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Killing civilians with impunity

Aug 02,2014 - Last updated at Aug 02,2014

When Israel keeps shelling schools, markets, apartment buildings, hospitals, homes and other civilian targets over and over again, there is every reason to conclude that its forces intend to kill and injure as many civilians as possible. 

Over the past few days, Israeli forces bombed UNRWA schools six times in a row, despite the fact that the UN informed Israel that they house civilians fleeing the ravages of Israeli bombardment in Gaza.

The international community has no option but to  conclude that Israeli forces in Gaza mean to kill civilians in a systematic manner. Israel cannot hide behind the false pretext that its forces do not target civilians on purpose and or engage in indiscriminate bombing when the end result proves otherwise.

Assuming, for the sake of argument, that some of the Israeli targets house Hamas fighters, Israeli forces must still  refrain from launching an attack on them for fear that civilians will become victims as well. 

Israel’s excuse that it does not target civilians therefore rings hollow and is devoid of any meaning or sense. 

It is not once or twice that Israeli forces have killed civilians by the hundreds in Gaza and injured thousands more, most of whom were children, women and the elderly. 

When these Israeli bombardments are repeated and conducted  in a systematic and widespread manner, it is compelling evidence that the Israeli army aims to prosecute its war against Gaza without any regard for civilian lives. 

The entire international community condemned this indiscriminate Israeli shelling of civilian targets including some of Israel’s closest allies. US President Barack Obama recently telephoned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to express his concern about the mounting civilian casualties after seeing the situation in Gaza on television. 

Yet Israel continues its war on Gaza with the purpose of  inflicting heavy casualties among its civilian population. More than 1,600 Gazans have already been killed and thousands more injured, most of them seriously. 

The time has come for the UN Security Council to take a more forceful action against Israel by applying effective punitive sanctions before more innocent lives are lost. 

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