Tag: Gaza - Page 216 - International Solidarity Movement

Saturday January 17 – Starting again

Let me start with the good news. I found it surprisingly destabilising having to evacuate the hospital. Since the strikes began, I have spent

more nights here than anywhere else, and it began to feel like coming ‘home’ each time I arrived, especially with the welcome I unfailingly received. There is a sense of order in a hospital, of safety and care and compassion. When a handful of us came back to mind the hospital at about 3 am after evacuation, with the remains of the fire still resisting the fire-fighters, it felt very bleak. Beds were scattered in the road; inside, things were overturned and broken after the hurried leaving, the place was covered with mud. In most rooms there were waterfalls. Two out of three of our buildings were blackened and smoldering.

I wandered about in the operations room, clearing things up so it wouldn’t look so sad. If I felt displaced, when I had a perfectly good flat to go to, what about all the medical folks here whose homes have been destroyed in the last weeks, for whom this was their only warm, comfortable, safe place?

But yesterday the Red Crescent met and decided they wanted to work from Al-Quds again, and even better, the hospital will be open on Monday. I forgot to allow for the fact that they have no choice. Today I arrived to a completely revived atmosphere on the ground floor – lights working again, most things back in place, mud washed away, and disaster team boys sliding around their room on a cloth to dry their floor. I haven’t been to visit the bits of the hospital that were burning two days ago. Right now I think I’ll just enjoy what I see. Some of the medics are making us a potato chip dinner. The triplets are now at Nasser childrens hospital, by the way.

So you remember I wrote this about Wed morning Jan 14:

While there, heard shouting, went up stairs to see medic S covered in blood, he had just carried a little girl in from the street who snipers had shot in face and abdomen. We saw her father fall on the hospital stairs, having been shot in the leg. Mother was panicking, shouting there was another girl left behind. S, I and other medics went out to get her, found her not far away, S took her on his shoulders into the hospital. The other medics and I realised they were just the beginning of a stream of desperate people fleeing their buildings, many of which were on fire.

This was the Badran family. Faddel al Badran, 54, was shot in the leg. Yasmine, 12, was the girl we went to bring in. Haneen, 9, was the one shot in the face and abdomen: I knew she had been taken straight into surgery at Al-Quds. today I found out that she was transferred to Al-Shifa and died shortly afterwards.

Last night they bombed another UNRWA school in which homeless people had taken refuge in Beit Lahia. There are 36 wounded, including 14 children. Two boys aged 3 and 8 are dead. John Ging of UNRWA was on the TV being coldly furious. But as I type (I’ll be reading this out over the phone to the UK for uploading) a truce has apparently begun. It is strangely quiet. Everyone desperately wants to hope it’ll have some meaning.

Samouni family members found dead in Gaza rubble

International human rights activists have witnessed the recovery of dead members of the Samouni family.

Several bodies of the Samouni family have finally been retrieved, 12 days after an attack by Israeli military forces that led to the death of an unknown number of family members. Red Crescent ambulance crews finally gained access to the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City on 18 January 2009.

The family was killed in their home by an Israeli air-strike on January 6th, but their bodies could not be recovered until recently due to ongoing Israeli operations in the area. Seven family members including men, women and children, were retrieved from the rubble. At least 13 family members are still unaccounted for.

Our ambulance crew set off at 10:20 am to go into the Zeitoun neighborhood. We haven’t been able to enter the area most days because it’s been sealed by the army. When we arrived at the Samouni family house, the house was flattened, so the roof was very close to the ground. We made a hole in the roof and began pulling up bodies for an hour. We were able to retrieve 7 bodies before the Red Cross asked us to leave, as the army was likely to return to Zeitoun. There are at least 13 bodies still in the house, as one of the medics had a list of 20 missing family members.

Sharon Lock – International Solidarity Movement

One of the Samouni family children Ahmed Nasser, 10 or 11 years old, came to us at Al Quds hospital in a very bad condition on January 6th. He had been shot in the chest and needed test tubs. He told us that all of his family had been taken into a room by the soldiers when they came to their house. When missiles hit the house, most of the family was killed. Ahmed’s father is alive, but his mother, sisters and brother are all dead. Ahmed stayed with the bodies of his family members for four days before he was found and brought here. The first thing he asked for was for bread and water. Many family members are still missing but today we will know for sure when all of the bodies come in.

Reema Abu Lafi – nurse at Al Quds hospital in Gaza City

Israel accused of war crimes over 12-hour assault on Gaza village

Fida Qishta in Khuza’a and Peter Beaumont in London | The Observer

White flags ignored and houses bulldozed with families inside, claim residents

Israel stands accused of perpetrating a series of war crimes during a sustained 12-hour assault on a village in southern Gaza last week in which 14 people died.

