RAFAH: A JOURNALIST’S ACCOUNT

The following is an account of a journalist who accompanied Israeli forces during Operation Rainbow in the Gaza Strip on May 19th: We began the morning at the Bnei Atzmon "settlement" in the Gaza Strip where the army had set up its headquarters for Operation Rainbow. The commander of the Golani brigade, Colonel Erez, spread out a large aerial photograph of the Tel Sultan refugee camp in Rafah and briefed us on the operation. He said Israeli troops were focusing almost entirely on Tel Sultan where 14-17,000 Palestinians live. Colonel Erez said troops were moving from house to house looking for ammunition and wanted men. “The roads and alleys are all lined with bombs and many homes are booby-trapped.” He said Israel’s decision to use infantry instead of relying on air strikes showed Israel’s concern for civilian casualties. “We’re constantly facing the dilemma of how much danger to expose our soldiers to while maintaining our moral posture.” The colonel conceded that the troops had caused “significant infrastructure damage” but not deliberately. Israeli troops had ordered all residents of Rafah to stay indoors. “Someone who exits is obviously someone who is looking for trouble. Someone who’s looking to carry out a terrorist attack and therefore they are legitimate targets.” Regarding the brother and sister killed on Tuesday, Colonel Erez said an initial investigation proved inconclusive. “There are a lot of bombs [planted by Palestinians] that went off here. We don’t rule out the possibility that these youngsters were killed by the bombs.” He said Israel had asked for the bodies to be turned over for investigation. “I can say unequivocally that no-one in our unit put this boy and girl in his crosshairs with the aim of killing them.” He said Israeli troops were coming under fire from snipers, gunmen, and men with RPGs. Asked how long the operation would last, he said, “When we reach our military objective, the operation will end.” While standing around on the outskirts of Tel Sultan, we saw a helicopter drop about a dozen flares before lowering its altitude and firing off one missile into Rafah where demonstrators had gathered. Based on 'TheMediaLine' report See also: Actual Facts on the fallen "Palestinians", 'Civilians'? Very few! Back to Rafah = the Spin Home