User:Rsawikza/sandbox

On May 16, 2021, Israeli forces bombed al-Wehda street in Gaza City. The bombardment was the single deadliest of an 11-day attack on Gaza following weeks of turmoil [??] in East Jerusalem. The al-Wehda street massacre left over 40 Palestinians dead, and approximately 2500 displaced from their homes. The massacre has been met with a significant amount of Palestinian and international outrage due to the high number civilian casualties in one of Gaza's most prominent residential and commercial neighbourhoods. Furthermore, it is said that the Israeli Defence Force were not operating on any clear intelligence in this night of airstrikes. Despite Israel's claims to be targeting a series of Hamas tunnels, it is alleged by Amnesty International regional director, Saleh Hijazi, that the al-Wehda street massacre was a war crime in violation of international law due to the disproportionate impact it has had on civilian life and infrastructure. [INSERT REFERENCE]

Context
Al-Wehda street is located in the neighbourhood of al-Rimal in Gaza City, Palestine.[1] The neighbourhood is largely residential whilst also being the centre of Gaza's commercial activity.[2] Al-Wehda street houses heavily populated multi-storey apartment buildings, banks, schools and markets. It is also the main street leading to Al-Shifa Hospital; the key centre for healthcare for the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip. Like the rest of the Gaza Strip, Gaza City is under an ongoing sea, land and air blockade that was imposed by Israel and Egypt in 2007. On May 16, 2021, the seventh successive day of Israel bombing the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Defence Force launched 150 rockets [CHECK NUMBERS] into the territory killing [INSERT NUMBER KILLED] civilians.[3] [insert reference] [INSERT LINE ABOUT ISRAEL'S "INTENTIONS" & HAMAS]. According to Gaza's ministry of health, an excess of 248 Palestinians had been killed in the 11 day attack, including 39 women and 67 children.

This 11-day attack on Gaza came after a series of incidents where the Israeli forces and Zionist Israeli citizens used brute** force against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank; including but not limited to the storming of Al-AqsaMosque, leaving more than 500 worshippers injured, and the plans of forced removal of Palestinian residents in the neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem.[4][5] Israeli officials claimed that the subsequent 11-day attack on Gaza was in response to Hamas firing rockets towards Israel. Hamas said that their firing was in response to force used in the aforementioned cases of Israeli-sanctioned violence in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound as well as that in Sheikh Jarrah.[6]According to the IDF, their short-range air defence system, the Iron Dome, intercepted 90% of Hamas attempts at attack.[7] Israel reported 12 casualties from these attacks during this period. Hamas has reported 80 deaths of its members.

[IMAGE OF ROCKETS IRON DOME https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/israels-iron-dome-intercepts-rockets-fro-idUSRTXC8E2A ]

Attacks on al-Rimal
Al-Rimal is home to many of Gaza City's professionals and businesspeople, such as doctors, university professors and civil servants.[9] Whilst Gaza is under the political rule of Hamas, al-Rimal is popularly understood as more critical of Hamas. In past attacks on Gaza, comparatively upscale neighbourhoods such as al-Rimal have been less affected by IDF strikes. In these instances, Gaza residents have historically sought refuge in areas such as al-Rimal for safety. [11]

On May 12, 2021, a series of Israeli air strikes destroyed the Hanadi building in the Rimal neighbourhood. The Hanadi building was a tower with both residential and commercial tenants. An hour before this attack, Israeli surveillance planes deployed warning missiles on the tower, before its destruction. The IDF also fired an airstrike at the Al-Johara building in the al-Rimal neighbourhood. The tower housed predominantly Palestinian media outlets. [13] Also on May 12, IDF attacks destroyed al-Shorouq tower; one of the oldest and most notable media landmarks in al-Rimal.[14] In all three instances, Israeli forces gave some indication of warning of the impending attacks. [FACT CHECK THIS AND ANOTHER SOURCE]. It is alleged that all the towers were housing Gaza's fighting factions and thereby justified the attacks by the IDF. Their destruction caused damage to a great number of nearby facilities in the neighbourhood. [INSERT RESOURCE]

May 16, 2021
On May 16, 2021, the seventh day of attacks, Israeli military launched what Al Jazeera described as "an hour-long rain of 150 rockets" at the Gaza Strip. At least 11 missiles were sent along several hundred meters of Al-Wehda st in al-Rimal. [17] They gave no warning or indication that they had planned to attack al-Wehda. [18] According to Israeli forces, the IDF were targeting "underground military infrastructure" that was located in tunnels under al-Wehda street. For Palestinians, this was the deadliest night of the series of attacks.

