Most Recent Posts

By the end of July during last summer's war in the Gaza Strip, more than 3,000 Palestinians crowded into a United Nations-run elementary school in Jabaliya, a northern Gaza town. They had moved there for temporary shelter after the Israeli military warned them to leave their homes.

An hour before dawn on July 30, explosions shook the classrooms and the courtyard, all packed with people.

i

Palestinians collect human remains from a classroom inside Jabaliya school after it was hit by shelling on July 30, 2014. Marco Longari/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption Marco Longari/AFP/Getty Images

Palestinians collect human remains from a classroom inside Jabaliya school after it was hit by shelling on July 30, 2014.

Marco Longari/AFP/Getty Images

Mahmoud Jaser was camped outside with his sons.

"We were sleeping when the attack started. As we woke up, it got worse," he said.

Shrapnel hit Jaser in the back. Three of his sons were also hurt. About 100 people were injured overall. Almost 20 were killed.

Jaser still plays those minutes over in his mind.

"My neighbor told me his children were killed," he remembers. "I saw people without legs or heads. Then I lost consciousness. I woke up in the hospital."

i

Mahmoud Jaser was hit with shrapnel in the July 2014 attack. In this April photo he is surrounded by four of his sons: clockwise from upper left, Adham, Odai, Abdel Razik and Saqir. Emily Harris/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Emily Harris/NPR

Mahmoud Jaser was hit with shrapnel in the July 2014 attack. In this April photo he is surrounded by four of his sons: clockwise from upper left, Adham, Odai, Abdel Razik and Saqir.

Emily Harris/NPR

An investigation commissioned by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon recently concluded that Israeli soldiers hit the Jabaliya school with four high-explosive artillery shells.

It holds the Israeli military responsible for that attack and two others. Together, nearly 50 Palestinians were killed in the three attacks.

The U.N. inquiry found that in nearby Beit Hanoun on July 24, at least two high explosive mortars landed in a school courtyard as people gathered to evacuate to a safer shelter. Between 12 and 14 Gazans were killed, the public summary of the commission's inquiry says, and 93 people were injured.

In Rafah, bordering Egypt in the southern Gaza strip, the U.N. inquiry says a precision-guided missile targeting three men on a motorcycle struck the street outside the school gates mid-morning on Aug. 3. Fifteen people were killed, including a U.N. guard inside the school compound.

Hundreds of Palestinian civilians were killed in the seven weeks of fighting in Gaza. In general, Israel says that the Islamist group Hamas was storing weapons and firing from densely packed civilian areas. Israel says it targeted Hamas and that civilian deaths were not intentional.

Related NPR Stories

The Two-Way

Vatican Officially Recognizes State Of Palestine

Parallels

Why Everyone's Talking About Israel's New Justice Minister

Parallels

From Israel To ISIS: How A Search For A Safe Haven Took A Wrong Turn

Israel initially denied wrongdoing in the Jabaliya and Beit Hanoun attacks. But after further examination of evidence, military prosecutors decided there is "reasonable suspicion" that soldiers may have not followed all the rules.

Prosecutors have opened criminal investigations into both attacks.

The drone attack in Rafah is still under investigation, according to Israeli deputy military attorney general Col. Eli Baron.

Israel told the U.N. board of inquiry, according to its report, that by the time it became clear the missile would strike the motorcycle outside a school, it was too late to redirect.

Baron says there is a range of possible outcomes in any of the scores of incidents under review.

"There could be a criminal indictment," he said, during an interview in his office at the Kirya, Israel's military headquarters in central Tel Aviv. "There could be disciplinary measures."

He also said military prosecutors use these investigations to examine whether battlefield guidance given to soldiers could be improved.

Even when criminal investigations are opened, as has happened regarding Jabaliya and Beit Hanoun schools, indictments are far from certain, Baron said.

"Many people think the mere fact that you launch a criminal investigation means you have, you know, a war criminal at the end of the road. And it doesn't necessarily mean that."

