UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urges Israel to “exercise maximum restraint” and spare civilian lives in its campaign in Gaza, where the reported Palestinian death toll on Sunday alone passed 100.
He also condemns the “atrocious action” of Israel in Shejaiya, near Gaza City, where a blistering assault that started at dawn killed 62 people and wounded at least 250.
The United Nations chief makes his remarks in Doha, Qatar at the start of a regional trip aimed at pushing for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
“While I was en route to Doha, dozens more civilians, including children had been killed in Israeli military strikes in Shejaiya. I condemn this atrocious action,” he tells a news conference.
“Israel must exercise maximum restraint and do far more to protect civilians,” he says, adding that it also “must respect the humanitarian law” as it presses ahead with a deadly offensive that began on July 8.
“Too many innocent people are dying…(and) living in constant fear” in the narrow coastal strip controlled by Hamas, he says.
“Gaza is an open wound. We must stop the bleeding now,” says Ban, adding that beyond a ceasefire the “root causes of the conflict” must be addressed.
What are these people's issue? Go tell all this to Hamas! Israel has all the right to defend it self. Ben Brafman explained it very well, he said, imagine the leadership in NJ would fire hundreds of missiles to NY day after day, the us military would flatten NJ without thinking twice!! Now, the Israeli military does what it has to do in order to destroy all the tunnels and make sure the Israeli citizens live in peace, if you have any problem with civilians, go talk to their beloved Hamas leadership, leave Israel alone.
