"An Israeli Cabinet minister has described United Nations (UN) secretary-general Kofi Annan as misguided after comments he made condemning Israel's continuing assault on the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli Minister of Internal Security, Avi Dichter, has given the first official response to calls from Mr Annan for Israel to stop the killing of Palestinians immediately.
"He's misguided - I don't know by whom but ... I'm afraid that he hasn't got all facts what's going on from the terrorists in Gaza towards Israel," he said."
So reports ABC News Online. However, if one reads this piece by Gideon Levy, writing in Haaretz, the situation in Gaza is so dire that something must be done there - for not to do so includes a greater risk to the security of Israel. As Levy writes in relation to the human conditions:
"In large parts of Gaza nowadays, there is no electricity. Israel bombed the only power station in Gaza, and more than half the electricity supply will be cut off for at least another year. There's hardly any water. Since there is no electricity, supplying homes with water is nearly impossible. Gaza is filthier and smellier than ever: Because of the embargo Israel and the world have imposed on the elected authority, no salaries are being paid and the street cleaners have been on strike for the past few weeks. Piles of garbage and obnoxious clouds of stink strangle the coastal strip, turning it into Calcutta."
No less importantly Levy says:
"Gaza has been reoccupied. The world must know this and Israelis must know it, too. It is in its worst condition, ever. Since the abduction of Gilad Shalit, and more so since the outbreak of the Lebanon war, the Israel Defense Forces has been rampaging through Gaza - there's no other word to describe it - killing and demolishing, bombing and shelling, indiscriminately."
The Israeli Minister of Internal Security, Avi Dichter, has given the first official response to calls from Mr Annan for Israel to stop the killing of Palestinians immediately.
"He's misguided - I don't know by whom but ... I'm afraid that he hasn't got all facts what's going on from the terrorists in Gaza towards Israel," he said."
So reports ABC News Online. However, if one reads this piece by Gideon Levy, writing in Haaretz, the situation in Gaza is so dire that something must be done there - for not to do so includes a greater risk to the security of Israel. As Levy writes in relation to the human conditions:
"In large parts of Gaza nowadays, there is no electricity. Israel bombed the only power station in Gaza, and more than half the electricity supply will be cut off for at least another year. There's hardly any water. Since there is no electricity, supplying homes with water is nearly impossible. Gaza is filthier and smellier than ever: Because of the embargo Israel and the world have imposed on the elected authority, no salaries are being paid and the street cleaners have been on strike for the past few weeks. Piles of garbage and obnoxious clouds of stink strangle the coastal strip, turning it into Calcutta."
No less importantly Levy says:
"Gaza has been reoccupied. The world must know this and Israelis must know it, too. It is in its worst condition, ever. Since the abduction of Gilad Shalit, and more so since the outbreak of the Lebanon war, the Israel Defense Forces has been rampaging through Gaza - there's no other word to describe it - killing and demolishing, bombing and shelling, indiscriminately."
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