After a similar war in late 2008, dubbed Operation Cast Lead by the military, Israel's internal investigations led to a few convictions. According to news reports at the time, the longest sentence was seven months in prison, for credit card theft.

The U.N inquiry after that war openly called for compensation, specifically for damaged U.N. property. Israel paid the U.N. more than $10 million.

i

In April, the courtyard of Jabaliya elementary school was full of materials to rebuild the destroyed classrooms. Emily Harris/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Emily Harris/NPR

In April, the courtyard of Jabaliya elementary school was full of materials to rebuild the destroyed classrooms.

Emily Harris/NPR

Jaser, who now walks with pain and takes medication to calm his nerves, says he'd like Israel's investigation to result in financial help for survivors now too injured to make a living.

But a neighbor, Tala Abu Ghnaim, who was also at the school when it was hit, dismisses the notion that it's even possible to compensate for the damage done.

"What, they can kill us then 'compensate' us?" he asked. "We want safety."

Asked whether Israel would consider compensation this time, Col. Baron said he didn't know.

"Obviously that's a political decision," he said. "The [U.N.] secretary general said nothing about compensation in his [recent] report."

That doesn't mean it won't come up, says Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for U.N. Secretary General Moon.

"If there is a need to pursue the issue of compensation, we'll pursue it," he says.

But he said the real priority is a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

i

Fatiyeh abu Gamar, far left, stands with her 11 children. Their father — her husband — was killed while working as a guard at the school in Jabaliya. Emily Harris/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Emily Harris/NPR

Fatiyeh abu Gamar, far left, stands with her 11 children. Their father — her husband — was killed while working as a guard at the school in Jabaliya.

Emily Harris/NPR

Meanwhile, the Beit Hanoun school is back up and running, with two shifts of students daily, as is usual in crowded Gaza schools. The badly damaged classrooms of the Jabaliya school are being completely rebuilt.

Eleven children who lost their father in that attack are struggling to rebuild their lives. Their mother, Fatiyeh Abu Gamar, now a widow, says she simply misses her husband being around to take care of the family.

He was often unemployed she said, but "when he was alive nobody dared to interfere in our family life. It's different now," she says.

Now male relatives are trying to tell her what to do, including take her daughters out of university.

Her youngest, a 9-year-old boy, says when he grows up he wants to kill Israelis in revenge for killing his father. Abu Gamar says she told him no — we don't know exactly who did it. Israeli prosecutors say they don't know either yet, and they may never.

Gaza Strip

Israel

Many U.S. passengers who have been wedged into coach-class seats on long flights might welcome more flying options — even if that competition came from overseas.

But the chief executives for Delta, United and American airlines say it's not fair if such competition involves big government subsidies given to state-backed carriers.

Persian Gulf carriers, namely, Qatar Airways, Emirates Airlines and Etihad Airways, are "dumping airline seats" into the U.S. market, and covering market losses with government subsidies, United Airlines CEO Jeff Smisek said Friday at the National Press Club.

The Gulf carriers say the accusations are untrue, and they are not violating any rules.

Smisek, joined by Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson and American Airlines CEO Doug Parker, said subsidized seats on trans-Atlantic flights may help the foreign carriers, but are "quite detrimental to U.S. jobs."

The pilots, flight attendants and other U.S. airline workers in the audience cheered such remarks. Their unions have joined with management to pressure the White House to investigate practices they say violate "Open Skies" agreements that govern international airline competition.

Earlier this month, the Obama administration said it is launching a review of the matter. U.S. airline executives say the Gulf carriers have "flooded" the U.S. market with about 11,000 new daily seats, traveling from this country to Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi.

Last week, Qatar Airways said it would launch three new U.S. destinations – Boston, Atlanta and Los Angeles – next year.

Delta's Anderson said the Gulf carriers' surge in to U.S. markets is disproportionate to demand, and clearly the result of subsidization.

"The evidence is overwhelming," he said.

