|
The Battle of Shuja'iyya〔Max Blumenthal,(''The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza,'' ) Nation Books 2015 ch.4 pp.38-56.〕 occurred between the Israel Defense Forces, the Hamas military wing, and the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, on 20 July 2014 during 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict in the Shuja'iyya neighborhood of Gaza City, in the Gaza Strip. 〔〔 Shuja'iyya, with 92,000 people in 6 sq-kilometres, is one of the most densely populated areas of the Gaza Strip.〔 According to the IDF, it had become a "terrorist fortress", that between 8 and 20 of July had fired over 140 rockets into Israel after the outbreak of hostilities. The casualty figures are not known with precision, also because bodies were recovered much later, and people died of injuries afterwards. The UN Protection Cluster states that between the 19-20th, 55 civilians, including 19 children and 14 women, as a result of the IDF's actions.〔 At the time they varied from 66 to about 120 Palestinians killed, with a third of them women and children, and at least 288 wounded. The UN The figures of Palestinian casualties are preliminary and subject to revision.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Caution needed with Gaza casualty figures )〕 13 Israeli soldiers were killed and 56 wounded. On 16 July, Israeli forces dropped by means of leaflets, loudspeaker announcements, telephone calls, text messages and radio messages, told the residents to leave and relocate in central Gaza City until further notice.〔 Residents interviewed afterwards by The Independent claimed lack of safe refuges and the difficulty of fleeing as reasons for staying put.〔〔 By 19 July, OCHA reported that while the majority had not left their homes,and ignored the warnings, up to half had gone as bombardments intensified.〔Israel condemned Hamas for using "human shields". According to Amnesty International, the UNRWA shelter facilities were overflowing and many of the residents had nowhere to go. Residents interviewed later also cited confusion due of lack of electricity and communications. The official Israeli view was that Hamas had compelled residents of Shujai'iya to stay behind in the face of IDF warnings to evacuate prior to the IDF assault, holding civilians as "hostages".〔Harriet Sherwood,("There is nowhere else for them to go" ), Guardian.com, 20 July 2014; "()ispatches from the ground have presented complex reasons why some residents did not evacuate from Shujai'iya and other areas targeted by the IDF. Many said nowhere in Gaza was safe, so they saw little point in abandoning their homes."〕 Jordanian-Palestinian politician Mudar Zahran wrote that a Gaza medical worker had told him "Hamas militants blocked exits, shot people as they were running and forced the rest to return to their homes and get bombed".〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Gazans Speak Out: Hamas War Crimes )〕 The assault on Shuja'iyya, involving a combination of F-16, tank and mortar fire, began at 11 pm on 19 July. Initially the attack, led by the Golani Brigade, encountered little resistance, until late on Saturday Hamas units, emerged from tunnels, engaged and put up stiff resistance, surprising the Israelis with their tenacity and effectiveness in taking on armoured units.〔 According to Israeli military and intelligence sources, Israel then made use of heavy aerial bombardment and artillery fire, in what was described as a "risky and unusual step to save Israeli soldiers' lives" and "a battle against the hub of Hamas' terror infrastructure, primarily the so-called 'terror tunnels'". Palestinians attempting to flee the area described the scene as a "massacre", as did Mahmoud Abbas, Richard Falk, Norwegian physician Dr. Mads Gilbert and journalist Sharif Abdel Kouddous in ''The Nation''. 100 one-ton bombs were dropped on the neighbourhood.〔 The conclusion of U.S. military experts interviewed by Mark Perry was that the IDF did not target Hamas sites specifically, simply to collapse Hamas tunnels, but rather laid down a "walking barrage" to "crater the neighbourhood" instead of using suppressive fire to protect their forward troops, a strategy they deemed "indefensible". The operation was condemned internationally, with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon calling it an "atrocious action" and the European Union stating that it "is particularly appalled by the human cost of the Israeli military operation in Shuja'iyya", while also criticising Hamas calls for using "human shields".〔〔 ==Build up== On Wednesday 16 July, Israeli forces dropped leaflets and delivered warnings by phone and text that residents in the Zeitoun and Shujai'iya areas of Gaza City should evacuate ahead of planned strikes. Hamas had told the civilians to stay put, which were prompted by fears of psychological warfare and perhaps a desire to avoid panic.〔〔 On Thursday Israel began what it thought of as a limited operation, involving the Nahal, Paratrooper and Givati Brigades, in the Shuja'iyya area's sparsely populated eastern periphery,〔 intent on uncovering Hamas's tunnel system. In the face of stiff resistance over the following two days, the probing advance developed into a full-scale battle in Shuja'iyya and the surrounding areas, as the IDF suffered upwards of 56 casualties.〔 In Ben White's reconstruction of the background,〔( 'Premeditated murder: the Shuja'iyya massacre and Israeli criminality,' ) Middle East Monitor, 22 July 2014.〕 the day after flyers were dropped, Yedioth Ahronoth's military analyst, Alex Fishman noted that an order had been given to the tank units advancing the assault "to open fire at anything that moved,"〔Harriet Sherwood, Peter Beaumont, Ian Black, ('Gaza conflict: Palestinian death toll reaches 274 amid fierce fighting,' ) The Guardian 18 July 2014.〕 and a military spokesman declared that Israel was "taking off the gloves" in Shuja'iyya.〔Anshel Pfeffer, ('In Gaza, a war of two narratives,' ) Haaretz 22 July 2014.〕 On Saturday night, the Golani Brigade was sent in with armoured battalions into the densely populated heart of Shuja'iyya, and suffered heavy casualties.〔Amos Harel (‘As casualties mounted, the Gaza operation threatens to become a war,’ ) Haaretz, 21 July〕 and only then did Israel decide to increase the intensity of its firepower, resulting in the steep rise in Palestinian civilian casualties, as commanders envisaged a repeat of Dahiya tactics used in Dahieh in Beirut, Lebanon, were resistance to continue.〔〔 A local Gazan woman, returning to the ruins of her home in the neighbourhood, made the same comparison.〔Daniel Siryoti and Lilach Shoval,("Shujaiyya has turned into Dahiye" ), ''Israel Hayom'', 27 July 2014: "On Saturday, residents tried to salvage what they could from destroyed buildings. 'Shujaiyya has turned to Dahiye. Where will return to? We had house with more than 20 family members in it. The house was completely destroyed', one Shujaiyya resident said."〕 As a result of the onslaught 670 buildings in Shuja'iyya were completely destroyed, 608 were severely damaged, 576 moderately damaged, and over 1800 buildings were affected.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Shuja'iyya」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|