The Real Truth about the
U.S.-Backed Israeli Invasion of Gaza

January 2009: Israel is waging a brutal war on the 1.5 million people in Gaza, trying to break the spirit of resistance of the Palestinian people. On January 3, after seven days of bombing, some 9,000-10,000 Israeli troops invaded Gaza. Now at least 870 Palestinians have been killed. More than 200 have been children. Over 3,300 have been wounded, an estimated 45 percent of them women and children. (During this period, a total of 13 Israelis have died, 4 by friendly fire).

As we write, Israel refuses to agree to a ceasefire and has instead sent tanks and troops deeper into Gaza, including into heavily populated urban areas. This promises even more slaughter and suffering.

Slaughter At A UN School

January 6: Israel fired mortar shells at a school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza City. 280 families, some 1,674 people, had taken refuge there after Israel “warned” people to leave their homes. The school was clearly marked, and the UN had given the Israelis its GPS coordinates to avoid an accidental attack. Yet the Israelis struck anyway, killing 46 and wounding 55. Israel immediately claimed Hamas was firing at Israeli forces from the school grounds. This was quickly exposed as a lie. UN Relief and Works Agency spokesperson Christopher Gunness told Democracy Now! (January 7): “At the Jabalya school, we have done an initial investigation into what took place. We are 99.9 percent certain there were no militants in the school or the compound. There was no militant activity in the school or in the school compound.”

Massacre of the Samouni Family

At least 30 members of a single extended family, the al Samounis, were slaughtered in Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City. About 110 family members had taken refuge on January 4, in a crowded residential block after the Israeli army ordered them to leave their homes. The next day the area was repeatedly shelled by Israeli forces. The Israelis denied ambulance access to the area for four days. When aid workers were finally allowed in, they found four starving children lying next to their dead mothers; 40 to 50 dead bodies; and 100 other survivors. A Palestinian medical worker said they found bodies run over by tanks and dead children that had been partially eaten by dogs.

First Siege, Then Slaughter

Israel’s slaughter comes on top of an 18-month siege which made Gaza one of the world’s most impoverished areas, with malnutrition widespread and half of all families eating only one meal a day. Now more than a million Gazans have no electricity or water. Many are cut off from food supplies. Gaza’s water and sewage system is on the verge of collapse, threatening the spread of disease. Israel has bombed and destroyed tunnels between Gaza and Egypt which were a key source of food, medicines, and other needed supplies.

White Phosphorous and
Cluster Bombs

Israel is using white phosphorous and cluster bombs. These weapons mainly harm or kill civilians. White phosphorous, used to create smokescreens, causes injuries and death by deep burns, inhalation, or being ingested. Cluster bombs explode into deadly fragments, which can kill or maim. The Fourth Geneva Convention bans the targeting of civilians.