MEMO | Oct 28, 2013

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Israeli warplanes carried out an airstrike on Monday morning hitting vacant land near a primary school in the north-east of the Gaza Strip. Dozens of children were traumatised by the strike, which Israel claimed was in retaliation for “four rockets” fired towards Ashkelon.

A spokesman for the Palestinian health ministry said that a large number of children were admitted to hospital for treatment. Fearing more attacks, many schools and security offices along the Gaza Strip have been evacuated.

In Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza in 2008-2009, it attacked more than 200 security offices and killed around 400 policemen in just a few seconds of coordinated bombing.

As is usual, the Israeli authorities blamed the Palestinian government in Gaza, controlled by Islamist movement Hamas, for the attack. A spokesman for the Israeli forces, Avichay Adraee, wrote on Facebook, “Hamas has to pay the price for the attacks; otherwise, it has to undermine rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip, where it is in full control.”

Recently, several Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have warned of an imminent severe attack on Gaza to deter what they refer to as “terrorism” but which international law recognises as legitimate resistance to Israel’s military occupation.