August 15 2014; by Diane V. McLoughlin
Gaza: 459 children killed; 1,962 total fatalities; 226 have been identified as being from armed groups; 9,986 injured including 3,009 children;16,700 homes destroyed or severely damaged; 335,000 people in shelters or doubled-up in homes; 25 schools entirely destroyed or severely damaged [ochaopt.org - Occupied Palestinian Territory Gaza Emergency Situation Report, as of August 12 2014 pdf].
Report: United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA): 'Humanitarian relief personnel, objects used for relief operations – including UNRWA schools in Gaza used as shelters – are protected under international law.
'Whilst data on damage to UNRWA installations is according to preliminary information and subject to change based on further verification, particularly in those areas pending unexploded ordnance (UXO) clearance, UNRWA estimates that at least 103 installations have been damaged since 8 July 2014, the majority being UNRWA schools. There is also recorded damage to health centers, sanitation and social services facilities, and the UNRWA compound in Gaza City. Some of UNRWA installations were damaged on multiple occasions.' [Gaza Situation Report No. 37 August 15 2014; UNRWA] .
Hospitals; ambulances; rescue workers:
Excerpt of first-person accounts of an incident by ambulance emergency rescue workers:
Background: Mohammad Al-Abadlah, 32, a paramedic who worked for the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS), was killed on 25 July in Qarara by Israeli army gunfire when he was attempting to rescue an injured man stranded in an area controlled by the Israeli military. Hassan Al-Attal, 40, a colleague of Mohammad Al-Abadlah who was with him at the time and witnessed the shooting, told Amnesty International:
“On 25 July, my colleague Mohammad Al-Abadlah and I were tasked with reaching an injured man in Qarara...At one point while driving in the ambulance we were blocked by live electric wires on the road. We informed the Red Cross that the road was blocked and we could not cross. They asked us to try to cross somehow, but we told them we couldn’t. They then called the Israelis and told them about the wires blocking the road and how we were unable to cross. They got back to us saying the army says to get out of the car and cross on foot with our flashlights. So, Mohammad said to me ‘Let’s go, they agreed that we can go walking and collect the case from them directly’.
“We got out, we crossed about 10-12 metres and suddenly we were being fired at directly. My colleague screamed and said ‘I’ve been shot’. The shooting continued everywhere, so I could not pull him away or else I too would have got shot and fallen beside him – so I ran and sat in the ambulance. I called the station and told them we had been fired at and Mohammad was injured. The head of the centre came with two ambulances to try and save our colleague. When the colleagues got out to try and take Mohammed, they too were fired at. The head of the centre asked the Red Cross to ask for shooting to stop while we evacuated Mohammad. We brought him but sadly he died...'.
Corroborating testimony, by Mohammad Ghazi Al-Hessy, head of the PRCS’s centre in Khan Younis, who received the call to rescue Mohammad and attended to it with his other colleagues, includes this:
“When we received this call from the Red Cross. They said it was Israel that had requested the evacuation of the injured person...'.
[Evidence of medical workers and facilities being targeted by Israeli forces in Gaza; Amnesty International report, August 7 2014];
Farms and food production facilities: 'The recent fighting has resulted in substantial direct damage to Gaza's 17,000 hectares of croplands as well as much of its agricultural infrastructure, including greenhouses, irrigation systems, animal farms, fodder stocks and fishing boats.' [Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; August 14 2014];
Water, electricity and sewage infrastructure - targeted. [Under fire in Gaza and not a drop to drink; Kristen Chick; Christian Science Monitor; July 24 2014.]
Israel: Three civilians, 67 soldiers killed; one gas station hit; damage to a few homes.
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