Tag: Air Strike - Page 8 - International Solidarity Movement

They will never beg

by Johnny Bravo

19 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

I have read several accounts over the last few days of how life in Southern Israel has become unbearable for the people living there. In retaliation for the latest provocation by Israel over 200 rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel. 11 people were injured, one seriously. Most were suffering from “shock”. Two were injured when they tripped on the way to secure areas.

Minister of Strategic Affair and deputy premier Moshe Yaalon on Thursday said, “Anyone threatening us is risking his life. We will retaliate until they beg us to stop.”

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said Israel makes its “best effort to target terrorists and not the civilian population,” but added: “We will not accept the constant disruption of life in the south of Israel, and I advise all heads of terror to think well about their actions.”

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland condemned “in the strongest terms” the rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel. “We call on those responsible to take immediate action to stop these cowardly acts,” she said in a statement Saturday.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the rocket fire from Gaza into Israel. Meeting with opposition leader Tzipi Livni in New York, Clinton said Israel has the right to defend itself.

Why is it that the Palestinians have no right to respond to Israeli aggression? If rocket fire into Israel is a “cowardly” act, what exactly is bombing with F-16’s and drones? Why does Israel have a right to defend itself, but no such rights extend to the Palestinian people?

With the exception of the two men Israel assassinated on Friday, Zuhair al-Qaisy, secretary-general of the Popular Resistance Committees, and Mahmoud Ahmad Al-Hanini, a Hamas military leader, the Palestinians killed remained nameless in all mainstream media accounts.

But I assure you, those killed have a name, and each has a family that grieves for them.

Adel Alessy, sixty-one-years-old, was working as a watchman on a piece of farmland. Saleh, his son, said people came to his house to tell him his father had been killed in an air strike at 10:45 am Sunday morning. “My father was known by all the people in this area and everyone liked him,” said Saleh, “He was working hard, trying to feed his family.” He added, “There were no rockets shot from the farm that day. The Israeli’s know that, but they wanted to do this crime to prevent our farmers from working on their land.”

Adel’s brother Mohammed added, “He worked hard his entire life, and he never refused to help anyone who asked for help.” Adel Alessy is survived by his wife and seven children.

On Tuesday morning Muhammed Mostafa El-Hasami, seventy-two-years-old, and his daughter Fayza, thirty-five-years-old, went to spend the day planting at their small farm. Dr Abed Allalah, his son, explains, “My father was a teacher as well as a farmer for the past 40 years.” Two rockets were fired from the adjoining property. One rocket failed and crashed into a greenhouse, starting a fire. Abed said, “My father and sister went to put out the fire when an Israeli drone targeted them. When we heard the bombing, we went to see what happened and found both my father and sister on the ground in pieces. Fayza’s mother heard her last words, “I am dying.” Her husband died within minutes of arriving at the hospital.

Adel told me, “Israel must be pressured to stop targeting innocent civilians. They must stop killing women, children, and old men. I believe Israel knows they are killing innocent people but they don’t care, because no one in the world is confronting them.” A wife, three sons and four daughters remain to grieve the loss of a beloved father and sister.

Um Mohammed, the mother of twelve-year-old Ayoub Asalya told me how her son was afraid when the air strikes began, and how he slept restlessly by her side the night before his death. Before he left for school he bargained with his mother. She would buy new sandals for him and he’d buy her a gift on mother’s day. A few minutes after he left the house his mother heard an explosion.

She ran out she found Ayoub’s cousin, Wafi, face down in the street. Ayoub’s body was found less than thirty yards from the house in the orchard, under a lemon tree. One of the neighbors said he couldn’t recognize Ayoub. Um Mohammed said, “I can’t imagine my son, who I was just talking with, lying in pieces.” Both legs were severed. One leg was not recovered.

A breeze rustles through the lemon trees. Um Mohammed picks a lemon from a tree that is splattered with Ayoub’s blood. Shreds of his clothing lie scattered on the ground. “The Israeli’s claimed they targeted fighters,” she said, “Do they think Ayoub was shooting rockets? Where are the human rights of the Palestinian people?” Ayoub was the third child of Um Mohammed killed by the Israelis. “Now who will bring me a gift on Mothers day?” she asks.

