Wednesday 25 March 2009

Israel praises Air Force 'accuracy' in Gaza



Press TV


Israel's Air Force says the accuracy of its attacks in the Gaza war - where more than a thousand civilians were killed - was at 99 percent.

Expressing satisfaction with Operation Cast Lead, the IAF revealed on Monday that almost all of the bombs and missile used by warplanes hit their designated targets.

The three-week-long war in the Gaza Strip, launched on December 27, claimed the lives of at least 1,350 Palestinians including women and children.

The report comes at a time when the UN human rights investigators are questioning the conduct of the Israeli military in Gaza.

The Israeli army dismisses any misconduct in its recent Gaza. Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, the military Chief of Staff, said on Monday that Israel has "one of the world's most moral armies."

This is while the alleged use of controversial white phosphorous shells in the populated territory and the alleged resort to human shields have caused an outcry in the international community.

Israeli officers and soldiers who fought in Gaza, meanwhile, have confessed to indiscriminate killings in recent weeks.

The IAF report, published on its website, said 80 percent of the bombs and missiles used by Israeli warplanes in Gaza were of types considered accurate to "reduce collateral damage and danger to civilians."

The report says while more than 2000 warheads were fired within range of ground troops and residential areas, not a single Israeli soldier was killed in IAF strikes.

The air offensive, which dominated the first week of the battle, left no safe haven for civilians to flee.

According to human rights groups, only on the first day of Israeli air strikes against the densely-populated strip, at least 230 Palestinians, including women and children, were killed and more than 700 others were injured.

December 27 was the deadliest one-day death toll in 60 years of Israeli-Palestinians conflict; Palestinians call it the Massacre of the Black Saturday.

Press TV figures show that at least 433 Palestinians were killed during the first week of the war before the ground assault into Gaza.

As of January 15, IAF warplanes had carried out 2,360 air strikes in the beleaguered enclave.

Even after announcing a unilateral ceasefire on January 17, Israel has continued to unleash sonic booms and carry air raids against the impoverished strip in response to rocket attacks launched by Palestinian fighters.

Posted by JNOUBIYEH at 11:30 AM

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