Collective punishment is a war crime. Given that civilian deaths are escalating in Gaza, the IDF is arguably operating in a criminal fashion.

The latest outrage involves a strike on the compound of a UN-run school in Gaza - the al-Fakhura school in the Jabaliya district. Civilians with some children sought refuge in the school in order to escape fighting on the outskirts of the camp.

Following the strike TV footage showed bodies scattered on the ground amid pools of blood.

Video here.

BBC reports:

Casualties were taken to two hospitals. Doctors at the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya said 30 people had died there. A further 10 people died at the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, doctors said.

The number of casualties is expected to rise.

A Norweigian civilian doctor in Gaza, Mads Gilbert, who is struggling to save lives in a hospital short of resources has described Israeli actions as 'an attack against civilians.' He said on a BBC report that most of the injured and dying are women, children and civilian men. Gilbert says that only a minority have been Hamas fighters.

If we were dealing with an African nation that turned the full force of its military on a neighboring country because some cross-border rebels had been firing home-made rockets, the world community would be screaming genocide. Israel apparently is a moral exception where some people are concerned.

Let us be clear - Israel has killed close to 600 (100 of them children) with thousands injured in mere days. Hamas rocket fire has accounted for less than 20 Israeli deaths over an 8 year period. There is simply no justice and no equity in a comparison of these numbers and the methods employed.

The IDF has been engaging in criminal tactics and Israel needs to be held responsible.