Tag: Air Strike - Page 9 - International Solidarity Movement

Air strike in south east Gaza City: “For the West, you have abandoned us to death”

by Rosa Schiano

15 February 2012 | il Blog di Oliva

Locals help the family salvage animal feed for the surviving livestock | Photo courtesy of Rosa Schiano

Saturday night Israeli F-16’s bombed civilian targets in several areas of the Gaza strip. One of these strikes killed a man and injured his son in the neighborhood of al-Zaytoon, south-east Gaza city. An F-16 dropped a bomb on a farm just before midnight.

The watchman of the farm, Abed Alkareem Alzaitooni, 71 years old, was killed. He was sitting in a steel shed next to the animal pen. His son, Mohammed Alzaitooni, 22 years old, was injured. He was bringing some food to his father. Most of the animals in the farm were killed and the equipment was damaged.

The owner of the farm lost about 20 cows, 30 sheep and most of the feed for the animals. The same farm was targeted was also during Cast Lead and then was rebuilt. The house near the farm was damnaged but luckily nobody was injured. The owner of the house told us: “I was lucky because 10 minutes before the bombing I was with Abed”.

At the scene we found 5-6 young men trying to salvage the feed an anything else they could. A jacket was placed on a cement column. It was the jacket of Abed. Some chickens walked on the rubble.

A chicken lay dead on the ground. A rooster walked over to her body and pushed at it as if was trying to encourage to move. From the rubble emerged the head of a sheep. There was a big crater in the ground from the bomb.

Rubble is spread everywhere. The day after the airstrike we went to the mourning tent. Abed Kareem Zaytooni had 6 sons and 3 daughters. His family were natives of Jaffa. Abed spent the last 20 years of his life working as watchman. He returned home only one day per week.

He started to work in this farm 6 years ago. When he was young he worked as porter. His brother, Achmed, 73 years old, told us: “We grew up without our parents, our dad died before I can remember.

We came to Gaza directly form Jaffa. Our life started with suffering, we always tried to work anywhere we could. At the end
everyone had his family.”

We visited the son of Abed, Mohammed, 22 years old, in Shifa hospital. Mohammed worked on the same farm as his father, he fed the animals. He started to work there 4 years ago.

He always brought food to his father when he was at work. That night he wanted to replace him so his father could have a night off. After the bombing he searched for his father, he heard his father’s moaning. Then the moaning stopped. Ten minutes later the ambulance came.

Muhammad al Zaitoni, 22, rests in al Shifa Hospital | Photo courtesy of Rosa Schiano

Mohammed is still in the hospital while his wounds heal enough for him to go home. He suffers several broken ribs and a punctured lung. We asked him if had anything to say to the world. He said:

“For the Arab and Islamic people, they must wake up from their sleep. For the West, you have abandoned us to death”.

During that same night, the israeli F-16’s launched similar airstrikes in Rafah and Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza strip. One of these strike targeted an agricultural shed in al-Qarara village. The second airstrike targeted a vacant room in a house in al-Shouka village. The third airstrike targeted an open area in al-Shouka village.

Israel announced it had bombed military targets. The targets Israeli bombed were civilian targets. Gaza continues to live under the siege and under a sky full of warplanes. Gaza continues crying, it continues to mourn its dead.

Rosa Schiano is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement.

Gaza attack: “My uncle died in my arms”

by Ruqaya Izzidien

9 December 2011 | Al Akhbar English

“My uncle was breathing when I found him under the rubble,” said Migdad Elzalaan. “He told me, ‘Look after our family, look after the children. Look after them,’ and then he died, right in my arms.”

Photo: Ruqaya Izzidien, Al Akhbar English – Click here for more images

At around 2am on Thursday night, Israeli forces bombed the area beside the Elzalaan household in northern Gaza City, injuring thirteen members of his family and killing his uncle. Migdad’s 12-year-old cousin, Ramadan, died in hospital from his injuries less than a day after the attack.

