The main UN compound in Gaza was in flames today after being struck by Israeli artillery fire, and a spokesman said that the building had been hit by shells containing the incendiary agent white phosphorus.

The attack on the headquarters of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) came as Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary-General, arrived in Israel on a peace mission and plunged Israel's relations with the world body to a new low.

Mr Ban told reporters in Tel Aviv that he had expressed "strong protest and outrage" to the Israeli Government over the shelling of the compound and was demanding an investigation. He said that Ehud Barak, the Israeli Defence Minister, had told him it was "a grave mistake".

UNWRA, which looks after some four million Palestinian refugees around the region, suspended its operations in Gaza after the attack, in which it said three of its employees had been injured.

Chris Gunness, an UNRWA spokesman, said that the building had been used to shelter hundreds of people fleeing Israel’s 20-day offensive in Gaza. He said that pallets with supplies desperately needed by Palestinians in Gaza were on fire.

"What more stark symbolism do you need?" he said. "You can’t put out white phosphorus with traditional methods such as fire extinguishers. You need sand, we don’t have sand."

The Israeli military has denied using white phosphorus shells in the Gaza offensive, although an investigation by The Times has revealed that dozens of Palestinians in Gaza have sustained serious injuries from the substance, which burns at extremely high temperatures.

The Geneva Convention of 1980 proscribes the use of white phosphorus as a weapon of war in civilian areas, although it can be used to create a smokescreen. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said today that all weapons used in Gaza were "within the scope of international law".

The attack on the UN compound came as Israeli forces pushed deeper into Gaza City and unleashed their heaviest shelling on its crowded neighbourhoods in three weeks of war. At least 15 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli attacks, medical officials said, pushing the death toll up towards 1,100 - a level that Mr Ban described as "unbearable".

It was not clear whether the escalation signalled a new phase in the conflict. Israel has held back from all-out urban warfare in the narrow alleyways of Gaza's cities, where Hamas militants are more familiar with the lay of the land.

Black smoke billowed over Gaza City, terrifying civilians who said they had "nowhere left to hide" from the relentless shelling.

"I am telling you that Gaza is on fire, everything is under attack. We cannot begin to answer all the calls for help, it is desperate. We cannot reach the people, everyone is trapped and we do not know how to help them," said Doctor Moussa El Haddad at Shifa Hospital.

Maha El-Sheiky, 36, said she fled her home in the western suburbs of Gaza City two days ago, moving her family into a school in the centre of the city. "We thought it would be safer here. But now there is shelling everywhere. It is schools and mosques and hospitals. We don’t know what will be next," she said. "We are hiding, it is in God’s hands."

There were reports that the al-Quds hospital in the Tal El Hawa district, Gaza's second-largest, had been shelled, while more than 500 patients were being treated inside.

An explosion also blasted a tower block that houses the offices of Reuters and several other media organisations, injuring a journalist working for the Abu Dhabi television channel.

Reuters journalists working at the time said it appeared the southern side of the 13th floor of the Al-Shurouq Tower in the city centre had been struck by an Israeli missile or shell. Reuters evacuated its bureau.

Several organisations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross and Human Rights Watch, said that they were "certain" that Israel was using white phosphorus shells in Gaza. Human rights workers said that the use of phosphorus in the densely populated Gaza City could constitute a war crime.

Israel launched the offensive on December 27 in an effort to stop militant rocket fire from Gaza that has terrorised hundreds of thousands of Israelis. It says it will press ahead until it receives guarantees of a complete halt to rocket fire and an end to weapons smuggling into Gaza from neighbouring Egypt


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5521925.ece

I wonder how much longer these American Terrorists will keep defending these Israelis from these blatant acts of terrorism. "Accidental" simply doesn't cut it. They knew full well what they were attacking.

If America really cared about the concept of Justice it claims to uphold. They will bring Israel to account for their War Crimes and stop arming them.

Any way, US is UN. And it allows Israel to do everything she likes. No probs. There is hereafter. Allah ya isa!

They used the UN to established their state, now they are destroying it.

this is disgraceful;isreal just shot itselt in the foot i just listened to ehud olmert and its unjustifiable; he's argument that missile were fired from un necessitating the attack is maddening, 1000 dead is unbelievable

Thus saith the LORD of hosts ,  go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.

"David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go and smite these Philistines? And the Lord said unto David, Go, and smite the Philistines ,  So David smote them with a great slaughter."

That was thousands of years ago.  Apparently God's will has not been fully done yet. Some Gentiles are still alive.

Seun:

That was thousands of years ago.  Apparently God's will has not been fully done yet.  Some Gentiles are still alive.

This is where many so-called Christians get themselves brainwashed that killing Philistines (Palestinians) is God's commandment.

Just like there are moronic Muslims who justify killing "the infidels" as sanctioned by Allah, there are moronic Christians who would support the killing of Muslims as long as they believe it's sanctioned by God.

Using religion as an excuse to hate may be as old as religion itself.

RichyBlacK:

This is where many so-called Christians get themselves brainwashed that killing Philistines (Palestinians) is God's commandment.

Another slowpoke who swallows hook line and sinker the arab propaganda he is fed on a daily basis.

No the philistines have absolutely NO connection with the "palestinians" of today. While the philistines were mediteranean and ceased to exist as a people centuries ago, the "palestinians" today are ARABS.

Palestine as a name was used first by Emperor Hadrian (a Roman) in his bid to obliterate the Jewish nation after the Roman destruction of AD 70. As at that time there were no arabs in Israel at all.

@seun: i am terribly appalled at your macabre sense of providential justice, this Israelis you love and crave so much for are even ANTI-CHRISTIAN, make no mistake they'd fry ur ass hotter than HAMAS in jerusalem if u dare show up in a temple saying PRAISE JESUS. Isreal messed up big time in this public relation fiasco by refusing international press coverage and is now scrummaging for crumbs and snippets from WHO when it could have saved itself from this huge embarrassment. this episode sadly is only going fuel the mendacious Islamists hatred for the West and the US, Already Osama Bin Laden has spoken from hiding, beware WORLD

vwvw:

@seun: i am terribly appalled at your macabre sense of providential justice, this Israelis you love and crave so much for are even ANTI-CHRISTIAN, make no mistake they'd fry ur ass hotter than HAMAS in jerusalem if u dare show up in a temple saying PRAISE JESUS. Isreal messed up big time in this public relation fiasco by refusing international press coverage and is now scrummaging for crumbs and snippets from WHO when it could have saved itself from this huge embarrassment. this episode sadly is only going fuel the mendacious Islamists hatred for the West and the US, Already Osama Bin Laden has spoken from hiding, beware WORLD

Really? the same country that lives peacefully with muslims and their myriad of mosques? Do you know the number of christian pilgrims who visit Jerusalem every yr? If they were frying asses there no one would go.

Try and tell the truth sometimes, it doesnt hurt.

@davidylan; really, did you listen to president shimon peres sincerely apologize to the UN scribe on the attack at the UN headquarters, and did u hear Mr Moon say noone deserved to live the way the Isrealis and Palestinians are living. Israel allows Christians into Jerusalem simply because of the profit it makes from tourism dude. And dont tell me who's living peacefully side by side with mosques if you'll unequivocally answer this question who occupied the buffer zone in 1948, who were the bereaved before the 1948 conspiracy. if the truth doesn't hurt sometimes you'll know that these answers are blowing right in the wind.Isreal is learning that u can't live a life of illegality for too long without bearing the consequences.shalom

vwvw:

@davidylan; really, did you listen to president shimon peres sincerely apologize to the UN scribe on the attack at the UN headquarters, and did u hear Mr Moon say noone deserved to live the way the Isrealis and Palestinians are living. Israel allows Christians into Jerusalem simply because of the profit it makes from tourism dude. And dont tell me who's living peacefully side by side with mosques if you'll unequivocally answer this question who occupied the buffer zone in 1948, who were the bereaved before the 1948 conspiracy. if the truth doesn't hurt sometimes you'll know that these answers are blowing right in the wind.Isreal is learning that u can't live a life of illegality for too long without bearing the consequences.shalom

vwvw . . . you really dont have to lie to prove a point. Christians have been living and still live in Israel in perfect peace. Athiests and muslims are also welcome in Israel and it is not just due to tourism.

There are over 1 million arabs in Israel, with the freedom to build skyscraper mosques if they so wish . . . as regards who occupied the buffer zone in 1948, may i ask you who attacked Israel in 1948? Had Israel lost that war the jews would long have been extinct as a people so spare me your islamobot drivel pls.

by the way i am not a muslim but only looking at things unbiasedly. Isreal is illlegally occupying lands it obtained by the sword, so by the sword it will have to protect it. Isreal wasnt a nation until 1948. 99% of Isrealis did not exist as inhabitants of this lands until after the 2nd war where shipped into palestine by the UN's magnanimity. so if ul stop being sentimental you'l realise that Israel brought this calamity on itself. read the bible with heart and the history and law books with your mind; Isreal is an illegal occupier

vwvw:

by the way i am not a muslim but only looking at things unbiasedly.

That is definitely not the case because you have a lot of your history distorted.

vwvw:

Isreal is illlegally occupying lands it obtained by the sword

1. These "lands" were originally part of Israel in 1949 until Jordan siezed the Westbank (originally Judea/Samaria until Jordan renamed it the West Bank in relation to its position from the Jordan river - west of Jordan but East of Israel).

2. Israel siezed the lands back in retaliation for arab invasion in 1967.

3. Israel has tried unsuccessfully to return these lands in return for peace but Egypt and Jordan have bluntly refused to accept it. I posted a NY times article containing the responses of Egyptian and Jordanian official responses that they take back these lands.

4. Israel did not take the lands from the PLO or HAMAS and thus are not bound by ANY international laws to return it to them.

vwvw:

Isreal wasnt a nation until 1948.

We can say the same for Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE . . .

Infact Jordan, as an arab nation had NEVER at anytime existed until 85% of the British mandate of Palestine was carved out and given as a gift to the son of the Sharif of Mecca (which as you is no way near Jordan at all).

Israel historically has always been a nation . . . that it was not recognised by the league of nations until 1948 does not erase that blatant fact of history.

vwvw:

99% of Isrealis did not exist as inhabitants of this lands until after the 2nd war where shipped into palestine by the UN's magnanimity.

Infact we know for a certainty that 100% of the arabs claiming to be "palestinians" today are immigrants from Syria, Egypt and other surrounding arab nations. In 1920 arab immigrants to "palestine" rioted the decision of France to wall them off from norther Syria (the nakba).
We also know that over 50% of Jordan is actually palestinian arab.

vwvw:

so if ul stop being sentimental you'l realise that Israel brought this calamity on itself.

if you stopped being sentimental you'll realise this conflict is not about land but about a religious command to destroy the jews.

vwvw:

read the bible with heart and the history and law books with your mind; Isreal is an illegal occupier

funny . . . history books actually say otherwise. I doubt if you've ever read the bible if not you'd have come across Zechariah chapter 12.

davidylan:

Another slowpoke who swallows hook line and sinker the arab propaganda he is fed on a daily basis.

No the philistines have absolutely NO connection with the "palestinians" of today. While the philistines were mediteranean and ceased to exist as a people centuries ago, the "palestinians" today are ARABS.

Palestine as a name was used first by Emperor Hadrian (a Roman) in his bid to obliterate the Jewish nation after the Roman destruction of AD 70. As at that time there were no arabs in Israel at all.

And who are those people you call Jews in Israel today?

It seems the much awaited calcification of your brain is over! You have no need to make comments anymore until you get/borrow a brain! Zionist slowpoke!

vwvw:

by the way i am not a muslim but only looking at things unbiasedly. Isreal is illlegally occupying lands it obtained by the sword, so by the sword it will have to protect it. Isreal wasnt a nation until 1948. 99% of Isrealis did not exist as inhabitants of this lands until after the 2nd war where shipped into palestine by the UN's magnanimity. so if ul stop being sentimental you'l realise that Israel brought this calamity on itself. read the bible with heart and the history and law books with your mind; Isreal is an illegal occupier

@vwvw,
Davidylan, is just an overzealous Zionist he-goat! The fool thinks anybody who criticizes dirty Israel's apartheid, Nazi-like attitudes is an anti-Semite, Muslim or terrorist. That nama has lost every ability to reason. He only talks about religion from the most shallow perspective but utterly fails to apply the tenets of the religion in his thinking. He is just another bloody hypocrite hiding under the cover of Christianity to revise history and propagate Zionist lies on Nairaland.

RichyBlacK:

And who are those people you call Jews in Israel today?

It seems the much awaited calcification of your brain is over! You have no need to make comments anymore until you get/borrow a brain! Zionist slowpoke!

Learn to admit error with grace idiot.

RichyBlacK:

@vwvw,
Davidylan, is just an overzealous Zionist he-goat! The fool thinks anybody who criticizes dirty Israel's apartheid, Nazi-like attitudes is an anti-Semite, Muslim or terrorist. That nama has lost every ability to reason. He only talks about religion from the most shallow perspective but utterly fails to apply the tenets of the religion in his thinking. He is just another bloody hypocrite hiding under the cover of Christianity to revise history and propagate Zionist lies on Nairaland.

bla bla bla . . . precious little substance oozes from the cranium of an arab slave.

davidylan:

Learn to admit error with grace idiot. 

bla bla bla . . . precious little substance oozes from the cranium of an arab slave.

An Arab Slave can rise to prominence. Go read up on Bilal . _{Telling this dimwit to go read is like expecting a kite to take you to the moon.}

However, a Zionist Zombie like Davidylan has no hope, but eternally confined to the pages of Nairaland!

RichyBlacK:

An Arab Slave can rise to prominence. Go read up on Bilal . _{Telling this dimwit to go read is like expecting a kite to take you to the moon.}

However, a Zionist Zombie like Davidylan has no hope, but eternally confined to the pages of Nairaland!

at least here i can educate a classless slowpoke and force him to take back much of the junk he pours here as "fact".

foolish old man . . .

davidylan:

at least here i can educate a classless slowpoke and force him to take back much of the junk he pours here as "fact".

foolish old man . . .

