We condemn in the strongest possible terms the latest Israeli war crimes committed against our people in the Gaza Strip. We call on the international community and the Arab and Islamic worlds, to take up their responsibility to protect the Palestinian people from this heinous aggression and immediately terminate the continuing Israeli policy of collective punishment.
Over the last 6 days, Gaza City has been bombed by Apache helicopters,F16 and drones. More than 16 civilians, including children, have been killed and more than 70 injured in Beit Hanoun, Jabalya, Khan Younus, and Gaza.
Gaza has been enduring Israeli policies of extermination and vandalism since June, 2006. The Palestinian people have already been under siege for more than 6 years. The continuing international conspiracy of silence towards the genocidal war taking place against the 1.5 million civilians in Gaza indicates complicity in these war crimes.
We call upon the international community to demand that the rogue Apartheid State of Israel end its siege. We also would like to remind the members of the UN that the International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law such as The Fourth Geneva Convention stipulate the protection of civilian lives and property, unless Palestinian women and children are not considered civilians.
Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU)
General Union for Health Services Workers
General Union for Public Services Workers
General Union for Petrochemical and Gas Workers
General Union for Agricultural Workers
Union of Women’s Work Committees
Union of Synergies—Women Unit
Union of Palestinian Women Committees
Women’s Studies Society
Working Woman’s Society
Palestinian Students’ Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PSCABI)
University Teachers’ Association
The One Democratic State Group (ODSG)
14 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza Strip
Photo courtesy of Rosa Schiano, 2012
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).
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.
Photo courtesy of Rosa Schiano, 2012
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.
Photo courtesy of Rosa Schiano, 2012
Photo courtesy of Rosa Schiano, 2012
Photo courtesy of Rosa Schiano, 2012
Photo courtesy of Rosa Schiano, 2012
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.
11 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza
Ayoub, martyred in an air strike
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.
Ayoub, martyred in an air strike
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.
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
“What affected us a lot psychologically is the fact that we were all praying in the mosque when we were attacked. The mosque is a place where we go when we need relief or when we are sad. We could never imagine them targeting us while we are praying in the mosque.”
Brothers Motee’ (49) and Isma’il (53) as-Selawy in front of al-Maqadma mosque (Photo: Palestinian Center for Human Rights)
On 3 January 2009, at around 17:20, during prayer time, an Israeli drone fired a missile at the western entrance of al-Maqadma mosque in Jabaliya refugee camp. In the attack, 15 worshipers were killed and hundreds were injured.
“In every prayer I remember what happened in the mosque that day. I remember where I saw dismembered arms, legs and other body parts lying on the floor. I can still see our relatives and friends scattered around the praying room”, says sheikh Motee’ as-Selawy (49) as he puts his head in his hands. He was standing on the sheikh’s podium delivering a speech to the worshipers as the missile hit the entrance. “I had a direct line of sight to the door of the mosque and I saw pieces of red shrapnel flying towards us through the doorway,” he recalls.
The extended as-Selawy family, who live together in one big house opposite the mosque, lost five of its members, all of whom were praying in the mosque when it was attacked: Ahmad Isma’il (22), Mohammed Mousa Isma’il (12), Ibrahim Mousa Aissa (44), Hani Mohammed (8), and ‘Omar Abdel Hafez as-Selawy (27).
Motee’s brother, Ismai’l Mousa as-Selawy (53), lost his oldest son, Ahmad Isma’il, in the attack. “I cry every day for my son. I have been suffering a lot over the past three years. He was everything for our family. I visit the grave of my son once or twice a week at least. I remember him in every moment, whether I am at home, in the mosque or somewhere else”, says Isma’il.
“We miss our killed relatives on all occasions. Our family lives in the same building and we used to have a lot of fun together. Now we visit their graves”, adds Motee’.
Six members of the as-Selawy family were injured in the attack and several of them continue to physically suffer from shrapnel that remains embedded in their bodies. “I still have shrapnel in my right wrist and it gives me problems until now. Doctors in Gaza said a surgery to remove the shrapnel might to do more harm than good. I feel constant tingling and my right hand is weak. I can’t carry anything with it,” says Motee’. Another relative, Mohammed Khalil es-Selawy (14), has shrapnel embedded in his head, which caused him to lose his hearing requiring him to wear hearing aids. Brothers Abdel Karim Mohammad as-Selawy (12) and Maher Mohammed as-Selawy (13) also have to learn how to live with shrapnel embedded in their bodies; Abdel Karim has fragments in his shoulder while Maher has pieces in his liver. Tamer Khalil (22) and Mousa Isma’il (23) as-Selawy were also injured by shrapnel in their backs but doctors were able to remove the metal parts from their bodies.
“What affected us a lot psychologically is the fact that we were all praying in the mosque when we were attacked. The mosque is a place where we go when we need relief or when we are sad. We could never imagine them targeting us while we are praying in the mosque. That is a big crime,” says Motee’. The grandfather of the family, Mousa ‘Issa Mohammad es-Selawy (93), adds; “the mosque is the house of god. There are no soldiers or weapons in the house. Everyone comes to pray there and enjoy being there. How could they target it like that?”
Motee’ recalls, “Goldstone came to visit us in our house and went to the mosque with us to investigate. I asked him; ‘where do you go when you feel sad and tired?’ He said, ‘I go to a place for prayer.’ I asked him, ‘what if you were bombed there?’ Goldstone said; ‘I cannot imagine it. Such a crime should be punished.’ Now Goldstone now apologized for his report and we have not seen any results of the ground.”
Since the attack the as-Selawy is not only mourning the loss of its relatives. The family members are also struggling financially as three of their deceased relatives used to provide for a vital part of the family income. Ibrahim left behind 9 daughters, who still live at home. “Who will take care of them now?” asks Motee’. ‘Omar Abdel Hafez had 4 daughters and one son. Until the day of his death he earned the family income working as a cameraman with a local TV channel. Ismai’il’s son, Ahmad, was the father of two children, Mohammed (5) and Nisreen (3.5), and used to work as a tailor.
“My concerns now are mainly focused on my grandchildren, Mohammed and Nisreen, and how I can bring them up. I want to give them a future but I am too sick too work. My health was badly affected by the attack and the loss of my son”, says Isma’il, who suffers from severe migraine and stomach problems. “I try to take care of them as much as possible, but I will not be here forever”.
The as-Selawy’s tries to deal with the financial difficulties by themselves as much as possible. “We have our dignity but we are forced sometimes to receive aid from people because we need to live” says Motee’. “Besides prosecution of the perpetrators, we need financial compensation to deal with our current situation.”
The family has little expectations regarding the outcome of legal proceedings within the Israeli legal system. “The Israelis are prolonging the court proceedings and we don’t see any positive results. We may have hopes if our case is taken to an international court,” says Motee’.
PCHR submitted a criminal complaint to the Israeli authorities on behalf of the as-Selawy family on 2 July 2009. To-date, no response has been received.