As 20-year-old Elzalaan stood recalling the night’s attack, he dislodged blocks of rubble poking through large holes in the roof, fearing that they might fall on our heads. He stumbled through the remains of his home while rubble cracked and snapped underfoot, small pieces of house falling occasionally while a drone buzzed heavily, circling above the ruins of the house.

Elzalaan was sitting at the computer before the first bomb hit.

“I brought my younger sisters, Samaa and Samar into the living room, with my grandmother. I tried to shield them and as the first bomb hit, I was injured in my back and leg by pieces of falling rubble. Afterwards, I took my family out of the house to safety.”

After the second bomb struck, Elzalaan headed to his uncle’s house, which shares a wall with his own. “My uncle, his wife and their baby were under the rubble. My aunt told me to leave her, just to take her baby, Ahmed, to safety. I picked him out of the rubble and handed him to someone.”

As soon the 6-month-old was taken to safety, Israeli forces dropped a third bomb. “I shielded my aunt during the third bomb, and then afterwards helped her out of the house.” Elzalaan then returned for his uncle, Bahjat, who was buried underneath the rubble.

The 33-year-old father-of-five told Migdad to look after his family before dying in his nephew’s arms.

“I carried my uncle out of the building and then we brought a jeep to take everyone to hospital, because no ambulances came. By the dawn call to prayer, we were on our way to hospital.”

“During the bombing I was yelling and pulling my hair out,” Elzalaan explained, “Absolutely everyone was injured – thirteen members of my family. My two cousins are still in hospital, they are critically wounded. They are ten and twelve years old.” Hours later, Ramadan, the elder of Elzalaan’s cousins, died of his injuries.

Elzalaan’s neighbor passed through the house, pointed to the rubble and yelled, “This is what Israel does. There were no fighters here, just children and a family. This isn’t a home anymore.”

Migdad Elzalaan’s home was also badly damaged in an Israeli airstrike during the 2008-2009 war and repaired by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.

Still casting lead: Israeli air force attack kills 2, injures 12 in single family

by Radhika Sainath

9 December 2011 | Notes from Behind the Blockade

Midhad El Zalaan in his home after Israel’s bombing (Photo: Radhika Sainath, Notes from Behind the Blockade) – Click here for more images

Update: Midgdad’s 12-year-old cousin died yesterday.

“This is the occupation,” a neighbor mumbled as we stepped into what remained of twenty-year-old Migdad El Zalaan’s cement-block home in the north of Gaza City this afternoon. The Israeli Air Force dropped the first of three bombs near Zalaan’s home at approximately 2 a.m. this morning killing his uncle, wounding El Zalaan and the rest of his twelve family members, and destroying his home.

In one corner of the living room a baby doll lay on a mattress buried under shards of tin roof. Cement blocks squashed plastic party hats and red stuffed bears, and El Zalaan family’s modest possessions lay buried under layers of dust and rubble. El Zalaan was on his computer right before Israel attacked.

“After the Israelis dropped the first bomb, I took my family and left my home,” explained El Zalaan, periodically looking up at the sky, where the ceiling once was. “Then the second bomb dropped and I went to my uncle’s home to find out if they were okay. My uncle’s wife [Saada El Zalaan] called me from under the rubble. She was holding her baby, I took the baby and then Israel dropped the third bomb.” El Zalaan then helped his aunt out of her house despite her pleas to get her son out and leave her.

“I kept digging, looking for my uncle, then I found him, buried, but still breathing. He told me ‘take care of my family, take care of my wife and my children’ and then he died in my arms.” Bahjat El Zalaan was 33-years-old and the father of 5 when he died.

El Zalaan described how during the bombing he was screaming and pulling his hair out, and how he was trying to protect his mother, father, grandmother and siblings from the shrapnel by holding them in his arms. “I got rubble in my leg and back,” he explained, wincing in pain throughout the interview.

He took his family to Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City. Two of his siblings, ages 8 and 10, remain in critical condition. Israel had destroyed the roof of his home before, during Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009. On the outside of the home, a small plaque hung near the broken window, “This shelter was repaired by UNRWA through a generous fund from the Federal Republic of Germany.”

