continue, families of the victims are outraged about the weak position of the International Committee of the Red Cross for not being able to use its role in reaching attacked areas to retrieve the dead bodies and rescue the wounded. However the ICRC spokesman in Gaza said that coordinating with the Israeli army is not easy and it takes long time to get an approval to send ambulances to the targeted areas. “Our role is coordinating between the Israeli army and Palestinian Red Crescent Society who then send ambulances and rescue teams” Naser Al-Najjar, ICRC spokesman said.The International Red Cross has a tough mission in Gaza. Its members are constantly being attacked from above by the Israeli army while trying to recover those who have been killed and injured as a result of Israeli airstrikes. Israel considers them a nuisance and does not want them around.
Abu Ali Khammash, 40, father of 5 said, “We know that Israel has no red line when it attacks us, we know that it does not respect international law but an organization like ICRC should do hold its responsibility, if they cannot fulfill their mission then they should leave, they are useless.”
But it is also true that charitable organizations like the Red Cross are rackets that act under the veneer of humanitarianism. I don't even know why Palestinians put their faith and trust in the Red Cross, the UN, and other international organizations. Most UN agencies and international charities can't be depended upon to act with neutrality in this war.
In the report below, the Israhelli propagandist for the BBC does not offer any context to help explain why the Red Cross truck came under attack from a mob of Palestinians. All he says is that they're angry and are not thinking straight. True, they acted out of line in that moment, but their frustrations and aggression were rightly directed at the Red Cross.
The message Palestinians are sending is that they are not stupid. They know the Red Cross is not there to help them. The Red Cross should get out of the war zone since it is clearly biased towards one party in this conflict.
Gaza civilians attack Red Cross - BBC News. Date Published: July 24, 2014.
