Remembering Tom, Raffaele Ciriello and a few of the others ...

Tom Hurndall had stayed in Rafah. He was only 21 where – in his mother's words – he lost his life through a single, selfless, human act. "Tom was shot in the head as he carried a single Palestinian child out of the range of an Israeli army sniper."

On Saturday, Robert Fisk wrote an article on Tom under the sub-heading, I wish I had met Tom Hurndall, a remarkable man of remarkable principle.

You see, there's me, who writes about the Middle East situation from the safety of home and then there was Tom Hurndall, following up his words and beliefs with action.

BBC made an interesting documentary over here. And News Safety reported on the killing of an award winning film maker, James Miller, by the IDF.

Iain Hook was shot in the back by a sniper with a scoped rifle, from a distance of 20 meters. Co-workers evacuated Hook through the hole in the wall made by militants, but he died of a gunshot wound to the abdomen before reaching a hospital.

Then there were the 4 UN observers: It said the four, from Austria, Canada, China and Finland, had taken shelter in a bunker under the post after it was earlier shelled 14 times by Israeli artillery. A rescue team was also shelled as it tried to clear the rubble. You don't want to research this one, as the killing was a drawn-out but wikipedia has covered it here.

"An Israeli bombardment killed four United Nations Observers, despite multiple warnings by UN peacekeeper. The peacekeepers at the post said the area within a kilometer of the post was hit with precision munitions, including 17 bombs and 12 artillery shells, four of which directly hit the UN observation post. The fatal strike with a "precision-guided weapon" according to UN military personnel hit the post at about 7.20pm. The victims were Austrian, Canadian, Chinese and Finnish UN-observers.

I became aware of this no or very small consequence style of killing when Raffaele Ciriello was shot by the IDF a few years ago. I had just found his website when I learned he was already dead.

The Guardian newspaper mentions it here.

I suspect it's going to be even more important to speak out with the newly-forming right-wing Israeli government. I hope things work out differently but let's not forget the past and the people who died trying to make a difference either by turning up to help or telling the less talked about side of the story.