4 Gaza Children Killed By Israeli Shelling
July 17th, 2014WARNING: GRAPHIC
Via: Reuters:
Four Palestinian children were killed and one was critically wounded on a Gaza beach on Wednesday by a shell fired by an Israeli naval gunboat, a Palestinian health official said.
Asked about the incident, an Israeli military spokesman in Tel Aviv said he was checking the report.
“The kids were playing football on the beach. They were all … under the age of 15,” said Ahmed Abu Hassera, 22.
“When the first shell hit the land, they ran away but another shell hit them all,” said Abu Hassera, whose shirt was stained with blood.
“It looked as if the shells were chasing them,” he told Reuters.
Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesman for the Gaza Health Ministry, said four of the youngsters were killed and a fifth youth was in critical condition. “This is a cowardly crime,” he said.
Target practise.
Sounds familiar:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_beach_explosion_(2006)
The reporter who witnessed this killing has been removed by NBC News.
NBC News Pulls Veteran Reporter from Gaza After Witnessing Israeli Attack on Children
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/07/17/nbc-removes-ayman-mohyeldin-gaza-coverage-witnesses-israeli-beach-killing-four-boys/
Ayman Mohyeldin, the NBC News correspondent who personally witnessed yesterday’s killing by Israel of four Palestinian boys on a Gazan beach and who has received widespread praise for his brave and innovative coverage of the conflict, has been told by NBC executives to leave Gaza immediately. According to an NBC source upset at his treatment, the executives claimed the decision was motivated by “security concerns” as Israel prepares a ground invasion, a claim repeated to me by an NBC executive. But late yesterday, NBC sent another correspondent, Richard Engel, along with an American producer who has never been to Gaza and speaks no Arabic, into Gaza to cover the ongoing Israeli assault (both Mohyeldin and Engel speak Arabic).