I love the part where the Israeli officer says: “You know they’ve [people of Gaza] started to phone us and ask for help, and ask us what they should do, and we’ve helped a lot of them. They thanked us for that and we want to help more people … Second thing, we’ve got other ways to reach you, very good ways not on this line and in the end your assistance to us will end up helping you too. Every person who doesn’t have to be hurt in Gaza helps us and helps you. We benefit and you benefit. We want to destroy this Hamas leadership who are hiding, afraid for their lives. They are hiding and others are being killed because of them. What are we fighting each other for? Over nothing!”

collaborate with us ……….

The IDF only asked Gazans, via leaflets dropped from the air, for more information about possible targets — without providing any information about how to protect themselves during the attacks.

Here is the translation of one leaflet:
—————————————————————–
Dear people of the Gaza Strip,
Bear the responsibility for your fate!

The Projectile launchers and the terrorist elements pose a threat on you and your families.

If you wish to provide help and assistance to your people in the sector, call the number below to provide us with the needed information.

The future of the massacre is in your hands
Don’t hesitate!

We will be glad to receive any information you have and it is not necessary to give us your personal information.

We will keep it as a secret.
Call us at the following number:
02-5839749
Or e-mail us at:
Helpgaza2008@gmail.com

To provide us with any information on the terrorist factions.

Note: To protect your safety we ask you to be secretive when you call us.

Head of the Israeli defense forces.
——————————————————————–

And, of course, the IDF told Gazans to leave their homes, without making any provisions for temporary shelter.

The Israeli Army have used Palestinians as sheilds and for long hours by having them stand infront and on top of the military vehicles.

This has been documented and the Israeli army was told not to do that in the future!

I hope this was helpful….

But, you will have to do more to win the argument about Hamas being a known terrorist organization, and running any “country”.

Then, you will have to do a lot more to convince me that the aim of Hamas is “just to get the Palistinian [sic] People killed..”.

And, then, please tell me how you think the IDF’s “Operation Cast Lead” is going to solve the problem.

UPDATE: Now, on the Israeli “projectiles” fired, in two separate “incidents”, at — or pehaps just around — the two UNRWA schools where Gazans have sought refuge from the Israeli attacks after being warned by Israeli air-dropped leaflets to flee their homes, the Associated Press is reporting on Wednesday that: “Some 15,000 Palestinians have packed the UN’s 23 Gaza schools because their homes were destroyed or to flee the violence. The UN provided the Israeli military with GPS coordinates for all of them. The three mortar shells that crashed down on the perimeter of the UN school [n.b. - I do note here that the AP says the shells hit "on the perimeter of the UN school" and not "in the courtyard", as reported earlier and elsewhere...] struck at midafternoon, when many people in the densely populated camp were outside getting some fresh air, thinking an area around a school was safe. Images recorded by a cameraman from AP Television News showed crowds fleeing the scene, pavements smeared with blood and battered bodies being carried off by medics and bystanders. A youth who limped away was helped along by several others. Sandals lay scattered on the pavement by a pock-marked wall. ‘There’s nowhere safe in Gaza. Everyone here is terrorized and traumatized’, said John Ging, head of Gaza operations for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency [UNRWA]. An Israeli military statement said it received intelligence that the dead at the girls school included Hamas operatives, among them members of a rocket-launching squad. It identified two of them as Imad Abu Askar and Hassan Abu Askar. Two residents who spoke to an AP reporter by phone said the two brothers were known to be low-level Hamas militants. They said a group of militants — one of them said four — were firing mortar shells from near the school. An Israeli shell targeted the men, but missed and they fled, the witnesses said. Then another three shells landed nearby, exploding among civilians, they said, refusing to allow their names to be published because they feared for their safety”.
See http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ml_israel_palestinians.

But, I should also like to note that there is no “proof” offered of the claims reported here … The reporting simply said that there had been Palestinian firing from near the school, and this appears to be corroborated by “two residents who spoke to an AP reporter by phone” … The IDF claims about intelligence that two members of a rocket-launching squad were killed in the IDF shelling are merely asserted, and not proven. Nor do such IDF claims that “two members of a rocket launching squad” were indeed at the site, and were indeed killed in the IDF retaliation, mean that these two persons in question were indeed launching rockets at their time — nor does it constitute proof that they had ever in fact launched rockets. The AP report simply said “two residents who spoke to an AP reporter by phone” said that there had been Palestinian firing from near the school … It is something, but it is not enough.