202 Palestinians killed since abduction of Shalit: UN report

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A new United Nations report claims that Israel Defense Forces soldiers have killed 202 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since the start of the Operation "Summer Rain," launched in the wake of the abduction of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit in June.

The report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the territories also says that 44 children are among the dead.

The authors of the report claim that the military operation, which has lasted about two months, is still taking a severe toll on 1.4 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

According to the report, thousands of Palestinians have been forced to flee their homes following continuing IDF incursions into the Strip and heavy shelling. The report states that since the operation began, the Israel Air Force has conducted 247 aerial assaults in Gaza.

During the same period, one IDF soldier was killed and 26 Israelis were wounded.

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There is no light, there is no fresh water to give the people, there is no sewage system and there is no way that the hospitals will be able to continue functioning. All these factors are frightening. That the 1.3 million people in Gaza will slowly starve to death, or die of some unsanitary disease, is frightening. It is the feeling that one might have in a confined space wondering how long the air will last

The Israeli Army are now calling residents on their mobile phones them to warn them of an imminent raid on their family home.

Witnesses in Gaza tell of the following messages they have received: "If you want to give shelter to terrorists, we will destroy your house, as we are destroying the houses of Lebanon," and ''Name and Surname, here is the IDF, you have just one hour to leave your house and to advise all your neighbors, as after that we will destroy your house. We have a death warrant for your home."
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As in Lebanon, Israel's military campaign in Gaza has caused widespread destruction of public and private property. Public infrastructure, such as roads and bridges, water and wastewater systems, power plants, telephone and electricity networks and civilian institutions, has been targeted by Israel. Homes, vehicles, greenhouses and agricultural land have also been damaged.

According to the Palestinian Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU), a 14 July 2006 Israeli incursion into Wadi al Salaq in the Gaza Strip caused damaged to some 850 meters of the water network system and damaged the connection systems to 35 homes. A 15-19 July incursion into Beit Hanoun destroyed over 180 rooftop water tanks.

In a similar tactic used in Lebanon, the Israeli army has dropped flyers ordering civilians to leave their homes because of an impending air strike. Israel's argument for shelling civilian homes in Gaza, just as in Lebanon, has been that rockets are fired on Israel from the vicinity of the homes or that the homes serve as a weapons cache.
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Israel continues to control the entry and exit of all people and goods into the Gaza Strip, to patrol its coast and airspace, to provide its water, fuel, electric utilities, and sewage, and to enter Gaza with military forces at will. Under international law, "effective control" is the measure of whether a territory is occupied. So, according to this definition, the Gaza Strip, one year after disengagement, remains under occupation.
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It's hot, very hot, in the Gaza Strip. But over the last two months, ever since Israel bombed the new power station in the center of the Strip, the heat has become unbearable. The bombing has disrupted the supply of electricity to some 1.5 million residents; food in refrigerators goes bad, the patients in the hospitals groan, industry and work are paralyzed, traffic is gridlocked and there is a severe water shortage.

On the night of June 28, the Israel Air Force bombed the power station as part of Operation Summer Rains, destroying its six transformers. The assault was approved by the security cabinet, and was intended to pressure the Palestinians into releasing Gilad Shalit, the captured soldier.

The modern power station, financed by Enron in partnership with a Palestinian company, was completely paralyzed, and the Gaza Strip lost some 60 percent of its supply of electricity. Gaza buys the remaining 40 percent from the Israel Electricity Corporation.
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[ 27 August 2006: Message edited by: M. Spector ]