Author: ISM Media Group

Mother of 13 killed by Israeli air-strike – Internationals staying in Jabaliya amid fears of Israeli ground invasion

International Human Rights Activists went to visit one of the families who lost their mother as Israel killed at least 225 in Gaza on the 27th December.

They will be staying with the family tonight (27th December) as the family and neighbours have expressed fear over an anticipated ground invasion of the area.


Photo from outside Al-Shifa hospital

Canadian citizen, Eva Bartlett, reported that;

“Today we visited the home of martyred civilian Sara Aid Hawajereh, a 55 year-old mother of 7 boys and 6 girls.

It was 11am this morning when Sara ventured out of her home in Jabaliya refugee camp to buy bread. On the way to the shop she was hit by shrapnel from an F16-launched missile and was killed.”

“Everyone in this house depended on Sara,” said one of her sons. “She would wake at 5am each day to ensure our home was clean and tidy, before going out to the market to buy our bread and other groceries. Before she left this morning, my mother hurt her leg, but despite the injury she still insisted on going to get food for all of us children.”

Eva added, “Every loss is atrocious, but it is more poignant when you see it or know the dead.”

Human Rights Defenders from various countries are present in Gaza and are witnessing and documenting the current Israeli attacks on Gaza. Due to Israel’s policy of denying access to international media, human rights defenders and aid agencies to the Occupied Gaza Strip, many of these Human Rights Defenders arrived in Gaza with the Free Gaza Movement’s boats that have repeatedly broken the Israeli blockade of Gaza.

Israeli Ministry of Defence make threatening phone call to residents of Gaza on the day that Israel kills at least 225 Palestinians

27th December 2008 – A family in Rafah say they have received a menacing phone call from the Israeli Ministry of Defence, warning that “any house that has guns or weapons will be targeted next without further warning or any announcement”.

At the end of a day where Israeli air-strikes killed at least 225 Palestinians in Gaza, with hundreds more injured, residents of Rafah were then subject to further threats from the Israelis. According to international Human Rights activists based in the area, the aggressive communication has caused widespread panic as the family called neighbours to find out if they had received the same call.

Palestinian Human Rights Activist Fida Qishta said:

” We received a call at about 9:45pm from the Israeli Ministry of Defence. It said that any house with guns or weapons would be targeted next. They said that this would happen without warning or any announcement”

“I hope that its not just our house. We do not have any guns”

Haaretz have reported that thousands of Palestinians in Gaza have received the same message.


For more information:

Adam Taylor – ISM Media Office in Ramallah – +972 598503948

Report from ISM Gaza Strip as Israeli rockets hit Gaza

By Sharon from Australia

3pm from Gaza city

I was at home beside the small Gaza port, eating a bread and jam breakfast, when the rockets began to fall at about 11am. Six or seven deafening explosions occurred not far from my building, which rocked from the impact, smoke and dust filling the air. This occurred just as the children were on the streets walking back from school, and when I went out onto the stairs, a terrified 5 year old girl ran sobbing into my arms.

Vik (Italy) later ascertained that these rockets had targeted the port police station, and also the “President’s Palace” nearby, killing about 20.

At the time of the attacks, Eva (Canada) was on Omar Mukhtar street where a police station had just been hit, and witnessed a last rocket hit the street 150 m away where crowds had already gathered to try to extract the dead bodies. The street was littered with rubble, making it difficult for ambulances and cars to get near enough to take bodies away.

Al Shifa hospital in Gaza city is full of dazed, wounded people – and also, we are told, pieces of what were people. Two from our group are currently inside documenting. Eva stood outside the hospital, watching as car after car, as well as the small number of functional ambulances, rushed into the hospital, Gaza’s main hospital, bringing the dead and the severely injured.

We also have a team documenting in Rafah. We are hearing that over 100 are dead and over 200 wounded. Several of the police stations that were targeted were having training days, but the dead and wounded include civilians and children.

Human Rights Defenders speak from Gaza as Israel kills over 200 people

27th December 2008 – Human Rights Defenders from various countries are present in Gaza and are witnessing and documenting the current Israeli attacks on Gaza. Due to Israel’s policy of denying access to international media, human rights defenders and aid agencies to the Occupied Gaza Strip, many of these Human Rights Defenders arrived in Gaza with the Free Gaza Movement’s boats that have repeatedly broken the Israeli blockade of Gaza.

