Caution: this article contains extremely graphic images and video of dead Palestinians

Wanted Israeli war criminal used a ‘security’ situation as an excuse to avoid (yet again) having to stand trial for corruption and give evidence to the Israeli court yesterday – then left the court and ordered a mass bombing campaign on Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

The Times of Israel reported that Netanyahu’s testimony in the case was ‘cut short’ over ‘security developments’ and he was allowed to leave the trial. He later claimed that his order to bomb Gaza was because a ‘Hamas sniper’ had killed an Israeli soldier.

The bombing killed over 100 Palestinians, many of them – as usual – children.

Butcher Netanyahu

But, reports seem to indicate that Israeli tanks and artillery had opened fire in Gaza before the shooting of the Israeli soldier, making the shooting – assuming it happened at all, which is not a given in the context of Israel’s constant lies to justify its crimes – retaliation or self-defence. Associated Press reported that

witnesses – including an Associated Press reporter and health officials – reported explosions and tank fire in Gaza City and Deir al Balah.

Lebanon-based journalist Qassem S Qassem noted that a previous resistance attack – even according to Israel’s parliament – had occurred because the isolated resistance fighters had not been aware that there was any ‘ceasefire’ in place:

A week ago, during a discussion in a session of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, the representative of the Israeli army stated that the internal investigations into the incident in which an anti-armor shell was fired at an engineering vehicle in Rafah, resulting in the killing of two Israeli soldiers, show that “the militants were isolated from the world and did not know that there was a ceasefire, and therefore they carried out the attack.”

Perhaps today’s sniping operation in Rafah comes in the same context. And perhaps the enemy army needs to repeat what it did in Beirut in 1982, when it set up loudspeakers and said: “O people of Beirut, do not fire, we are withdrawing,” to become today: “O resistance fighters of Gaza, do not fire, the war is over.”

Netanyahu is said to have ‘vowed’ that Gaza would ‘pay’ for the alleged violation of the ceasefire. Israel has bombed Gaza almost every day during the ‘ceasefire’, killing and maiming hundreds of civilians and specifically targeting civilian tents.

Featured image via the Canary

By Skwawkbox

This post was originally published on Canary.