Witness to a shelling : first-hand account of deadly strike on Gaza port | World news

/witness-gaza-shelling-first-hand-accoun

  • Even from a distance of 200 metres, it was obvious that three of them were children. The second shell hit the beach, those firing apparently adjusting their fire to target the fleeing survivors. Journalists standing by the terrace wall shouted: “They are only children !”

    Witness to a shelling: first-hand account of deadly strike on Gaza port | World | The Guardian

    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/16/witness-gaza-shelling-first-hand-account

    The first projectile hit the sea wall of Gaza City’s little harbour just after four o’clock. As the smoke from the explosion thinned, four figures could be seen running, ragged silhouettes, legs pumping furiously along the wall. Even from a distance of 200 metres, it was obvious that three of them were children.

    Jumping off the harbour wall, they turned on to the beach, attempting to cross the short distance to the safety of the Al-Deira hotel, base for many of the journalists covering the Gaza conflict.

    Smoke billows from a beach shack following an Israeli military strike

    It was there that the second shell hit the beach, those firing apparently adjusting their fire to target the fleeing survivors. As it exploded, journalists standing by the terrace wall shouted: “They are only children.

    – gaza port shelling Smoke billows from a beach shack following the in Gaza City which killed four children. Photograph: Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images”

    –— ---

    Et la reprise sur le site d’IMEMC :

    Israeli Naval Ships Attack Children on Gaza Beach, Killing Four -
    International Middle East Media Center

    http://imemc.org/article/68492

    An Israeli naval ship fired multiple artillery shells at children on a beach in Gaza City Wednesday, killing four children between the ages of 9 and 11, and wounding a number of other children.


    Child injured in Gaza beach attack (image by Ma’an)

    Reporters for AFP and the Guardian witnessed the attack, which took place near a hotel where the few foreign journalists in Gaza are staying.

    The children were identified as Ahed Atef Bakir, 10, Zakariya Ahed Bakir, 10, Mohammad Ramiz Bakir, 11, and Ismail Mahmoud Bakir, 9. Neighbors report that they were brothers and cousins, helping their father/uncle with a fishing boat.

    Peter Beaumont of the Guardian witnessed the shelling of the children, and said that after the first shell struck, and survivors were rushing for cover, Israeli naval forces fired a second shell at the survivors.

    He described the attack as follows: “The retaining wall of Gaza’s harbour sticks out into the Mediterranean about 100 metres from the terrace of al-Deira hotel, base to many of the journalists covering the conflict in Gaza. The first of the artillery shells came in a little after 4pm on Wednesday as I was writing on the hotel’s terrace.

    Lire aussi :

    http://seenthis.net/messages/276537

    #gaza #enfance #meurtres_d_enfants

    • Et pendant que le journaliste du Guardian assiste en direct au meurtre de quatre enfants, Valérie Amos est préoccupée.

      Centre d’actualités de l’ONU - Gaza : Valerie Amos préoccupée par le grand nombre de victimes civils, dont des enfants

      http://www.un.org/apps/newsFr/storyF.asp?NewsID=32977

      16 juillet 2014 – La Secrétaire générale adjointe des Nations Unies aux affaires humanitaires, Valerie Amos, a exprimé mercredi sa préoccupation concernant la situation à Gaza, où l’offensive israélienne fait de plus en plus de victimes. Selon les estimations, au 15 juillet, 194 Palestiniens ont été tués dans des attaques israéliennes, dont 149 civils.

      #être_préoccupé

  • Four Young Boys Killed Playing on Gaza Beach
    By ANNE BARNARD and TYLER HICKSJULY 16, 2014
    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/17/world/middleeast/gaza-strip-beach-explosion-kills-children.html

    The first explosion left a small shack burning on the jetty. Several boys could be seen fleeing along the beach. About 30 seconds later came the second blast, and when the dust cleared, three figures lay motionless on the sand. One had most of a leg blown off, his body charred; a few yards away lay a smaller one with curly hair.

    (...)

    Alon Ben-David, a senior military affairs journalist with extensive Israeli military sources, said information he had seen indicated that the military had identified the beach shack as belonging to Hamas and fired at it.

    Mr. Ben-David speculated that the second blast had been aimed at the children running away, who might have been mistaken for militants. But he added that given the military’s technologically advanced surveillance equipment, “it is a little hard for me to understand this, because the images show that the figures are children .”

    #assassins_et_fiers_de_l'être #assassins_adulés #impunité #Israël #enfants

    • Witness to a shelling : first-hand account of deadly strike on Gaza port
      There is a deafening explosion, then a second. Four children are dead. Four survivors reach the safety of our hotel

      Peter Beaumont in Gaza
      The Guardian, Wednesday 16 July 2014
      http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/16/witness-gaza-shelling-first-hand-account

      (...) It was there that the second shell hit the beach, those firing apparently adjusting their fire to target the fleeing survivors. As it exploded, journalists standing by the terrace wall shouted: “They are only children.”

      In the space of 40 seconds, four boys who had been playing hide and seek among the fishermen’s shacks built on the wall were dead. They were aged between seven and 11; two were named Mohammad, one Zakaria and the youngest Ahed. All were members of the extended Bakr family.

      Three others who were injured made it to the hotel: Hamad Bakr, aged 13, with shrapnel in his chest; his cousin Motasem, 11, injured in his head and legs, and Mohammad Abu Watfah, 21, who was hit by shrapnel in his stomach. (...)

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      à comparer avec le témoignage d’un autre journaliste :

      Des missiles israéliens tuent quatre enfants à Gaza
      http://www.franceinter.fr/depeche-des-missiles-israeliens-tuent-quatre-enfants-a-gaza
      Par Ludovic Piedtenu, Olivier Bénis | 16 Juillet 2014

      Ils sont tombés sur une plage près d’un hôtel où résident des journalistes, tuant quatre enfants qui jouaient dans une cabane. De son côté, le Hamas a refusé officiellement le cessez-le-feu proposé par l’Égypte.

      C’est un bombardement qui risque de porter un nouveau coup important à l’image de l’opération de l’armée israélienne : plusieurs missiles ont frappé une plage à quelques mètres de l’hôtel où se trouve la presse internationale. Et le bilan est lourd : quatre enfants tués, selon nos reporters sur place.

      Les tirs ont frappé une cabane située sur une plage de Gaza. Un groupe d’enfants était en train d’y jouer. Quelques-uns ont réussi à s’enfuir après l’explosion du premier missile, d’autres sont morts presque immédiatement après le bombardement.