Since Israel began ?Operation Cast Lead? in Gaza Dec. 27 in an
>attempt
>to stop Iran-backed Hamas from its years-long campaign to kill and
>injure civilians in Israel, some have used the opportunity to spread
>misinformation about Israel?s actions, intentions and the overall
>situation in Gaza. Following are examples of fabrications ? refuted >by
>factual accounts provided by international aid organizations, Arab
>leaders, and Palestinian journalists.
>
>"While there is real suffering in Gaza, it is important to sort fact
>from fiction and understand that Hamas is responsible for this sad
>situation," said Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, founder and president of >The
>Israel Project. "The important thing now is to defeat terror so that
>there can be a two-state solution and lasting peace. Both sides need >a
>better future."
>
>1) Fiction: There?s no food in Gaza and people are starving.
>News reports, including one produced by TV station France 2 on Dec.
>29, showed a Gaza resident in a food store saying:
>?Apparently, there is nothing, as you can see. There are no natural
>products for the kids. There is no milk. There is nothing here.?[1] >
>Fact: Warehouses in Gaza are filled to capacity, according to
>international aid groups. In the same France 2 TV clip referenced
>above, upon closer inspection, shelves filled with food can be seen
True facts (Not propaganda): UN agency warns of food shortage in Gaza due to Israeli blockade
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- According to WFP, the population is facing a food crisis. There are food shortages of flour, rice, sugar, dairy products, milk, canned foods and fresh meats.
- The imports entering are insufficient to support the population or to service infrastructure ? maintenance and repair needs.
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>2) Fiction: Gaza has no medical and other aid supplies to help the >injured. >
>Fact: During the first 5 days alone of Operation Cast Lead, Israel >has
>facilitated the delivery of 6,500 tons of aid ?
True facts (Not propaganda): Gaza Humanitarian Situation Report 02 Jan 2009 14:30
- The health system is overwhelmed, having already been weakened by the 18- month blockade.
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CARE medical shipment permitted into Gaza-Struggling health system on the verge of collapse We have been trying for more than a month and a half to get this shipment into Gaza and are relieved that it is finally going through. Gaza?s health system is at the breaking point after 19 months of blockade and is overwhelmed with casualties. Hospitals and clinics lack pharmaceuticals such as anesthetic and cleaning fluid, spare parts and basic equipment as well as electricity. The list goes on,? said Martha Myers, CARE?s Country Director for CARE International in Gaza
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3) Fiction: Israel is refusing to allow injured Gazans into Israeli
>and Egyptian hospitals for treatment.
>
>Fact:
>Gheit said earlier this week that Hamas was not allowing wounded
>Palestinians to cross the border into Egypt for treatment: ?We are
>waiting for the wounded Palestinians to cross. They are not being
>allowed to cross.? Asked who was to blame, he referred to Gaza by
>saying, ?Ask the party in control on the ground in Gaza.?[12]
True facts (Not propaganda): Egyptian ambulances have already brought 43 wounded Palestinians from Gaza to this northern city?s general hospital, with 15 of them needing respirators to keep them alive, said Dr. Muhammad al-Gabr, who has been trying to get them to more sophisticated surgical hospitals in Cairo.
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4) Fiction: Israel is purposely targeting civilians.
>
>Fact: While Israel goes out of its way to minimize civilian
>casualties, Hamas actually places civilians in harm?s way and uses
>them as shields. Because Hamas is known to use civilian residences to
>hide their weapons, on Dec. 27, the Israeli military ? before
>launching an attack on such storehouses - called thousands of
>civilians in Gaza on their cell phones and left Arabic-language
>messages urging them to leave homes being used for weapons storage. >[13] >
>On Dec. 30, a reformist Iranian newspaper published a statement by a
>student organization that criticized Hamas for risking civilian
>lives,
>including children, by hiding its forces in nurseries and hospitals.
>The Iranian Culture Ministry shut down the newspaper after it printed
>the statements.[14]
In a report on the 2006 conflict between Israel and Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon, the non-profit Human Rights Watch said Israeli officials "made the serious allegation that Hezbollah routinely used 'human shields' to immunize its forces from attack and thus bears responsibility for the high civilian toll in Lebanon."
But, the report stated, "the available evidence indicates that in the vast majority of cases Hezbollah fighters left populated civilian areas as soon as the fighting started and fired the majority of their rockets from pre-prepared positions in largely unpopulated valleys and fields outside villages."
Zunes said that even if Hamas is using voluntary human shields, as described by Guiora, that doesn't alone absolve Israel of the moral and legal responsibility for civilian casualties caused in its attacks. "By definition, if you are there voluntarily, you are not a human shield, but in a super-crowded place like Gaza there are not very many places you can run," he said.
That was evidenced Tuesday when Palestinian sisters Haya and Lama Hamdan, ages 4 and 12, were killed while dumping garbage in an empty field near their home in northern Gaza.
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>
>5) Fiction: Israel has cut off electricity to Gaza.
>
>Fact: In the past, Hamas officials have committed deceptions such as
>pulling dark curtains in mid-day while holding a meeting to make it
>look as though they were being forced to work by candlelight ? a sham
>exposed by journalists who showed that it was actually daylight
>outside at the time.[18] The ruse was carried out with the complicity
>of some Arab satellite TV stations. More recent such deceptions have
>come to light as recently as November 2008, when Palestinian
Fuel shortages have meant that the power cuts are extensive. Hospitals have generators and enough fuel to last for a week or so but with limited spare parts. The biggest problem is the sheer number of casualties medical staff are having to deal with, which now outstrip the numbers of bed available.
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6) Fiction: Palestinian journalists are unbiased and show what?s
>?really? happening in Gaza.
>
>Fact: Some Palestinian journalists are manipulating and exploiting
>unintended victims of the Israeli strikes. Said one Palestinian
>journalist, members of the Palestinian media are ?directing?
>civilians
>to cry and telling them what to say in interviews: "A mother of one >of
>the martyrs stood by the door of the intensive care unit while
>crying... relatives and those around her were telling her what she
>should say to the television cameras: 'Say your son [before he died]
>prayed and went out.' Another tells her: 'Curse the Arab leaders'...
>The journalists [in the hospitals] are going overboard in their
>insensitivity and taking advantage of the [difficult] moments, with
>the explanation that they are showing this to the world. One
>cameraman
>told a mourning mother: 'Hit your face, cry, do some action.'"[23]
And Israeli is not. Pull the other one. Or at least stop attacking children.