“At the time of the attacks I was on Omar Mukhtar street and witnessed a last rocket hit the street 150 meters away where crowds had already gathered to try to extract the dead bodies. Ambulances, trucks, cars – anything that can move is bringing injured to the hospitals. Hospitals have had to evacuate sick patients to make room for the injured. I have been told that there is not enough room in the morgues for the bodies and that there is a great lack of blood in the blood-banks. I have just learned that among the civilians killed today was the mother of my good friends in Jabalya.” – Eva Bartlett (Canada) International Solidarity Movement

“The Shifa Hospital is already overwhelmed with injured people and does not have the medicine or the capacity to treat them.” – Ewa Jasiewicz (Polish and British) Free Gaza Movment

“The morgue at the Shifa hospital has no more room for dead bodies, so bodies and body parts are strewn all over the hospital.” – Dr. Haidar Eid, (Palestinian, South African) Professor of Social and Cultural Studies, Al Aqsa University Gaza

“The bombs began to fall just as the children were on the streets walking back from school. I went out onto the stairs and a terrified 5 year old girl ran sobbing into my arms.”- Sharon Lock (Australian) International Solidarity Movement

“This is incredibly sad. This massacre is not going to bring security for the State of Israel or allow it to be part of the Middle East. Now calls of revenge are everywhere.” Dr Eyad Sarraj – President of the Gaza Community Mental Health Centre

“As I speak they have just hit a building 200 metres away. There is smoke everywhere. This morning I went to the building close to where I live in Rafah that had been hit. Two bulldozers were immediately attempting to clear the rubble. They thought they had found all the bodies. As we arrived one more was found.” Jenny Linnel (British) International Solidarity Movement

“The home I am staying in is across from the preventive security building. All the glass shattered here. The home has been severely damaged. Due to the siege there is no glass or building materials to repair the damage. This is more than just collective punishment.” Natalie Abu Eid (Lebanon) International Solidarity Movement

Human Rights Defenders in Gaza:
Dr. Eyad Sarraj: (Arabic and English)
Ewa Jasiewicz (Polish and English)
Dr. Haider Eid (English and Arabic)
Sharon Lock (English)
Vittorio Arrigoni (Italian)
Fida Qishta (English and Arabic)
Jenny Linnel (English)
Natalie Abu Shakra (Arabic and English)
Eva Bartlett (English)

For more information contacting the people in Gaza please contact:

Adam Taylor (ISM) – 972 59 8503948 or email palreports@gmail.com

Soldiers attack international HRWs in Hebron

On Christmas Eve, Dec. 24 at 10:40pm, three international human rights workers (HRW’s)were assaulted by a group of six soldiers on the roadway after the Jewish cemetary in the Tel Rumeida district of Hebron.

The HRW’s had just returned from celebrating Christmas Eve in Bethlehem and had been denied entry through Checkpoint 56 to the roadway leading up to their residence.

The HRW’s used an alternate route to reach the roadway leading to their residence, climbing up an embankment and entering the roadway at the corner near the Jewish cemetary. As they entered the roadway, they were met by a group of six soldiers including one whose face was covered by a black ski mask. The soldiers yelled at the HRW’s in Hebrew and then began shoving them back towards the embankment.

One of the HRW’s was then kicked in the back as he retreated and another was kicked in the crotch and then pushed over the rocky drop-off. After waiting for the soldiers to depart, the HRW’s then returned to their residence via another route.

The area past Checkpoint 56 has been declared a closed military zone through Dec. 31, 2009 and internationals have been repeatedly denied entry by the soldiers at the checkpoint and the police, but it has been understood that the internationals could still access their residence via an unofficial route including another roadway and trail through a field. The police officers denying entry at #56 in the past have told internationals to use the alternate route.

It is believed by the HRW’s that the military closure is illegal in that it is a long standing order in a residential area denying internationals access to their contracted residence. Their is no current military conflict and Palestinian residents are permitted passage through the checkpoint to their residences although harassment is a common occurrence. The singling out of internationals appears designed to eliminate witnesses to abuses committed by Israeli settlers, police and military. The HRW’s are determined to maintain their presence in hopes of helping to curtail such abuse.