BBC NEWS Ban 'appalled' by Gaza's damage UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he is appalled by Israeli attacks on a UN compound in Gaza after seeing the destruction for himself.
Mr Ban said that those responsible should be held accountable and demanded a "full investigation" through proper judiciary systems. He was speaking in front of the smouldering remains of the UN food warehouse destroyed by Israeli shells. He said he would do all he could to help the population of Gaza. Appearing stern and at times angry, Mr Ban called the attacks "outrageous" and demanded guarantees that it would never happen again. "I have protested many times. I am today protesting again in the strongest terms. I have asked (for a) full investigation and (to) make those responsible people accountable," he said. "I am just appalled. I am not able to describe how I am feeling, having seen this site of the bombing of the United Nations compound. This was an outrageous and totally unacceptable attack against the United Nations." Israeli shells hit the UN headquarters as well as two UN schools during the recent three-week offensive. The headquarters were badly damaged and nearly 40 people were killed near one of the schools. Israel said militants used the UN buildings as cover to launch attacks, but the military has launched its own investigation. Mr Ban is in Gaza to see for himself the scale of the damage done by Israel's offensive. A UN spokesman said he wanted to express solidarity with the people of Gaza in their suffering. Thousands have been left homeless and Palestinian officials warned it could cost $1.9bn to rebuild the territory. Israeli troops are expected to complete their pull-out later, if the current ceasefire holds. But there have been several violent incidents during the day. The Israeli navy fired shells into Gaza in what it called a deterrent measure, and reports claimed that a mortar shell was later fired into Israel from Gaza. Two children were killed near Gaza City in an explosion of ordnance left behind by the Israeli army, according to Palestinian medical officials. And in the West Bank, an Israeli man was shot and seriously wounded while driving near the Kochav Hashachar settlement. A previously unknown group calling itself the al-Bashair Army told the Palestinian news agency, Maan, it had carried out the attack But Israeli ground forces have continued their withdrawal. Israeli political sources say the military aims to have withdrawn before Barack Obama's inauguration as US president at 1700 GMT. Mr Ban became the first senior leader to visit Gaza since the conflict began, entering the territory through the crossing at Erez and driving to Gaza City. Boost to morale The BBC's Laura Trevelyan, who is travelling with Mr Ban, said UN staff in Gaza City were viewing his arrival as a huge boost to morale. Our correspondent added that she had seen some Hamas protests on the way to Gaza City, but the atmosphere in the city itself was calm. Mr Ban will later travel to the southern Israeli town of Sderot, which has been one of the main targets of Palestinian rocket attacks in recent years. Infrastructure damaged Earlier, the UN's top humanitarian official, John Holmes, said hundreds of millions of dollars of aid would be needed immediately to help Gaza's 1.4 million people. Mr Holmes said some neighbourhoods had been almost totally destroyed and many homes reduced to rubble during the Israeli offensive, which ended on Saturday. While 100,000 people had their water supply restored on Sunday, 400,000 still had no water, he said. Separately, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics estimated that the overall physical damage so far amounted to about $1.9bn (£1.4bn). The UN has called for Israel to open Gaza's borders to allow in construction materials, but so far only basic humanitarian supplies have been let in. Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said any further opening of the border depended on the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who has been held by Palestinian militants since June 2006. "If there is something Hamas wants from Israel, there is a person we want to have - Gilad Shalit," the AFP news agency quoted her as saying. "The one thing is linked to the other and the two cannot be separated." Meanwhile, Arab foreign ministers meeting in Kuwait have failed to issue a statement on the Gaza situation because they disagreed over who was to blame for the conflict. Egypt said Hamas had invited the attacks, while Syria said Israel should be declared a terrorist entity. Israel called a ceasefire on Saturday, saying it had met its war aims. Hamas later declared its own truce, with one of its leaders claiming a "great victory" over Israel. Palestinian medical sources say at least 1,300 Palestinians were killed, nearly a third of them children, and 5,500 injured during the conflict. Thirteen Israelis, including three civilians, were killed. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/7839863.stm Published: 2009/01/20 14:11:57 GMT © BBC MMIX Print Sponsor --------------- Jusfiq Hadjar gelar Sutan Maradjo Lelo Allah yang disembah orang Islam tipikal dan yang digambarkan oleh al-Mushaf itu dungu, buas, kejam, keji, ganas, zalim lagi biadab hanyalah Allah fiktif. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! 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