Israel criticised after 'shocking' discovery of exhausted children
• Red Cross finds children next to bodies of their mothers
• UN suspends aid shipments after truck driver is killed

Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 8 January 2009 19.31 GMT
Four exhausted children have been discovered cowering in a house next to the bodies of their mothers by staff of the International Committee of the Red Cross, which today accused the Israeli military of ''unacceptable'' delays in allowing medics safe access to injured Gazans.

The Red Cross workers found the small children, who were so weak they could not stand, sheltering next to the bodies of their mothers in a house in Zeitoun, southeast of Gaza City. Another man was found alive, but again too weak to stand. At least 12 bodies were lying on mattresses.

In another house nearby they found 15 survivors, several of whom were wounded. There were three more bodies in a third house. On Wednesday, a Palestinian volunteer with the Red Crescent who was in the same convoy described seeing dozens of dead bodies. Among those killed when the houses were shelled on Monday were three small boys, all from the Samouni family.

The Red Cross said Israeli soldiers were posted just 80 metres away and had several positions nearby, including two tanks.

It was a ''shocking incident,'' said Pierre Wettach, head of the Red Cross delegation for Israel and the 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,'' he said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/08/gaza-isr...