The injured also have names, dreams, and memory. I was unable to lift my camera to record their injuries, but stood alongside them, silent. A friend did document the injured. You can view photographs of them here: https://palsolidarity.org/2012/03/casualties-of-the-last-attacks-on-gaza-visit-to-shifa-hospital/. No one was crying. Their injuries were severe. Moath Abo al-Eash, twenty-years-old, suffered burns to his face and hands, smoke inhalation, and shrapnel wounds to his chest, torso, hands and face. When asked what message he would like to send to the world, he said, “My picture is enough to tell the world.”

But I am afraid it is not enough. The Clintons, Nulands, Yalons and Libermans of the world are not so easily swayed. The human misery they inflict on Palestine and the rest of the world does not influence their political calculations. They have the power, the money, the sophisticated weapons, and a complicit media. But I can also tell you this; the Palestinian people bear their burden with dignity. Like the people of Libya, the people of Egypt, the people of Bahrain, the people of Syria, and people around the world, they demand their freedom. They will never beg.

Johnny Bravo is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Casualties of the last attacks on Gaza: Visit to Shifa Hospital

by Rosa Schiano

15 March 2012 | il Blog di Oliva

This morning we went to pay a visit to the wounded at the Shifa Hospital. Most of them have fractures and burns.

Hani Al-Qanoo, 15

His mother, Reda, tells that on Sunday morning around 9am Hani and his brother went to school, but there were no classes. They were coming back home when a drone fired a missile on the same road where they were walking, Al Khorondar street.

Reda lives with her 7 children in difficult living conditions. Her husband died some time ago.

“We were coming back from school along with 6 of our companions when suddenly a drone hit us,” said Hani. “I had the sensation of flying.”

The doctor told us that Hani has a fractured femur in his right leg and several burns caused by the missile.

Moyad Al-Qanoo, 16

Moyad, was injured along with other friends, and one of their comrades, Nayif Qarmout,15, was killed. Moyad, who is Hani’s brother, reports injuries caused by second degree burns on the face and on the legs. He has shrapnel in various parts of his body.

Saleh Qarmout, 15

Saleh Qarmout, 15 | Photo courtesy Rosa Schiano, 2012

Even Saleh Qarmout, 15, came home from school that day along with other classmates. The doctor told us that during the attack, a child had died, Nayif Qarmout, and 9 children were injured. Five children were taken to Shifa Hospital, and four children have been transferred at Kamal Odwan Hospital.

Tamer Azzam, 17

Tamer Azzam, 17, was coming back from school with them. We found him lying on a bed, and on his face showed the grimaces of pain. He has shrapnel to the face and side and burns to both legs. The doctor told us that they were obliged to partially remove his intestine. His recovery may take a long time. Tamer has 9 brothers and 2 sisters. His father is unemployed because he is sick.

Before I left, Tamer constantly set his eyes incessantly on mine. I looked at him, but because of the pain I felt, I looked away for a while. When I turned my look towards him again, I found his eyes still fixed on mine.

He stared at me in silence, aching, just like he was asking me some help through his eyes. I wanted to beat my fists against the wall, I wanted to shout and cry. I will never forget his gaze for the rest of my life.

Alaa Al Looh, 34

Alaa Al-Looh, 34, has a fractured tibia and burns to his face, caused by an Israeli attack that, on the same day killed a father and his daughter inside their factory. Mohammed Mostafa El Husseini was 85 and his daughter only 30.

Alaa was riding his motorcycle when he heard a loud explosion. He bounced on the ground and he woke up at the hospital. Alaa is married and has three children, two males and one female, and works in a fruit and vegetable shop.

When the doctor showed us his fracture, Alaa screamed in pain.

Hussien Omer Abo Aqla, 26

On the same day, Sunday 12 March, around 8am, Hussien was going back home after work. Hussien delivers food to the schools early in the morning. Suddenly a drone hit the road where he was travelling, Salah Addin Street, in the Al-Zeitouni neighborhood of east Gaza city. Hussien was injured in the back and he suffers from pressure to his chest.

