UN HEARS APPALLING GAZA WAR TESTIMONY

A UN human rights mission on June 28 heard gruesome testimonies about Israel’s three-week military onslaught against the sealed-off Gaza Strip, which killed and maimed thousands of civilians. “We were shocked when we heard the loud noise coming from the Israeli shelling,” wheelchair-bound Ziad al-Deeb told investigators. “Then one of the missiles landed on top of us,” he recalled, adding that 11 people were killed in the strike. “My legs were cut off, and then I looked and saw my father and my family. Most of them had been killed. The children were screaming.” One of the UN investigators asked if there had been any warning before the Israeli strike. “There was no warning,” Deeb asserted. “If there had been, we would have left.” The UN human rights council on Israeli human rights violations during its Gaza war is holding two days of public hearings for victims and witnesses. The UN mission, headed by South African judge Richard Goldstone, visited the battered Gaza Strip earlier this month and toured 14 sites in and around Gaza City. They held interviews with several individuals and organizations. The UN team plans to hold similar hearings in Geneva before issuing its final report, expected by September 12. Israeli troops killed more than 1,350 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and wounded 5,450 others in 22 days of air, sea and land attacks. The onslaught wrecked havoc on the infrastructure of the densely-populated enclave, home of nearly 1.6 million, leaving tens of thousands of homes and other buildings in ruins. Israeli soldiers have admitted killing innocent Palestinians in cold blood and ransacking their properties during the war.