Before leaving, El Zalaan asked if he could take a photograph with us and his cousin, who snapped a photo on his cell phone. As we left I asked him if he worked, and he said no, “we stay at home because there’s no work.”

Bittersweet Eid

by Lydia de Leeuw

19 November 2011 | A Second Glance

Donkey carts lined up opposite the market in Jabaliya refugee camp (Photo: Lydia de Leeuw, A Second Glance) – Click here for more images

Last week Eid al Adha was celebrated in Gaza and other Muslim communities worldwide. Eid al Adha is one of the most important holidays in Islam, marking the end of the Haj (annual pilgrimage to Mecca) season and symbolizing sacrifices for Allah as well as asking for forgiveness. The official day of Eid al Adha, which fell on Sunday 6 November this year, is celebrated by ritually slaughtering animals, such as cows and sheep, and parents giving their children a new outfit and some pocket money to buy toys. The meat of the slaughtered animals is divided among families and neighbours, and especially shared with those who cannot afford to buy meet.

While spending a wonderful time with friends and their families during Eid, I reflected on the essence of holidays. Regardless of the location, religion or traditions, celebrations of holidays seem to have three core elements in common: spending time with family, giving to others and a feeling of happiness. But what does a holiday look like without those?

Many families in the Gaza Strip had to celebrate another Eid without their brother, son, father, daughter, or sister. Following last month’s prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas, there are still about 5,500 Palestinians[1] languishing in 22 Israeli prisons and detention facilities.[2] Over 700 of these prisoners are from Gaza and have not seen their relatives for many years as the Israeli occupation authorities have not allowed any family visits. On the second day of Eid several relatives (mostly mothers) of Palestinian prisoners gathered in front of the Red Cross Office in Gaza city. They held a weekly sit-in demonstration in support of their imprisoned family members. They have been coming together in solidarity, holding pictures of the sons, every Monday morning for the past 17 years. The constant sadness over the absence of their relatives seemed even more tangible during this important holiday. A woman sitting next to me showed me a picture of her son, saying she had not seem him for four years and that she always kept hoping that he would come home again the following day. She had been cherishing this hope for the past eleven years. There seems to be no other consolation than to hope that one day she would see him again, so we just repeated together “insh’allah” (God willing).

For Eid al Adha it is tradition to buy a new outfit for your children and to give them some money for buying toys. However, the suffocating closure of the Gaza Strip has made increasingly difficult for parents to provide for their families, let alone giving their children something extra. The closure has brought the Gaza economy to a standstill and has driven the unemployment rate up to a staggering 42,5%. Approximately 75% of the people in Gaza receive humanitarian aid of some sort. So for many parents in Gaza Eid means more struggling and juggling; more borrowing, and trying to figure out a way to give their kids the traditional Eid gifts. Even more than usual, the high food prices were a ‘hot topic’ for conversation and everyone was eager to find out where to go for the best deal.

Two days before Eid, when I was on my way to visit a friend in the north, I learned about another absurdity of the circumstances in Gaza. Throughout the streets and fields I noticed there was an unusual number sheep, cows and goats. Since there is not a lot to eat here for those animals and many of them were grazing around rubbish dump sites, I started wondering: where had these herds of fluffy Eid meals come from? Turned out that a lot of the animals for Eid are smuggled (yes, smuggled) in through the tunnels with Egypt. Even though I could have expected this, I was still shocked. Even the holiday meals have become a smuggled commodity. Looking at these goats, sheep and cows and visualising their trip through the tunnels, the absurdity of the policies once again hit me.

