Israel and the art of bombing civilian targets

What Israel really means when attacking Gaza (ie. revenge):

It was not a chemical plant, nor a nuclear facility, nor a manufacturer of weapons of mass destruction. But almost all the rubble of the entirely destroyed factory was covered in white, with white chunks everywhere. These were pieces of cheese, butter and yoghurt — some of the products made by the Dalloul dairy factory in southern Gaza City.

Israeli warplanes bombed the factory shortly after midnight last Thursday through Friday night, 1-2 April, leaving the building, all its equipment and the distribution van completely destroyed.

“At 12:30am we heard a very loud explosion nearby,” said owner Mutassim Dalloul as he inspected the wreckage on Friday morning. “I got downstairs to find my factory completely destroyed. Everything inside, including the machines, the power generator and all our products, [was destroyed].”

This was not the first Israeli attack on the factory.

“During the January 2009 war on Gaza, Israeli warplanes hit my factory, inflicting an estimated loss of half a million dollars. However, my brothers and I decided to rebuild it, so we now have a newly-destroyed dairy,” Dalloul said. He estimated the losses from the latest attack to be at least $100,000.

The Dalloul dairy is located in southern Gaza City, far away from the Gaza-Israel boundary. The factory distributed its products all over the city.

Text and images ©2024 Antony Loewenstein. All rights reserved.

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