Moath Nofal Abo El-Eash, 20

On Monday around 1:30AM two missiles hit Jabalia refugee camp, north of Gaza city. The first attack was carried out by a drone.

The missile hit the Hammad family home. More than 30 people have been injured, including 21 children. The house has been completely destroyed and others have been damaged.

Abo El- Eash’s house was close to the the Hammad’s family. Moath had heard the explosions, and his neighbors asked him to go out to try to save Hammad’s family. As soon when he got out of his home an F-16 launched another missile.

Moath has injuries from burns all over his body, particularly on his face and splinters in several parts of his body.

I asked him if he felt like telling a message to the world after what had happened to him.

Moath replied, “My image is enough to tell the world”.

Dr. Maher Sukkar, vice president of the plastic surgery department at Shifa Hospital, told us that they will ask to analyze the splinters from the weapons used in order to determine if they are carcinogenic.

Before saying goodbye, he told us that the weapons used are American.

“We need some freedom. Tell the world what you have seen in this hospital–why our children cannot have some room to play. Is it because we are Palestinians? My wife and I lived abroad for some time, but then we came back to Gaza despite the difficult living conditions, because our country needs us.”

Rosa Schiano is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement.

The mourning tent of a martyr

by Nathan Stuckey

14 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza Strip

Nayif Qarmout was murdered yesterday; he was also buried yesterday, in a small cemetery in the heart of Jabalia, the refugee camp where he lived. He was only 14 years old. He was murdered by an Israeli missile while playing football with his friends. He was a handsome young man, the photo on his martyr posters make that obvious. It was something that I never would have guessed at his funeral, looking at his bloody bruised face.

Today, Nayif’s family mourned. The reception line of men lining the entrance to the mourning tent was the most shattered group of men I have ever seen. Their faces were blank, dead, as though Nayif was not the only murdered yesterday. Nayif’s photo was on the wall, he looks so young, a child just turning into a man. We sat down and ate dates as a young man brought coffee around. Nayif’s uncle, Abdullah came over to talk to us.

Abdullah tells us that not only was Nayif a handsome child, but he was also a joyful child. He was always laughing, always making jokes, always helping his parents with his younger brothers and sisters. Nayif was the oldest child; he had three younger brothers and two younger sisters. He was not only the oldest child, but also the oldest grandchild; he was named after his grandfather. After school he worked with his father in family’s pharmacy, helping customers and keeping track of the accounts. Nayif hoped to run this pharmacy someday, after university, when he was a man. That is a chance that Nayif will never have.

Monday morning Nayif woke early. He got dressed and went to school, after school he was supposed to come to the shop to help his father. When he arrived at school, he found it closed because of the Israeli attacks. He met some of his friends; they went to play football before they went home for the day. While they were playing football an Israeli drone fired a missile at them, at six children playing football on a day off from school. Nayif’s family received a call that Nayif had been injured and was on the way to the hospital. They all rushed to the hospital, but there was nothing to be done, they did not even have the chance to say goodbye to their son, he was dead when they arrived at the hospital.

Nayif’s family is left with their sadness; nothing will bring back their son. Perhaps, though, as Um Nayif asked us, something can be done to save other children, “stop the killing of children, don’t abandon Palestine. Nayif went to the school, he was a student and Israel killed him. I know that now he’s gone to God. His brothers and sisters cry because they lost their elder brother.”

Nathan is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Burying Nayif Qarmout

13 March 2012 | Nathan Stuckey, International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

Nayif Qarmout was killed by an Israeli missile today at 9:30 A.M. He was 14 years old. Five other teenagers with him were injured, Tamer Azzam, 16, Mu’ayyad al-Qanou’, 18, Hani al-Qanou’, 16, Salih Qarmout, 14; and Sa’eed al-Attar, 14. The boys were reportedly playing football in a playground when the missile struck. Nayif was buried today in Jabalia.

