Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09JERUSALEM97
2009-01-09 17:50:00
SECRET//NOFORN
Consulate Jerusalem
Cable title:  

ICRC AND PCRS DETAIL HORRIFIC SCENES IN EVACUATION

Tags:  PREL PHUM MOPS ICRC KWBG KPAL IS GZ PREF 
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VZCZCXRO3542
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHJM #0097/01 0091750
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
P 091750Z JAN 09
FM AMCONSUL JERUSALEM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3789
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 0161
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 JERUSALEM 000097 

NOFORN
SIPDIS

NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE AND IPA; DRL FOR HARRIS/JOHNSTONE; NSC
FOR ABRAMS/RAMCHAND/PASCUAL; PRM FOR RAMGOOLIE/BROOKS-RUBIN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/09/2019
TAGS: PREL PHUM MOPS ICRC KWBG KPAL IS GZ PREF
SUBJECT: ICRC AND PCRS DETAIL HORRIFIC SCENES IN EVACUATION
FROM ZAYTUN

Classified By: Consul General Jake Walles for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 JERUSALEM 000097

NOFORN
SIPDIS

NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE AND IPA; DRL FOR HARRIS/JOHNSTONE; NSC
FOR ABRAMS/RAMCHAND/PASCUAL; PRM FOR RAMGOOLIE/BROOKS-RUBIN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/09/2019
TAGS: PREL PHUM MOPS ICRC KWBG KPAL IS GZ PREF
SUBJECT: ICRC AND PCRS DETAIL HORRIFIC SCENES IN EVACUATION
FROM ZAYTUN

Classified By: Consul General Jake Walles for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (SBU) Summary. An International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) statement on January 8 described the discovery
of four children next to their dead mothers and at least 12
dead bodies in a house in Gaza City's Zaytun neighborhood. A
Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) medical worker
present when the children were discovered told Poloff that an
IDF unit was operating out of the same house. ICRC contacts
in Gaza say the unit was nearby in a different house. Full
text of ICRC statement at para 8. End Summary.


2. (U) ICRC issued a statement from its Geneva headquarters
on January 8 describing the evacuation of the Zaytun
neighborhood in Gaza on January 7. The ICRC statement
reported the discovery of four children next to their dead
mothers and at least 12 corpses in a house in the Zaytun
neighborhood of southern Gaza City.

PRCS/ICRC Evacuation from Zaytun
--------------


3. (C) Khalid Abu Zayd, a PRCS medical worker present during
the recovery of the injured Zaytun, told Poloff January 9
that a PRCS/ICRC team evacuated four houses January 7 between
1300 and 1530 local time. He said PRCS and ICRC had sought
IDF permission for several days to enter the neighborhood and
evacuate casualties. He said that, PRCS/ICRC found three
dead bodies in the first house; one dead body in the second
house 50 meters away; and fifteen injured, including five
children and seven women, and a dead woman and dead boy in a
nearby third house.


4. (C) In the fourth Zaytun house that PRCS/ICRC entered,
Abu Zayd told Poloff he found four children and sixteen
corpses in the house. He said an IDF unit was operating from
the same house in a nearby room and the soldiers "certainly"

knew there were dead bodies in the house. He reiterated to
Poloff that the soldiers were "two meters" away from the
bodies, noting that some soldiers were asleep in the house
when ICRC/PRCS entered. The team left the corpses and
evacuated the wounded to PRCS's al-Quds hospital in Gaza City
by 1600. Press reports indicate that PRCS workers were
required by the IDF not to bring mobile phones or cameras
with them during the evacuation.


5. (C) Antoine Grand, head of the ICRC Gaza office, told
Poloff by phone January 9 that the IDF unit was in a separate
structure 80 meters away from the house with the four
children. Grand said the IDF was entrenched in Zaytun and
aware that there were numerous casualties in need of
assistance. Testimony gathered January 5 by B'tselem, an
Israeli human rights NGO, also alleges that IDF soldiers were
operating in the neighborhood of the house and had been in
contact with some family members.


6. (U) ICRC reported evacuating 30 people from Zaytun on
January 7 and 103 on January 8. ICRC believes more wounded
and dead remain in Zaytun and require evacuation. ICRC
suspended most of its Gaza operations following several
incidents where UN and ICRC vehicles were attacked by IDF
forces in spite of coordination (see details septel).


7. (S/NF) GRPO information indicates that elements of the
IDF's 401st Armored Brigade, as well as a second unidentified
mechanized brigade, were operating south of Gaza City during
the time in question.

ICRC Press Statement
--------------


8. (U) The text of ICRC's January 8 statement follows.

Begin Text:

On the afternoon of 7 January, four Palestine Red Crescent
Society (PRCS) ambulances and the International Committee of
the Red Cross (ICRC) managed to obtain access for the first
time to several houses in the Zaytun neighborhood of Gaza
City that had been affected by Israeli shelling. The ICRC had
requested safe passage for ambulances to access this
neighborhood since 3 January but it only received permission
to do so from the Israeli Defence Forces during the afternoon
of 7 January.

The ICRC/PRCS team found four small children next to their

JERUSALEM 00000097 002 OF 002


dead mothers in one of the houses. They were too weak to
stand up on their own. One man was also found alive, too weak
to stand up. In all there were at least 12 corpses lying on
mattresses.

In another house, the ICRC/PRCS rescue team found 15 other
survivors of this attack including several wounded. In yet
another house, they found an additional three corpses.
Israeli soldiers posted at a military position some 80 meters
away from this house ordered the rescue team to leave the
area which they refused to do. There were several other
positions of the Israeli Defence Forces nearby as well as two
tanks.

"This is a shocking incident," said Pierre Wettach, the
ICRC's Head of Delegation for Israel and the Occupied
Palestinian Territories. "The Israeli military must have been
aware of the situation but did not assist the wounded.
Neither did they make it possible for us or the Palestine Red
Crescent to assist the wounded."

Large earth walls erected by the Israeli army had made it
impossible to bring ambulances into the neighbourhood.
Therefore, the children and the wounded had to be taken to
the ambulances on a donkey cart. In total, the ICRC/PRCS
rescue team evacuated 18 wounded and 12 others who were
extremely exhausted. Two corpses were also evacuated. The
ICRC/PRCS will recover the remaining corpses on Thursday.

The ICRC was informed that there are more wounded sheltering
in other destroyed houses in this neighbourhood. It demands
that the Israeli military grant it and PRCS ambulances safe
passage and access immediately to search for any other
wounded. Until now, the ICRC has still not received
confirmation from the Israeli authorities that this will be
allowed. The ICRC believes that in this instance the Israeli
military failed to meet its obligation under international
humanitarian law to care for and evacuate the wounded. It
considers the delay in allowing rescue services access
unacceptable.

End text.

WALLES