VZCZCXRO3542
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHJM #0097/01 0091750
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
P 091750Z JAN 09
FM AMCONSUL JERUSALEM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3789
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 0161
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 JERUSALEM 000097 
 
NOFORN 
SIPDIS 
 
NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE AND IPA; DRL FOR HARRIS/JOHNSTONE; NSC 
FOR ABRAMS/RAMCHAND/PASCUAL; PRM FOR RAMGOOLIE/BROOKS-RUBIN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/09/2019 
TAGS: PREL PHUM MOPS ICRC KWBG KPAL IS GZ PREF
SUBJECT: ICRC AND PCRS DETAIL HORRIFIC SCENES IN EVACUATION 
FROM ZAYTUN 
 
Classified By: Consul General Jake Walles for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary.  An International Committee of the Red 
Cross (ICRC) statement on January 8 described the discovery 
of four children next to their dead mothers and at least 12 
dead bodies in a house in Gaza City's Zaytun neighborhood.  A 
Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) medical worker 
present when the children were discovered told Poloff that an 
IDF unit was operating out of the same house.  ICRC contacts 
in Gaza say the unit was nearby in a different house.  Full 
text of ICRC statement at para 8.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (U)  ICRC issued a statement from its Geneva headquarters 
on January 8 describing the evacuation of the Zaytun 
neighborhood in Gaza on January 7.  The ICRC statement 
reported the discovery of four children next to their dead 
mothers and at least 12 corpses in a house in the Zaytun 
neighborhood of southern Gaza City. 
 
PRCS/ICRC Evacuation from Zaytun 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (C) Khalid Abu Zayd, a PRCS medical worker present during 
the recovery of the injured Zaytun, told Poloff January 9 
that a PRCS/ICRC team evacuated four houses January 7 between 
1300 and 1530 local time.  He said PRCS and ICRC had sought 
IDF permission for several days to enter the neighborhood and 
evacuate casualties.  He said that, PRCS/ICRC found three 
dead bodies in the first house; one dead body in the second 
house 50 meters away; and fifteen injured, including five 
children and seven women, and a dead woman and dead boy in a 
nearby third house. 
 
¶4.  (C) In the fourth Zaytun house that PRCS/ICRC entered, 
Abu Zayd told Poloff he found four children and sixteen 
corpses in the house.  He said an IDF unit was operating from 
the same house in a nearby room and the soldiers "certainly" 
knew there were dead bodies in the house.  He reiterated to 
Poloff that the soldiers were "two meters" away from the 
bodies, noting that some soldiers were asleep in the house 
when ICRC/PRCS entered.  The team left the corpses and 
evacuated the wounded to PRCS's al-Quds hospital in Gaza City 
by 1600.  Press reports indicate that PRCS workers were 
required by the IDF not to bring mobile phones or cameras 
with them during the evacuation. 
 
¶5.  (C) Antoine Grand, head of the ICRC Gaza office, told 
Poloff by phone January 9 that the IDF unit was in a separate 
structure 80 meters away from the house with the four 
children.  Grand said the IDF was entrenched in Zaytun and 
aware that there were numerous casualties in need of 
assistance.  Testimony gathered January 5 by B'tselem, an 
Israeli human rights NGO, also alleges that IDF soldiers were 
operating in the neighborhood of the house and had been in 
contact with some family members. 
 
¶6.  (U) ICRC reported evacuating 30 people from Zaytun on 
January 7 and 103 on January 8.  ICRC believes more wounded 
and dead remain in Zaytun and require evacuation.  ICRC 
suspended most of its Gaza operations following several 
incidents where UN and ICRC vehicles were attacked by IDF 
forces in spite of coordination (see details septel). 
 
¶7.  (S/NF) GRPO information indicates that elements of the 
IDF's 401st Armored Brigade, as well as a second unidentified 
mechanized brigade, were operating south of Gaza City during 
the time in question. 
 
ICRC Press Statement 
-------------------- 
 
¶8.  (U) The text of ICRC's January 8 statement follows. 
 
Begin Text: 
 
On the afternoon of 7 January, four Palestine Red Crescent 
Society (PRCS) ambulances and the International Committee of 
the Red Cross (ICRC) managed to obtain access for the first 
time to several houses in the Zaytun neighborhood of Gaza 
City that had been affected by Israeli shelling. The ICRC had 
requested safe passage for ambulances to access this 
neighborhood since 3 January but it only received permission 
to do so from the Israeli Defence Forces during the afternoon 
of 7 January. 
 
The ICRC/PRCS team found four small children next to their 
 
JERUSALEM 00000097  002 OF 002 
 
 
dead mothers in one of the houses. They were too weak to 
stand up on their own. One man was also found alive, too weak 
to stand up. In all there were at least 12 corpses lying on 
mattresses. 
 
In another house, the ICRC/PRCS rescue team found 15 other 
survivors of this attack including several wounded. In yet 
another house, they found an additional three corpses. 
Israeli soldiers posted at a military position some 80 meters 
away from this house ordered the rescue team to leave the 
area which they refused to do. There were several other 
positions of the Israeli Defence Forces nearby as well as two 
tanks. 
 
"This is a shocking incident," said Pierre Wettach, the 
ICRC's Head of Delegation for Israel and the Occupied 
Palestinian Territories. "The Israeli military must have been 
aware of the situation but did not assist the wounded. 
Neither did they make it possible for us or the Palestine Red 
Crescent to assist the wounded." 
 
Large earth walls erected by the Israeli army had made it 
impossible to bring ambulances into the neighbourhood. 
Therefore, the children and the wounded had to be taken to 
the ambulances on a donkey cart. In total, the ICRC/PRCS 
rescue team evacuated 18 wounded and 12 others who were 
extremely exhausted. Two corpses were also evacuated. The 
ICRC/PRCS will recover the remaining corpses on Thursday. 
 
The ICRC was informed that there are more wounded sheltering 
in other destroyed houses in this neighbourhood. It demands 
that the Israeli military grant it and PRCS ambulances safe 
passage and access immediately to search for any other 
wounded. Until now, the ICRC has still not received 
confirmation from the Israeli authorities that this will be 
allowed. The ICRC believes that in this instance the Israeli 
military failed to meet its obligation under international 
humanitarian law to care for and evacuate the wounded. It 
considers the delay in allowing rescue services access 
unacceptable. 
 
End text. 
 
WALLES