The same mosque that yesterday hosted the funeral of twelve year old Ayoub Useila today was the site of the funeral of Nayif. Hundreds of people gathered for noon prayers before the funeral. The street outside of the mosque was full of people. After prayers Nayif’s body was brought out, born on the shoulders of his friends and relatives. His face was the only thing visible, it was bloody and swollen. His body was wrapped in white cloth. Around him rose the green flags of Hamas.

This time, we did not set out toward the cemetery near the border. We went through the heart of Jabalia. The streets were narrow and crowded. Cries of “God is great” and “there is no God but God” rang out. The men raised one arm in the air, one finger extended, there is one God it said. From the windows of second and third stories people looked down onto the procession, onto the shattered body of Nayif Qarmout. Nayif Qarmout, who this morning had been playing football with his friends, who had still been alive, was now, a bloody body on a stretcher.

The procession moved quickly, with the energy that the processions of martyrs seem to have. Until we passed by Nayif’s house, the procession slowed, and stopped, women crowded the alley crying. This would be the last time they would see the body of their son, their cousin, their nephew, Nayif. Then, the procession moved onward to the cemetery.

The cemetery was Nayif was buried is an old cemetery. It is already crowded with graves. The procession slowed as the men picked their way among the grave, until they found the place where Nayif was to be buried. The grave was dug. Nayif was lowered into it and men began to shovel earth over him. When they were finished there was a human shaped mound of earth. Even if you did not know what had happened, you would know what this was, the grave of a child. A young red haired man sat by the grave, he did not cry but the grief was obvious. Nayif was someone that meant a lot to him. Nayif was stolen from him by an Israeli missile.

Nathan Stuckey and Rosa Schiano are volunteers with International Solidarity Movement.

Burying Ayoub

by Nathan Stuckey

11 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

Twelve year old Ayoub Assalya was murdered today. He was walking to school when an Israeli missile landed next to him. It was seven A.M. He is another casualty of Israel’s latest attack on Gaza. For three days now Gaza has been under bombardment. Eighteen people have been killed. Dozens have been injured.

His funeral was held today in Jabalia, the refugee camp where he lived. We waited outside the mosque for midday prayers to end. The street outside was crowded with people waiting for the funeral. A bus was parked to carry those who could not walk the several kilometers to the cemetery. Ayoub was carried out on a stretcher, a stretcher held by a dozen men, his bloodied face the only thing visible, his body was wrapped in white cloth. His face appeared swollen.

The mourners carried his body east to the cemetery. A sound truck drove along with them. The crowd chanted, “God is great”, “there is no god but god”, and “the martyr is the beloved of God”. Music played and the black flags of Islamic Jihad floated above us. The men walked quickly, down the dusty road out of the camp and towards the cemetery. The day was hot; dust rose under the hundreds of pairs of feet that walked with Ayoub, people used Kleenexes to cover their mouths.

As we approached the cemetery you could see the border. This is the same border where the Israel shot four men yesterday. The four men had been attending the funeral of yesterday’s martyrs. The land leading up the border is barren, there are no trees, Israel bulldozed them all years ago. A giant Israeli gun tower looms on the horizon. These towers dot the border of Gaza, reminding everyone that Gaza is a prison. In the cemetery though, there are trees, trees growing amidst the graves. Perhaps the graves saved them from the Israeli bulldozers. The cemetery is beautiful, white graves under palm trees. Fruit trees also grow here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9sjdb5iI6w

As we enter the cemetery we see that there is another funeral already going on. A few hundred people gathered only a hundred meters away from us, burying yet another martyr. Ayoub is buried in a freshly dug grave. His grave is next to six other fresh graves, graves from martyrs of yesterday. They do not yet have gravestones, their names are written on cardboard attached to concrete blocks. They lower Ayoub into his grave and the men start to fill it with earth.

After the grave is full and a slight mound has formed over Ayoub’s small body one man keeps shoveling earth onto it, others tell him, “khalas”, enough, he doesn’t stop. The man shoveling dirt ignores them, he continues to shovel, finally, someone puts his hand on his arm and leads him away. He is led away, it is final, Ayoub is dead, the funeral is over. The mourning will continue for many years.

Nathan Stuckey is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement