Israel Admits to Killing Five Children at Cemetery in Gaza

 

Israel officials initially claimed the deaths could have been caused by misfired rockets from Islamic Jihad

by Dave DeCamp 

Posted onAugust 16, 2022CategoriesNewsTagsGaza, Israel

Israeli military officials have admitted that an Israeli airstrike was responsible for killing five Palestinean children at a cemetery in Gaza during Israel’s recent three-day bombing campaign against the besieged enclave.

The Israeli airstrike hit the Al-Faluja Cemetery next to the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza on August 7. After the incident, Israeli officials claimed the children could have been killed by a misfired rocket launched by the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad.

But Israeli military officials told Haaretz that an Israeli Army inquiry into the incident found that Israel was to blame. The victims’ ages ranged from four to 17 and most were from the same family. They were killed as they sat next to their grandfather’s grave in the cemetery.

According to Al Jazeera, the victims were Jamil Najm al-Deen Naijm, age 4, Jamil Ihab Najim, 13, Mohammad Nijm, 17, Hamed Nijm, 17, and Nazmi Abu Karsh, 15.

The three-day Israeli bombing campaign killed 49 Palestinians, including 17 children. The bombardment started on August 5 when the initial Israeli strike killed an Islamic Jihad leader, a five-year-old girl, and several other Palestinians.

Israel still claims that some of the dead were killed by errant Islamic Jihad rockets, but that account has been disputed by Palestinians. The Israeli military officials speaking to Haaretz claimed that a similar incident in the Jabalya refugee camp that killed eight civilians, including children, was caused by an errant rocket.

After Israel agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza, President Biden and other US officials expressed strong support for Israel’s bombing campaign. Biden said he was “proud” of US support for Israel, and the US ambassador to Israel said the US was “fully supportive” of the country’s actions in Gaza.

https://news.antiwar.com/2022/08/16/israel-admits-to-killing-five-children-at-cemetery-in-gaza/