But groups representing passengers strongly disagree. They say U.S. carriers have benefited from mergers that did not get tough anti-trust scrutiny; bankruptcy filings that shifted pension obligations to the Pension Benefits Guaranty Corp.; and other forms of relief.

"These airlines want to close down the U.S. market to foreign carriers with no regard for consumers or airports in the U.S. that have lost air service and robust competition due to consolidation," said a statement from the Business Travel Coalition.

On Thursday, Etihad, an UAE-based airline, released its own report, saying Delta, American and United have received more than $70 billion in subsidies since 2000, mostly in the form of pension guarantees and creditor protections in bankruptcy.

U.S. carriers say Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections are not a "subsidy" as established by international laws.

If the Obama administration doesn't do more to check the growth of the Gulf carriers in this market, then airlines will seek action from Congress. Anderson said Delta has been a leader in raising objections and will continue to do so.

"We've been at it over two years and we're not going to stop," he said.

Airlines

The plastic orange mesh fences that once separated Ebola patients in the "red zone" from visitors in the "green zone" have collapsed. Corrugated metal roofing sheets flap in the wind. Some of the tents that served as isolation wards are still in good shape, but many of the tarps used as partitions are torn and frayed.

i

Dr. Michael Mawanda, from the World Health Organization, walks past goggles left to dry during the last days of operation at the Ministry of Defense ETU. Jason Beaubien/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Jason Beaubien/NPR

Dr. Michael Mawanda, from the World Health Organization, walks past goggles left to dry during the last days of operation at the Ministry of Defense ETU.

Jason Beaubien/NPR

"Here we are going through to what used to be the red zone," says Dr. Michael Mawanda from the World Health Organization as he leads me through the grounds of a defunct 300-bed field hospital in Monrovia, Liberia. "As you can see the structures over there, those are patient wards."

During this Ebola outbreak some of the largest Ebola isolation units ever constructed were built in Liberia. The country has 21 in total, many of which were built by the U.S. military as part of President Obama's response to the crisis.

But now that Liberia has been declared Ebola free, the country is trying to figure out whether to tear down these field hospitals, repurpose them or keep them operational in case the disease makes a comeback

This isolation unit, known as the Ministry of Defense ETU, opened in October. The last Ebola patient walked out the gate free of the virus on Feb. 11.

Even though the current WHO protocols assume that the virus can't survive on beds or medical equipment for more than a week, Mawanda's team is still disinfecting everything here to reassure people that that there's no risk to the public.

"We are there to ensure that these processes happen — the cleaning process, the decontamination," he says. They also decide "what should be repurposed reused and what shouldn't be."

i

A boot-drying rack sits empty at the Ministry of Defense Ebola Treatment Unit in Monrovia. Jason Beaubien/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Jason Beaubien/NPR

A boot-drying rack sits empty at the Ministry of Defense Ebola Treatment Unit in Monrovia.

Jason Beaubien/NPR

Leftover equipment, like drip stands and beds, can be reused at another hospital but they will be thoroughly sanitized first, says Mawanda's colleague, Ling Kituyi.

"You can imagine yourself," Kituyi says. "Even in the U.S., if you got something and people in that a hospital knew it came from an Ebola treatment unit, they might object and say, 'How do we know that's safe?"

Before anything can leave here, it has to be washed twice in a strong chlorine solution.

i

The Ministry of Defense ETU opened in October and closed in February. Now it awaits decommissioning. Jason Beaubien/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Jason Beaubien/NPR

The Ministry of Defense ETU opened in October and closed in February. Now it awaits decommissioning.

Jason Beaubien/NPR

There is still concern here that the outbreak might somehow come back, or that cases might come in from neighboring Sierra Leone or Guinea. So only 14 of Liberia's 21 Ebola treatment units are being dismantled. The U.S. military built the majority of them as the hallmark of President Obama's multi-billion-dollar response to the crisis. But those American-built field hospitals didn't open until after the number of cases started to drop dramatically.

Some of the U.S. Ebola treatment units or ETUs never saw a single patient.

