The U.S. State Dept. said Sunday it was “appalled” by an Israeli Air Force raid on terrorists near a school run by UNRWA and that Israel must “do more to meet its own standards and avoid civilian casualties.”
Hamas sources, which for some reason remain unquestioned by foreign and even Israeli media, reported that 10 people were killed in the targeted strike on motorcycle terrorists near the school that was used to shelter approximately 3,000 Gazans.
“The IDF targeted three…Islamic Jihad…terrorists on board a motorcycle in the vicinity of an UNRWA school in Rafah,” the IDF announced.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was “outraged” at the attack on terrorists in a civilian area, as if there is a non-civilian area in Gaza where terrorists are located, called for those responsible for the “gross violation of international humanitarian law” to be held accountable. “This madness must stop,” he said , according to a spokesperson.
The harsh comments from Washington came one day after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu slobbered praise all over President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for their statements “regarding Israel’s right to defend itself against rockets and tunnels.”
The Geneva Convention clearly states in Article 51(7) of the 1977 Additional Protocol I, “The presence or movements of the civilian population or individual civilians shall not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations, in particular in attempts to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield, favor or impede military operations.”
U.S. State Dept. spokeswoman Jen Psaki, who says what she is told to say, stated Sunday, “The suspicion that militants are operating nearby does not justify strikes that put at risk the lives of so many innocent civilians.”
Suspicion?