BBC parrots UN-Hamas as Palestinians kill their own

Blogging for The Spectator, Melanie Phillips claims Israel wasn't responsible for civilian deaths at a UN school

AS soon as it was reported that about 40 Gazans (later reduced to 30) had been killed when the Israelis fired on a school in Gaza, the usual suspects could scarcely conceal their joy. At last! An Israeli massacre. The BBC straightaway parroted the Hamas-UN line that hapless Gazan refugees had taken shelter from the bombs in the school, only to be struck by Israeli missiles that had scored a direct hit on the school.

But according to the Israelis, something rather different had happened. Palestinians had fired mortar bombs from the school grounds at the Israeli forces; the troops had returned fire and had ignited booby-trapped bombs at the school, causing the horrific casualties. As The Jerusalem Post reported:

"According to the IDF, among the dead were members of a Hamas cell. The infantrymen returned mortar shell fire into the school grounds, the army said ... booby-trapped bombs triggered secondary explosions."

If that is so, the Palestinians in this school appear to have been killed by their own bombs, with which they had been planning to kill Israeli soldiers - but which instead blew themselves up as a direct result of their attempt to kill Israeli soldiers. Far from hapless refugees seeking shelter from the violence, they were Hamas terrorists actively perpetrating violence. And they were using those who were indeed sheltering in the school, once again, as human shields.