Besides the absence of loved ones and the financial struggles, there is the ever present risk of army attacks from the border, the sea, and especially air. A week before Eid, 15 year old Rawand Tayseer Abu Mughassib was on her way to her grandmother’s house nearby, for an evening visit. They all live close to the border area in the central Gaza Strip. As Rawand headed for the front gate, separating the house from the road in front of it. Suddenly, an Israeli plane fired a missile which landed four to five meters away from her, on the road. She was lucky to be one step away from the gate, with the wall protecting her from most of the deadly shrapnel. The gate was blown out of the wall and only just missed Rawand. She was injured in her left hand, and three houses (including that of her family) were damaged. The missile apparently targeted Palestinian fighters in the area. Since the attack, Rawand and her siblings are very anxious, especially after sunset, and are afraid of being alone. Rimas, Rawand’s little sister wakes up crying from nightmares every night and has started bedwetting. The father, Tayseer, says he does not know how he can comfort his children when they are so full of fear: “there is nothing I could do or say, instead of just being there with them”. He says he is also struggling with his own fears, but that he insists to no show this to his children. Rawand and her family started their Eid with fear, feeling abandoned and unprotected.[3]

In a place like Gaza holidays seem as much a test of the people’s resilience and strength as a time of joy and celebration.

[1] Among those thousands are 251 children, 37 women, and at least 124 prisoners who are detained for long periods without charges.

[2] Most of these prisons and detention facilities are located within Israel. The imprisonment of Palestinians from the occupied territories (Gaza Strip, West Bank) in Israel is illegal under international law and violates the Fourth Geneva Convention, particularly Article 76, which stipulates that “Protected persons accused of offences shall be detained in the occupied country, and if convicted they shall serve their sentences therein.”

[3] The Israeli occupation army often uses heavy airstrikes to target fighters in the densely populated Gaza Strip, often risking to cause civilian casualties, who will then be called ‘collateral damage’. Since January this year 18 civilians were killed and 16 injured in airstrikes which targeted fighters in the Gaza Strip. Of those who were killed, 3 were children.

Nasr Ibrahim Alean was murdered by Israel Thursday

by Nathan Stuckey

7 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

Nasr Ibrahim Alean was a 23 year old farmer from Beit Lahia. He was murdered on November 3, 2011. He was picking strawberries in his field when he was shot in the leg by the Israeli army. He called his friend Muhammad Abu Helmeyyah, 22 years old, to help him. Muhammed tried to take him to safety, but they were both killed by a missile from an Apache helicopter. Nasr was not the first farmer in Gaza murdered by the IDF, and he will probably not be the last.

When Nasr was killed he was working in a field 500 meters from the border. Outside of the Israeli imposed “buffer zone” which is in reality a 300 meter zone of death that surrounds Gaza. This isn’t uncommon; the high risk area around the border extends as far as one or two kilometers according to the UN. Nasr knew that he risked his life when he went to work, but he had no choice. He needed money to get married, and working on the land was the only work that he could find. Gaza is under siege, and unemployment is rife. Not only are many imports banned, but most exports are banned as well.

We set in the mourning tent talking with Nasr’s family, hearing their stories, seeing their pictures of Nasser. A cousin showed us a video of them picking up the body. There was a giant hole in his head. They tell us that Israel did not allow the Red Cross to pick up the body immediately; it sat for several hours, until finally the ambulances came. Too late, Nasr was already dead. Muhammad was already dead. They told us worse stories, of bodies that no one was allowed to pick up for ups, bodies that the IDF left to rot, everyone forbidden to claim them.

Nasr’s brother was getting married in two days. One of his aunt’s heard the story as she had her eyebrows done in preparation for the wedding. She says of him, “He wasn’t in the resistance, he was just trying to work,” and continues “They don’t even want us to work. If it wasn’t for the United Nations, I don’t know what we would do.” His uncle tells us about how he used to work in Israel. He worked as a driver. One day a woman got in with her young child. She abused him in front of the child. He asks, “How can people who abuse you in front of their children teach their children about peace?” He doesn’t seem to have much hope. They talk of going to human rights organizations to complain about Nasr’s murder, but they do not really believe that they will help. Nasr hadn’t given up though, he went to pick strawberries on Thursday because he wanted to live, because he wanted to get married and have children and a house of his own.