Sunday, January 4, 2009

"Israel" kills 12, including 6 children, while destroying a mosque.



"Israel" has been bombing the same town for a long time.

For example, this photo shows the Israeli air strike against Beit Lahiya on November 15, 2007.
It killed two Palestinians and wounded four more.

The photo is at: http://www.imemc.org/article/51534

Click on the photo to enlarge it.

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"Six children among 12 killed in mosque blast:


"Scenes of carnage as Israeli shells strike crowd of civilians who were leaving evening prayers"


The Observer (U.K.)

Sunday 4 January 2009


The full article is on the Web at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/04/mosque-blast-gaza



The shells could not have fallen at a worse time. Yesterday's afternoon prayers in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya were unusually busy because worshippers had abandoned their evening prayers in the belief that if the Israelis planned to strike, they would do so at night.


But as the townspeople left the mosque at dusk, the explosions began, killing at least 12 people, six of whom were children. They came only hours before the Israeli ground offensive was launched into Gaza.


Fdil Sobih, 40, an ambulance driver who was one of the first people to arrive at the scene, told the Observer that the sight outside the Ibrahim al-Maqadna mosque was horrific, and was made worse by the desperation of locals trying to dig out those buried under the rubble with their hands. "I saw people cut to pieces," he said. "No one expected this here. The mosque is a few hundred metres from the hospital and it is heavily populated and is surrounded by houses.


"The shell had hit the entrance of the mosque, not the mosque itself, hitting people who were stood outside the mosque after their evening prayer, standing talking to one another, shaking hands. They did not deserve it," he said.


The number of people around the mosque was higher than usual, he said.


"People are now combining their evening and night prayers because of fear of Israeli strikes. It was as they were leaving the mosque when they were hit," he said.


Sobih, who has been an ambulance worker for more than a decade, said that he saw no evidence of any Hamas fighters among the injured.


"They were civilians, and some were children. Some neighbours of the mosque were helping the casualties, with blankets and bringing them to the hospital, some neighbouring houses were also damaged by the rockets. No one expected that Israel would fire here - it is very crowded and so close to the hospital."


Kamal Adwan Hospital, which is about 400 metres from the mosque, recorded that 12 people had been killed and 30 injured, 12 of them seriously. Six of the dead victims are believed to be under 18 years old.


The mosque is located in a densely built area of apartment blocks and low-level housing. Reports claimed that there were more than 200 people inside the mosque when the Israeli shells struck....


The Israeli military has destroyed several mosques during its week-long offensive in Gaza...


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