Palestinians evacuate the dead body of a child from in the rubble of a four story house that collapsed when struck by an Israeli air strike on January. 6, 2009 in Gaza City, Gaza Strip. By Thair Hasani/Getty
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I’ve hidden the image so as not to shock people who visit this site for the first time and don’t know what to expect. Read more about the Gaza War of the Winter of 2008/2009 here. This image reminds me of the Bhopal girl, although the circumstances are quite different. Some say that posting such images, even in a hidden manner, is needlessly shocking, a form of disaster pornography, and that my entire blog series is misguided. Generally I disagree and I think evil should be shown and not hidden away for the moral tranquility of people who have a comfortable life far away from war and suffering. (Read also the content warning for this blog). However, in this case there may be some truth to the allegation. Hamas is known to use such images for propaganda purposes, and even to use corpses as photo opportunities.
Hamas (and the Aksa Brigades, and Islamic Jihad, the whole bunch) prevents the burial, or even preparation of the bodies for burial, until the bodies are used as props in the Palestinian Passion Play. Once, in Khan Younis, I actually saw gunmen unwrap a shrouded body, carry it a hundred yards and position it atop a pile of rubble — and then wait a half-hour until photographers showed. It was one of the more horrible things I’ve seen in my life. And it’s typical of Hamas. (source)
More iconic images of human rights violations. More on Israel, Palestine and the Middle East.
