the purpose of the united nations shelter is that it is a place of refuge, of sanctity. for that reason, it cannot be made a target under any circumstance and the united states must uphold this under the strongest threat of consequence, including threatening to withdraw funding.

for israel to attack the shelters under the argument that there are rockets in them is to take a racist position that the lives of their civilians are more valuable. there is not another way to interpret this; it is the slaughter of palestinian civilians under the logic that they are less valuable than israeli citizens. and, this logic cannot be accepted, rationalized or tolerated. the state department should be ashamed of itself for parroting it.

for these reasons, hamas must also respect the neutrality. and, should they refuse to do so, it is the responsibility of the united nations to take action. for example, they could bring in an armed "peacekeeping" force to patrol the facilities and expel militants.

it is not israel's responsibility to police these facilities. however, it is their obligation to respect the sanctity of their shelter.