Israeli military spokesmen deny that their forces have used phosphorus in Gaza, despite photographs and film of munitions showing similar characteristics to the potentially lethal shells.
Phosphorous shells are not illegal if they are used to create a smokescreen or to illuminate targets, rather than as a weapon against people, military experts and human rights campaigners said yesterday.
White phosphorus produces layers of thick white smoke when exposed to oxygen, but phosphorus from an explosion will cause serious burns that can melt flesh to the bone and kill. Its use as an offensive ammunition is banned by the chemical weapons convention. Israel used phosphorus in the war with Lebanon in 2006.
This is 10-year old Palestinian Loay Soboh, who lost his eyes in an Israeli air strike, at Shifa hospital in Gaza before being taken to Saudi Arabia for treatment.
Children make up more than half of Gaza's 1.5 million inhabitants, and as such have found themselves in the firing line since Israel began its offensive against Hamas.
According to recent UN figures, more than 265 children have been killed and over 1,080 wounded.
The war on Gaza is not a natural catastrophe like the Tsunami: this is a man made disaster that deepens while the world watches.
Are we watching? Are we listening? Are we talking about it?
What are we doing?
14 comments:
This is so terrible. I will never understand why so many want war. Those poor children are there and can't do anything about it.
Take care, Chrissie
All good questions, Antonella, and sadly, I have no answers for you.
I do hope Obama will take some immediate diplomatic action on Tuesday. I am keeping my fingers crossed.
what kind of warped thinking allows the use of phosphorous shells in smokescreens while they're banned as weapons, that's surely going to be abused. Why not ban them all together? I know bans can always be flouted but at least a total ban would have more impact than a partial ban?
I wish I had answers for you, Antonella. But, like Beth, I have none either. I feel so powerless.
Carissima, stavo per rispondere a una domanda che mi hai posto sul mio blog e nell'aprire il tuo ho trovato questo tuo duro documento. E' inconcepibile come un silenzio ipocrita sia complice di un simile terribile misfatto. Ho letto da qualche parte che i razzi di Hamas provocano vittime innocenti e quelli Israeliani vittime collaterali. Sempre povera gente é da qualsiasi parte la guardi.
Ho aderito a una richiesta di amici su Facebook per l'invio di una mail di cui ti invito a prendere visione, decidi tu cosa è meglio per te.
http://piove-governoladro.blogspot.com/2009/01/una-mail-per-gaza.html
Invece per rispondere alla tua domanda circa il museo di scenze naturali, se tu conosci Torino, il museo è alloggiato in una grande ala dell'ospedale Giovanni Battista in via Giolitti ma a mio avviso non merita una visita se hai altro da fare, la cosa migliore era quel bambino che prendeva appunti. Scusa la lunghezza e grazie della visita.
I always feel sorry for the children. They had no choice of what country they live in and surely didn't vote for war.
Did you read about the man who is doing a hunger strike protest in York Minster? I think he's on about day 7 of 10 - there's a video of him on the York Press website.
@Ruby: I did not know about this, thanks for letting me know, Ruby. I've just read the article and the man seems at least to do something according to his concience. I do not know if this can be of any help, but it attracts attention onto the devastating problem.
@Missie: Yes, they are the innocent victims of something they do not know and do not understand.
@Livio: Grazie del tuo utile commento. Sono d'accordo con te, si tratta di vittime innocenti da entrambe le parti. Vedi pero' la differenza del conto delle vittime... Grazie del link, e' un'ottima idea,scrivero' stasera stessa. Grazie delle informazioni sul museo. Cari saluti. A.
@Hilda: Yes, there are no answers. Yet. I hope there will be soon. Until then, guilt and pain.
@GGP: You're perfectly right. A total ban would be the right solution. But you also know very well the economical implications of all this. The weapon industry is too strong and is tightly connected to politics.
@La Belette: My first disappointment in Obama was last week when he kept silent. He had enough to say about the state of the economy but kept stumm on the Gaza conflict. I just hope I'm wrong!
@Beth: Let's hope that someone will find the answers and the solutions before the death toll will raise even more.
@Chrissie: War is not only a political issue, but economic as well. Just try to think who benefits from wars. Those who pay for them are always the innocents.
Pressure on governments around the world is required. A new generation of children are learning a reason to hate. Somewhere it has to stop.
Hi Mo, This is absolutely right. The hate towards Israel is mounting up even among the non-Arab countries. It will be a "conflict" that will spread much further than the Gaza Strip. At this point it does not matter anymore who fired the first rocket. Everybody has to stop.
The worst part here is that no one even knows what is going on. This is barely a blip on the news here. They literally spend hours talking about the weather and nothing about these horrors. It's like no one even cares.
Awful. Have cried and cried over those appalling pictures and news we see on daily basis and feel so bloody useless. It is the most ridulous war... like a horribly ominous and fatal playground fight, with no further purpose than to beat the other side.
@YM: They talk quite a lot about it here in Europe but it is the so-called "all talk and no action". The French President Sarkozy was the first and only one who showed some guts and started moving, drowned by the quasi total indifference of the other Governments. You know, Robin, the European governments are just puppets in the hands of the US and everybody seems to await for a signal by Obama. Well, this is my opinion, at least.
@Ladybird World Mother: Welcome to my chaotic blog and thanks for your comments. I know what you mean when you talk about feeling useless. Pity that our Government do not feel the same. Also, if I may sa so, I do not consider this to be a war. I think this is an invasion exactly as Saddam did on Kuwait. But there is no oil in Palestina, so who cares? Hope I haven't scared you away!!!
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