In testimony collected from residents of the village of Khuza’a by the Observer, it is claimed that Israeli soldiers entering the village:

attempted to bulldoze houses with civilians inside;
killed civilians trying to escape under the protection of white flags;
opened fire on an ambulance attempting to reach the wounded;
used indiscriminate force in a civilian area and fired white phosphorus shells.

If the allegations are upheld, all the incidents would constitute breaches of the Geneva conventions.

The denunciations over what happened in Khuza’a follow repeated claims of possible human rights violations from the Red Cross, the UN and human rights organisations.

The Israeli army announced yesterday that it was investigating “at the highest level” five other attacks against civilians in Gaza, involving two UN facilities and a hospital. It added that in all cases initial investigations suggested soldiers were responding to fire. “These claims of war crimes are not supported by the slightest piece of evidence,” said Yigal Palmor, an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman.

Concern over what occurred in the village of Khuza’a in the early hours of Tuesday was first raised by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem. Although an Israeli military spokesman said he had “no information that this alleged incident took place”, witness statements collected by the Observer are consistent and match testimony gathered by B’Tselem.

There is also strong visible evidence that Khuza’a came under a sustained attack from tanks and bulldozers that smashed some buildings to pieces.

Pictures taken by photographer Bruno Stevens in the aftermath show heavy damage – and still burning phosphorus. “What I can tell you is that many, many houses were shelled and that they used white phosphorus,” said Stevens yesterday, one of the first western journalists to get into Gaza. “It appears to have been indiscriminate.” Stevens added that homes near the village that had not been hit by shell fire had been set on fire.

The village of Khuza’a is around 500 metres from the border with Israel. According to B’Tselem, its field researcher in Gaza was contacted last Tuesday by resident Munir Shafik al-Najar, who said that Israeli bulldozers had begun destroying homes at 2.30am.

When Rawhiya al-Najar, aged 50, stepped out of her house waving a white flag, so that the rest of the family could leave the house, she was allegedly shot by Israeli soldiers nearby.

The second alleged incident was on Tuesday afternoon, when Israeli troops ordered 30 residents to leave their homes and walk to a school in the village centre. After travelling 20 metres, troops fired on the group, allegedly killing three.

Further detailed accounts of what occurred were supplied in interviews given to a Palestinian researcher who has been working for the Observer, following the decision by Israel to ban foreign media from the Gaza Strip. Iman al-Najar, 29, said she watched as bulldozers started to destroy neighbours’ homes and saw terrified villagers flee from their houses as masonry collapsed.

“By 6am the tanks and bulldozers had reached our house,” Iman recalled. “We went on the roofs and tried to show we were civilians with white flags. Everyone was carrying a white flag. We told them we are civilians. We don’t have any weapons. The soldiers started to destroy the houses even if the people were in them.” Describing the death of Rawhiya, Iman says they were ordered by Israeli soldiers to move to the centre of the town. As they did, Israeli troops opened fire. Rawhiya was at the front of the group, says Iman.

Marwan Abu Raeda, 40, a paramedic working for the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, said: “At 8am we received a phone call from Khuza’a. They told us about the injured woman. I went immediately. I was 60 or 70 metres away from the injured woman when the Israeli forces started to shoot at me.” As he drove into another street, he came under fire again. Twelve hours later, when Rawhiya was finally reached, she was dead.

Iman said she ended up in an area of rubble where a large group of people had sought cover in a deep hole among the debris of demolished houses. It is then, she says, that bulldozers began to push the rubble from each side. “They wanted to bury us alive,” she said.

‘Unity of Ni’lin to Gaza urgently’

On the 17th of January 2009, residents of Ni’lin began a collection of clothes and food to be sent to the besieged people of Gaza. Calls from the mosques announced that contributions of clothes, shoes and food could be brought to the village center.

Ni'lin residents fill village center with supplies for Gaza

Aid collection for Gaza from the people of Ni’lin had been organized during a meeting with municipalities from all over the West Bank. The Ni’lin Municipality and the Social Club arranged the plan for the mass effort. The aid will be sent to Gaza with the Red Crescent via the Erez checkpoint.

The mobilization for aid began before a women and children’s demonstration near the girls’ school. Lasting several days, the community came together to show their support for Gaza. According to the Municipality President Ayman Nafi, 10,000NIS was raised to buy olive oil that will be put in bottles of Top Drink at the factory in Ni’lin with special labels that say ‘Unity Ni’lin (from all the people of Ni’lin) to Gaza Urgently.’ About 20,000NIS worth of food and clothes was also collected. The formal assembly of aid for Gaza will continue for another three days.