The attack on al-Wedha st directly brought down three residential buildings belonging to the Abu al-Ouf and al-Kolaq families. In these buildings, 43 people died. In addition to demolishing the residential buildings, the attack left many buildings surrounding al-Wehda damaged, including a clinic that treated trauma and burns.

Additionally, the airstrikes on al-Wehda street caused major damage to infrastructure, which subsequently obstructed the primary access point to al-Shifa Hospital.

[INSERT IMAGE https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/61T12/14/ ]

Abu al-Ouf Family
The Abu al-Ouf family lived in {INSER BUILDING} on al-Wedha street. Thirteen members of the Abu al-Ouf family were killed in the attack. Omar Abu al-Ouf, 17, is the only surviving member of the family. He was stuck under rubble for twelve hours, until he was rescued from the debris. His father, Dr Ayman Abu al-Ouf, 49, was the head of internal medicine at the nearby Al-Shifa Hospital, and was in charge of managing the coronavirus response in Gaza. It is said that he was buried under rubble for almost 12 hours. His father, also killed, was a medical doctor too.

Reem Abu al-Ouf

Tawfik Abu al-Ouf, 18

Rajaa Abu al-Ouf

Tala Abu al-Ouf, 12

al-Kolaq Family
The al-Kolaq family lived across two neighbouring apartment blocks on al-Wedha street, both of which were destroyed in the attacks by the IDF. The family, spanning four generations, suffered 22 casualties from the attack; 8 from the one apartment building, and 14 from the other. A third family house was damaged during the 11 day attack, and is due to be demolished.

Amin al-Kolaq, 89

Fawaz al-Kolaq, 62

Sameh al-Kolaq, 28

Rula al-Kolaq, 5

Yara al-Kolaq, 10

Hala al-Kolaq, 12

Qusai al-Kolaq, 6 months

Azzam al-Kolaq, 42, and Awni al-Kolaq [INSERT NAMES] survived the massacre.

Shkuntina Family
Riad Shkuntina, 42, lived above Dr Abu al-Ouf. He and his daughter survived the attack. His wife, and four other children were killed.

Israel's response
According to a senior Israeli military official, the destruction of the residential buildings, and the high civilian death-count was an unanticipated outcome in their mission to destroy Hamas' underground military infrastructure as the munition used was especially for a precise targeted attack to avoid high civilian casualty. He said that the collapse of the military target is what caused the collapse of the nearby buildings, and that the IDF had carried out similar airstrikes of a similar nature in equally dense areas, the outcomes of which saw fewer civilian casualties. Israel has accused Hamas of "using civilians as human shields". Additionally, Israeli military

Italian dockworkers protest
On May 17, Italian dockworkers refused to load a shipment of arms headed for Israel. The staff of workers in the Tuscan City of Livorno discovered that the ship was headed for Israel. The workers refused to load weapons onto the ship. Unione Sindacale di Base (USB) member Massimo Mazza said about the shipment “We refused to load that ship because we don’t want to operate on ships carrying death. We don’t want to be called accomplices in giving weapons to those who are killing unarmed civilians, as Israel is doing now.

Protest against drone factory in the UK
On May 19, a boycott of the drone factory owned by Elbit System subsidiary UAV Tactical Systems took place in Leicester. The boycott was led by members of Palestine Action. The facility is responsible for manufacturing unmanned aerial vehicles used in the conflict between Israel and Palestine. The group took to the roof to protest the stopping of weapons manufacturing. The protests lasted for six days.