UN now admits - Israel did not attack school

Toronto's Globe & Mail newspaper exposes another fake anti-Israel story, (remember the fake "Jenin Massacre," where 1,500 dead civilian Palestinians turned out to be 54, mostly Fatah fighters?), and the United Nations has some serious explaining to do.

Here is John Ging, UNRWA Director of Operations in Gaza immediately after the incident in Jabalya:

“There’s nowhere safe in Gaza. Everyone here is terrorized and traumatized. These men, women and children are all seeking safety and there is no safety in Gaza at the moment, even in an UNRWA school. This is unacceptable.”

And:

Speaking from Shifa Hospital in Gaza City as the bodies were being brought in that night, an emotional Mr. Ging did say: "Those in the school were all families seeking refuge. ... There's nowhere safe in Gaza."

But now Mr Ging is denying he ever said that the mortar rounds landed in the school:

"Look at my statements," he said. "I never said anyone was killed in the school. Our officials never made any such allegation."

Except of course that he did and they did.

And others.

A World Health Organization report:

On 6 January, 42 people were killed following an attack on a UNRWA school ...

And a UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs weekly report:

Israeli shelling directly hit two UNRWA schools [including this one]...

Now none of this obviates the fact that 42 people were killed in this incident, including two Hamas terrorists.

But here's the background as given by the Associated Press at the time:

In a statement, the Israeli army said an initial investigation found that
“mortar shells were fired from within the school at IDF soldiers. The force responded with mortars at the source of fire. The Hamas cynically uses civilians as human shields.” The army said two Hamas militants — Imad Abu Askar and Hasan Abu Askar — were among the dead.

Two neighborhood residents confirmed the Israeli account, saying a group of militants fired mortars from a street near the school, then fled into a crowd of people in the streets. Israel then opened fire. The residents, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared for their safety, said the Abu Askar brothers were known low-level Hamas militants.

So, apart from the incorrect detail of the IDF saying they thought the fire had come from within the school, when it was from near the school, we yet again have an example of Hamas using their own people as human shields and causing a terrible tragedy.

Overall, there are now serious questions being asked about whether or not the total death toll in Gaza has been exaggerated according to Italian journalist Lorenzo Cremonesi, who works with the Corriere della serra newspaper.

An even more serious question is this - why do these kinds of stories critical of Israel, but based on false claims that any kind of reasonable and responsible fact checking would expose, routinely get sensational blanket coverage in the world's media? It was on display in Lebanon a couple of years ago where it was obvious to anyone with a pair of eyes and a brain behind them that the media was being manipulated by Hezbollah and led by the nose, apparently quite willingly.