by Deb Cupples | The New York Times reports:
"Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups in Gaza announced an immediate, week-long cease-fire in the conflict with Israel on Sunday, about 12 hours after an Israeli unilateral cease-fire went into effect...."
"The Palestinian groups said in a statement that they would give Israeli troops a week to leave Gaza. Hamas leaders outside Gaza had previously said the group would continue fighting so long as Israeli troops remained on the ground.
"The cease-fire announcement, coming after 22 days of war that killed more than 1,200 Palestinians and 13 Israelis, was confirmed by the Palestinian groups’ exiled leaders meeting in Damascus....
"Heavy Israeli bombardment continued in the hours before the cease-fire. And in an attack early Saturday that brought scathing criticism from the United Nations, Israeli tank fire killed two young brothers taking shelter at a United Nations school in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya." (NYT)
I'd like to know how the body count was calculated. When air strikes are involved, some buildings end up reduced to piles of massive concrete chunks. Have all the bodies been unearthed from the rubble in the last 22 days -- while a ground offensive was in progress?
As I recall, it took a lot longer for us to calculate a death toll in the Southern United States after Hurricane Katrina. Memeorandum has commentary.
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whats the differnce how they got the body count.there should not even be 1 child killed.this was not a war it was a massacre .israel went in with all the heavy weapons tanks,jets,helicopters,artillery.their brave soldiers didnt confront the hamas instead the soldiers and israeli snipers shot women and children.
Posted by: nick city | January 18, 2009 at 04:39 PM
Hi Nick,
You make good points.
My point is that the death toll may be a lot higher than current reports reflect.
Posted by: Deb | January 19, 2009 at 10:19 AM