Ging confirms that Israelis targeted UN compound in Gaza
Jon Snow, the presenter of Britain’s 7 o’clock news programme on Channel 4 –widely regarded as the best news programme on UK television—interviewed John Ging, Director of the UN Relief and Works Agency, after the Israeli attack with white phosphorous shells on the UN compound. While Ging was careful not to directly accuse the Israelis of targeting the UN compound, that is the conclusion that has to be drawn from the fact that there were two separate shelling events within an hour, with the UN pleading for the attack to stop in between the two events.
The following is a transcript of the interview with Ging:
“Jon Snow: Were you able to have direct contact with the Israeli Defence Forces between the two attacks on your compound?
John Ging: Yes, we were in continuous and direct liaison with them. Before the first incident, through the first incident, after the first incident, and right through the second incident, and just at this level here, but also at the higher level in Tel Aviv with their coordination mechanism there…
Jon Snow: Are you able to say very briefly whether you think these were targeted, or whether they were stray.
John Ging: Well, again, I don’t care to comment on intent. The fact of the matter is that they hit our compound, and there were two, two strikes on our compound within an hour of each other, after earlier warnings that all of the other strikes that were going in our area were firing very close to our compound, and we were being hit by shrapnel.”
The Israeli government’s response to Ging’s statement was entirely predictable. Even as the government apologised, its spokesman implied that the UN had brought the attack onto itself by allowing Hamas militants to defend themselves in or around the UN compound. But this was a claim that Ging emphatically contradicted: he stated repeatedly that no Israeli commander on any level had made any such claim to him before, during or after the Israeli attack.
You can see the interview for yourself at
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