Israel burns UN food, medical relief warehouses

Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse, they do.

Overnight Israeli forces shelled the headquarters of UNRWA, the United Nations relief agency for Gaza, sparking a massive fire. The UNRWA site also happens to be the main warehouse for all of the UN's medical and food aid to Gaza and, according to the BBC, was a makeshift shelter for more than 700 Palestinian civilians. CNN is reporting that all of the food and all of the medicine stored in the warehouse has burned and that UN staff are now trying to keep the rest of the compound from going up as well (because of the war Palestinian emergency services are in shambles and water service to the Gaza Strip is unreliable).

UN chief Ban Ki-Moon, in the region to help prod the cease-fire negotiations along, was described as being furious and expressed his outrage over the attack to Israeli officials. According to Ban, the Israelis told him the HQ was hit “by mistake”, though Defense Minister Ehud Barak later publicly denied the ‘mistake’ explanation (so they attacked the UN HQ on purpose?). Israel also hit a building that houses most of the foreign press agencies in Gaza and, according to some reports, a hospital overnight as well.

Israel apparently used white phosphorus artillery shells to hit the UN compound. White phosphorus is a material that burns fiercely on contact with air and cannot be extinguished with water. Militaries use white phosphorus shells to create smokescreens on the battlefield, but their use against people (soldiers or otherwise) or their use against structures are both considered violations of international law.

With the conflict about to finish its third week, the death toll among the Palestinians has passed 1,000, with half that number being women and children according to most accounts. It's no wonder then that diplomats from around the world are warning Israel that the conflict is causing serious, long-term damage to their global image. Israel's Haaretz newspaper spoke with a number of diplomats and ambassadors from around the world, the message from all was basically the same - Israel's Gaza offensive has gone too far. One unnamed European ambassador, described by Haaretz as a ‘great friend of Israel’ told the paper: “your action is brutal and you don't realize how much damage this is causing you in the world. This is not only short term. It's damage for years. Is this the Israel you want to be?”

Burning down the UN aid warehouse certainly won’t help Israel’s image.