Stupid young man .

Have you read about Bilal?

RichyBlacK:

Stupid young man .

Have you read about Bilal?

Now that you read about bilal what did it profit your porous brain?
Foolish local baboon.

davidylan:

Now that you read about bilal what did it profit your porous brain? 
Foolish local baboon.

Do some reading outside the Torah, it will help heal the hate that has filled your lost soul. go watch a nice movie on Islam, see the beauty of the religion, so you can learn that Islam is not all about Gaza and Iran.

Ugly transsexual ape . . . still wondering who did that operation for ya .

A black slave can rise to be prince in Arabia only because he is a muslim. . . . a Christian from Abia State is a totally different story. . .

RichyBlacK:

Have you read about Bilal?

Our mai guard for Naija knows about Bilal, maybe that makes him knowledgeable.

You folks prefer to sit in the West talking rubbish about how beautiful Islam is. Strangely, this ''beauty'' has produced some of the most undemocratic and illiterate nations on the planet.

RichyBlacK:

Do some reading outside the Torah, it will help heal the hate that has filled your lost soul. go watch a nice movie on Islam, see the beauty of the religion, so you can learn that Islam is not all about Gaza and Iran.

Ugly transsexual ape . . . still wondering who did that operation for ya .

what a rabid illiterate . . . islam indeed is not about gaza or iran, it is about sudan, mauritania, pakistan and afghanistan.

why dont you pack your bags and head for the "beautiful" home of islam in saudi arabia instead of enjoying a luxurious lifestyle in the west babbling like a toddler?

4 Play:

Our mai guard for Naija knows about Bilal, maybe that makes him knowledgeable.

You folks prefer to sit in the West talking rubbish about how beautiful Islam is. Strangely, this ''beauty'' has produced some of the most undemocratic and illiterate nations on the planet.  

True, only because of Western intent to control their resources.

Islam, like all other religions, has its ugly and dark sides. I do not advocate neither do I deny that such not-so-beautiful aspects exist.

RichyBlacK:

True, only because of Western intent to control their resources.

Islam, like all other religions, has its ugly and dark sides. I do not advocate neither do I deny that such not-so-beautiful aspects exist.

as usual its all the fault of the big bad bully - the west. This guy needs to be hanged by his balls if he has any.

davidylan:

what a rabid illiterate . . . islam indeed is not about gaza or iran, it is about sudan, mauritania, pakistan and afghanistan.  

why dont you pack your bags and head for the "beautiful" home of islam in saudi arabia instead of enjoying a luxurious lifestyle in the west babbling like a toddler?

Saudi Arabia is controlled by Western puppets. Not going to that place. Hopefully, I'll visit Tehran someday and enjoy the beautiful art works in the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art. Where would you be going to? Probably to gang up with settlers in the West Bank to shoot some Palestinian babies in the head. Useless Zionist!

RichyBlacK:

True, only because of Western intent to control their resources.

Islam, like all other religions, has its ugly and dark sides. I do not advocate neither do I deny that such not-so-beautiful aspects exist.

There are at least 1.4 billion Muslims (1.8bn according to an Islamist poster I saw recently in London) and the West is at fault for the prevalence of illiteracy and tyranny in the Muslim world?

You would think that a beautiful philosophy should produce mainly 'good things' amongst its adherents not render them as some of the most backward people on earth.

davidylan:

as usual its all the fault of the big bad bully - the west. This guy needs to be hanged by his balls if he has any.  

Of course! They colonized much of the world, and after that model collapsed, they now intend to control global resources, by hook or by crook.

Richy, a course in Macro-Economics will do you good. . . . you don dey enter Negro Ntns territory. . . .

4 Play:

There are at least 1.4 billion Muslims (1.8bn according to an Islamist poster I saw recently in London) and the West is at fault for the prevalence of illiteracy and tyranny in the Muslim world?

You would think that a beautiful philosophy should produce mainly 'good things' amongst its adherents not render them as some of the most backward people on earth.

Only because your history lessons on Islam and Arabs started in 1901. Please go back to 600-1200 A.D. when Muslim scholars were translating the works of great Greek philosophers and the Roman Catholic church kept Europe under her grip - the Dark Ages, as referred to by historians.

Muslim scholars made great advances in medicine, astronomy and mathematics, while European nations were busy slaughtering each other. Even the numbering system in use today, in the universal language of mathematics, is called the Arabic numerals. You know why?

Ibime:

Richy, a course in Macro-Economics will do you good. . . . you don dey enter Negro Ntns territory. . . .

Thanks, I'll take a class in macroeconomics and maybe microeconomics too. Let me also suggest that you take a course on history, say, first 500 years of Islam.

Thanks once again.