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Friday, March 20, 2015

A Hamas rocket hit a mosque in Gaza last summer, injuring 10 (MAG report part 2)

On August 1, the UN's OCHA reported in its daily Gaza situation report:
Also of concern are continuing incidents where humanitarian relief personnel and objects have come under attack. At 06:15 this morning, IDF troops fired five shells at Omar Bin Al Khatab mosque, northeast of Jabalia, spraying a nearby UNRWA school with shrapnel, and injuring ten IDPs who were taking shelter there, including two in serious condition. 

It turns out that the mosque was hit by Gaza terror rockets, not Israeli munitions:

According to the factual findings collated by the FFA Mechanism and presented to the MAG, no such strikes were identified as having been carried out by IDF forces. However, the path of a rocket fired from inside the Gaza Strip, apparently by Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, was identified by the IDF in real time, and which struck in the immediate vicinity of the mosque at the exact time in question. In light of the fact that the injury to the individuals in the school resulted from rocket fire by Palestinian terror organizations, the MAG ordered the case to be closed. 
Is Chris Gunness going to express outrage that a Hamas or Islamic Jihad rocket injured 10 people sheltering at a UNRWA school?

We know that there were hundreds of Gaza rockets that fell in Gaza. Every case of  death and injury during the war has a non-trivial chance of being the result of Hamas or Islamic Jihad rockets. We know of one case of nine children killed by a Hamas rocket. In the months before the war there were at least three Gaza civilians, and a number of terrorists, who were killed by terror rockets.

Once incident in Beit Hanoun seems likely to have been from a Hamas rocket as well:

Correspondence from an NGO alleged that in the morning hours of 22 July 2014, the IDF "struck three ambulances that were involved in the evacuation of wounded persons east of the industrial area of Bet Hanoun. One of the wounded persons in an ambulance was killed and the three vehicles were seriously damaged". As a result, and in accordance with the MAG's investigation policy, the incident was referred to the FFAM.
Following a thorough review conducted by the FFAM with all the forces identified as operating in the relevant area, such a strike by IDF forces operating in that area could not be identified. Likewise, and in contrast to other complaints concerning similar incidents, no report could be located from the time of the incident indicating that harm had been caused to a rescue crew. In turn, the FFAM did not dismiss the possibility that damage, insofar as such occurred, was the result of activity other than that of the IDF.

No NGO or news media are investigating these incidents of apparent rocket attacks within Gaza itself. Because they don't care about the truth and they don't care about dead Gazans- they only care about blaming Israel.