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Israel Commits More Massacres In Lebanon, 38 children Killed

In what is reminiscent of Nazi atrocities during WWII, the Israeli army on Sunday, 30 July, committed a huge massacre of civilians in the southern Lebanese village of Qana , killing as many as 60 civilians, including at least 38 children below the age of 12, according to rescuers and Red Cross w

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Sunday, July 30,2006 00:00

by Khalid Amayreh

In what is reminiscent of Nazi atrocities during WWII, the Israeli army on Sunday, 30 July, committed a huge massacre of civilians in the southern Lebanese village of Qana , killing as many as 60 civilians, including at least 38 children below the age of 12, according to rescuers and Red Cross workers.

According to eyewitnesses and locals at the village, Israeli warplanes dropped three “smart bombs” on a three-story building where several families had sought protection from Israeli aerial bombing, destroying the building and killing scores of refugees in their sleep.

The bombing, which occurred around one o’clock after midnight local time is the bloodiest single attack on civilian targets during Israel’s 19-day aggression against Lebanon.

Only six people were pulled out of the rubble alive, according to local sources.

“Look, this is the ‘new Middle East’ that Rice and Bush want create ,” said a distraught Lebanese civilian, as he was pointing to earth-covered bodies of children protruding from the rubble.

“I think Adolph Hitler would look like a scout boy when compared with George Bush,” said another villager.

By mid-day Sunday, rescuers have recovered 30 bodies from under the rubble, most of them of children and minors.

Access to the site of the massacre was seriously impeded by huge mounds of rubble of homes and buildings destroyed in earlier Israeli bombings.

By mid morning a bulldozer arrived and began to clear the rubble in a desperate efforts to allow ambulances to access the site.

Last week, Israeli warplanes bombed all roads from and to Qana, making it impossible for villagers to flee their homes.

Survivors and eyewitnesses vehemently dismissed Israeli disinformation claims that Hizbullah fighters were in the area at the time of the bombing.

“What do you expect from these child killers and criminals. They’ve murdered all these kids and women and now they are trying to justify their vile deeds,” said Lebanese Information Minister Ghazi al Aridi.

Lebanese President Amil Lahud scoffed at the Israeli claims, saying that Israel committed a deliberate, calculated, cold-blooded massacre of civilians.

“They knew that these children and women were sheltering in that building, they knew the victims couldn’t have escaped because the roads were destroyed blocked, and then Israeli leaders have the audacity to tell us to leave in order to destroy our homes,” Lahud said during an interview with aljazeera TV Sunday morning.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said he would hold no negotiations with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice before a ceasefire.

Officials in Beirut said they had told Rice to stay away from Beirut until the bombing of Lebanese civilians stopped.

The gruesome carnage at Qana occurred as Rice was holding talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. It is not clear as of now if Olmert briefed Rice on the bombing and whether Rice had given her consent to it.

In the Spring of 1996, the Israeli army massacred 101 women and children who had sought shelter at a UN forces headquarters at the village.

Then the UN asserted that the bombardment was deliberate.

Israeli Prime Minister at that time, Shimon Peres, refused to admit guilt, claiming the bombing was done by mistake.

Israel never apologized for that massacre.