But Tolbert Nyenswa, who led the Liberian government's Ebola response, the building of these unused field hospitals. When construction started, Nyenswa says, this is what Liberia was asking for.

"When the U.S. came in, we gave them where ETUs [should be built] and the number of beds of ETUs to be built, and they did that effectively," he says.

Block By Block, Health Workers Lead Liberia To Victory Over Ebola May 9, 2015

Baltimore Artist Helps Turn Liberian School Into A Mural Masterpiece May 14, 2015

It's Like The Story Of Job: Ebola Survivors Who Continue To Suffer May 15, 2015

Not to be outdone, the Chinese built the most lavish of any of the ETUs. While the others are in tented structures, the Chinese hospital is an air-conditioned, modular building. It offered patients private rooms and has closed circuit video monitors so nurses could check on a patient without the danger of going to their bedside.

But the Chinese ETU is right next to the national soccer stadium, and there's now a fight over whether to move it, dismantle it or find some new use for the hospital where it stands.

Compared to the problems Liberia had just a few months ago, the problem of what to do with too many Ebola treatment beds is a refreshing change.

ebola

Liberia

You'd recognize actress Elizabeth Banks if you saw her — blonde, attractive, funny — whether she's playing an exhausted pregnant woman in What to Expect When You're Expecting, or an inappropriate a cappella judge in the 2012 movie Pitch Perfect.

i

Elizabeth Banks directed Pitch Perfect 2, and she also returns as impolitic a cappella judge Gail Abernathy-McKadden. Universal Pictures hide caption

itoggle caption Universal Pictures

Elizabeth Banks directed Pitch Perfect 2, and she also returns as impolitic a cappella judge Gail Abernathy-McKadden.

Universal Pictures

Now she's taking on a different role: Directing Pitch Perfect 2. It's a tall order since the first one was such a surprise hit — it only cost $17 million to make, but earned more than $100 million worldwide.

And much like the first film's success, singing heroines the Barden Bellas are fresh off a victory, though theirs was onstage at a college championship, rather than at the box office. So to raise the stakes, Banks took the big fish out of their small pond, and dropped them in an ocean. In Pitch Perfect 2, the ladies are competing in the world championships.

Banks tells NPR's Audie Cornish she thinks these films are just like sports movies. "In the first film, especially, it was really structured like The Bad News Bears," she says. "It's a group of misfits who have to come together, who practice, who have competitions, they have to keep winning in order to keep going — so very much like a sports movie."

Interview Highlights

On her particular inspiration for this movie

Our model was Rocky IV. Because we spent a lot of time talking about Ivan Drago — we have a new competitor, a German group called Das Sound Machine, and we wanted Das Sound Machine to sort of be like our Ivan Drago, and the Bellas are our Rocky ... I think they look villainous but weirdly sexy.

On the tribal nature of a cappella

I think it's a good metaphor for life, generally — you know, all of these voices have to work together in harmony to be its best, and I think that's something that on an almost subconscious level people are responding to with these films. This particular type of music, I think, really requires all the part, and that dovetails really nicely with our teamwork themes.

Movie Reviews

Staying In Tune Isn't So Easy In 'Pitch Perfect 2'

On moving into directing

Monkey See

The Hard Work And Close Bonds Of Competitive College A Cappella

I started thinking about it probably maybe five years ago. You know, I directed plays in college, and it's something that I've sort of always put in the back of my mind ... and I started just sort of seeking out small opportunities. So one of the first things I did was direct a short film for the Farrelly brothers. And I did it by essentially guilting them into letting me direct it. I said, you don't have any women writers, directors, nobody. And I knew that they sort of trusted me in a weird way ... so I had been working towards this moment, towards the moment of directing a big feature.

On why more actresses don't move into directing

It's really the time commitment — and if you're going to direct a movie, you know, I think that's why Ben Affleck always stars in his movies. I mean, that would be my theory — I don't chat to him about it! But, you know, I think if you're going to take that amount of time to direct, you don't want to just leave your acting career on the side. That's what brought us to the dance, that's what we all love to do.