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US voices growing frustration with Israeli army over Gaza strikes

18 September, 2024 | Filed under: All News,more news,RECENT POSTS | Posted by:

The U.S. envoy to the United Nations on Monday criticized Israel’s military for targeting schools, humanitarian workers and civilians in Gaza.

A vehicle moves past the rubble of collapsed buildings in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestine, Sept. 16, 2024. (AFP Photo)
A vehicle moves past the rubble of collapsed buildings in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestine, Sept. 16, 2024. (AFP Photo)

The finger-pointing comes as a sign of growing American frustration with its closest ally as Tel Aviv’s genocidal war nears its first anniversary.

Israel has repeatedly claimed it targets Hamas members in retaliation for the Oct. 7 incursion of southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people.

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield was unusually outspoken against the Israeli military at a U.N. Security Council meeting, saying many of the strikes in recent weeks that injured or killed U.N. personnel and humanitarian workers “were preventable.”

Many council members cited last week’s Israeli strike on a former school turned civilian shelter run by the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, in which six UNRWA staffers were among at least 18 people killed, including women and children.

Israel claims it targeted an alleged Hamas command-and-control center in the compound and Israel’s U.N. ambassador, Danny Danon, asserted Monday that Hamas members were killed in the strike. He named four, accusing them of working for UNRWA during the day and Hamas at night without providing any substantial evidence.

Implement “fundamental changes”

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an independent investigation.

U.S. Ambassador to U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield speaks during a U.N. Security Council meeting at the United Nations headquarters, New York City, U.S., Sept. 16, 2024. (AFP Photo)
U.S. Ambassador to U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield speaks during a U.N. Security Council meeting at the United Nations headquarters, New York City, U.S., Sept. 16, 2024. (AFP Photo)

Thomas-Greenfield told council members that the U.S. will keep raising the need for Israel to facilitate humanitarian operations in the Palestinian territory and protect humanitarian workers and facilities like the UNRWA shelter.

She also reiterated U.S. “outrage” at the death of Turkish American activist Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, who was shot and killed during a protest in the West Bank last week.

Israeli Defense Forces said it likely killed Eygi by mistake, and the government has begun a criminal investigation.

Thomas-Greenfield said the United States expects Israeli military leaders to implement “fundamental changes” in their operations – including to their rules of engagement and procedures to ensure that military operations do not conflict with humanitarian activities and do not target schools and other civilian facilities.

“We have also been unequivocal in communicating to Israel that there is no basis – absolutely none – for its forces to be opening fire on clearly marked U.N. vehicles as recently occurred on numerous occasions,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

Over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s genocidal war so far, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Source:dailysabah.com