A Palestinian community that regularly demonstrates against construction of the Apartheid Wall, Ni’lin has lost lives and land in their struggle. Two boys from the village were shot and killed with live ammunition in a solidarity with Gaza demonstration on the 28th of December.

Local Ni'lin business will send olive oil with special message: 'Unity Ni’lin to Gaza Urgently'

With an ongoing blockade on Gaza, the Israeli government severely limits the amount of aid that can enter Gaza. On the constant brink of humanitarian crisis, amplified significantly by Israel’s latest attacks, many Gazans have almost no access to basic foodstuffs or water. Even if the supplies are prevents from entering Gaza by the Israeli authorities, the act of organizing a delivery is a way in which Ni’lin and the West Bank can show that their hearts and thoughts are with Gaza.

Nine year old girl, shot twice by Israeli snipers as her family sought refuge in Al-Quds hospital, has died

Haneen al-Badran, a nine year old girl who was shot in the face and abdomen by Israeli snipers as her family ran to the AL-Quds hospital in Tel al-Hawa, died at 5pm on January 16th.

The shooting of the al Badran family

The Al Batran Family from Tel Al Hawa neighborhood in Gaza City fled terrified from their homes and attempted to take refuge in Al Quds hospital on Between noon And 1:00PM January 15th, 2009. Israeli snipers stationed directly outside the hospital opened fire on the family. Nine year old Haneen Al Badran was shot through the face and in the abdomen. The father, 54 year old Fadel Al Badran, was shot in the thigh and fell to the ground. 12-year-old Jasmeen, can be seen in the videos above frozen in terror, being carried into the hospital by a medic who ran into the line of fire to retrieve her, and being treated by doctors in the hospital afterward.

Haneen al Badran died of her wounds in Al Shifa hospital at 5pm on January 16th.

The shelling and evacuation of Al Quds hospital
Al-Quds hospital was shelled repeatedly in the early morning and several wings destroyed. At approximately 11:00 PM a wing close to the wards was shelled and caught fire. The patients were all evacuated and transferred to Al- Shifa hospital and a nearby Red Crescent facility despite severe overcrowding.

The first floor of the burnt hospital is still being used as an ambulance depot for the Red Crescent. Doctors hope to have the hospital running on Monday despite fears of further shelling.

Quotes from residents of Tel al-Hawa

They were killing any person they could see in the street. They shot at my next-door neighbor. From the area around here, there are around 25 martyrs. They are still looking for missing people. They shelled a complete part of the hospital. The streets and infrastructure are completely destroyed. The building across the street is still burning, and it was a pharmacy depot. The people fled to seek refuge in Al Quds hospital 200 meters from here. Some of the ambulances were destroyed. I saw with my own eyes the burning, the smoke. This is savagery. I don’t think anyone in his life has ever witnessed such brutality and horror.

– Dr. Assad, Tel al-Hawa

We were in our house in Tel al-Hawa. The Israelis were shelling all around. We were really scared being under fire and not being able to do anything about it. None of the people in our building are resisting, we are all civilians. Our neighbors in the building next to us were injured from the shelling. The Red Cross made arrangements for us to leave but we couldn’t take any of our possessions, not even our identification cards. We left wearing only our pajamas. Outside, a man and his daughter were shot by Israeli Forces, and we were praying not to be shot as well. We stayed an hour in the hospital basement before moving on to the nearest UNWRA School. We walked a long distance, we couldn’t sleep, and some of the people were badly injured. Now we live with relatives. Everything we have is in that house but we can not go back there.

– Tel al-Hawa resident

Quotes from Medical staff and volunteers

The patients from Al Quds hospital were evacuated under white flags. Two or three patients were put in the same bed, and the beds were wheeled across the street for 500 meters or more. Those evacuated included numbered around 40 patients. Three newborn babies were evacuated in their incubators and at least four patients were in critical condition. We evacuated because of a fire which started on the second floor of the building and began to spread. The patients and staff were ready to die from the fire or die from shooting. Hospital medics are now cleaning the hospital, which sustained heavy damage from the attack, in the hopes that we can make it operational again by Monday.

– Dr. Waleed Ramadan

After around 600 people had gone to Al-Quds hospital, they then had to leave again. They thought they had found somewhere safe, but nowhere is safe here. I am accompanying ambulances working out of the first floor of what remains of Al Quds hospital. Since the same locations are often targeted repeatedly, we all fear that the hospital will again come under attack.

– Sharon Lock, an Australian volunteer who participated in the evacuation of the Batran family and the evacuation of the Al Quds hospital