B’Tselem

Testimony: Nowhere is safe from Israel's bombing

8 January 2009



Since the beginning of Israel’s military attack on the Gaza Strip, there have been lots of bombing and shelling in our area. For a week, we stayed with my sister, who lives between al-Bureij and al-Mahgazi, but then they started bombing there too. The house shook after every bomb. My pregnant wife began to feel sharp pain in her stomach, a result of tension and fear. 

Testimony: "They found her body in the kitchen"

4 January 2009



I turned on the generator to turn on the light. Then we heard the sound of planes in the sky. I heard a buzz and within a few seconds, I found myself under ruins. Everything collapsed so quickly, like in an earthquake. The smoke was thick. I couldn’t see any of my family, who had been sitting with me a few moments earlier. Abdallah Kashku testifies to the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem on the Israeli bomb strike that killed his daughter and sister-in-law. 

Testimony: Five girls in one family killed by Israeli bombing

4 January 2009



On Monday [29 December], around 11:50pm, I woke up and heard my husband calling to me: “Samira, Samira, they shelled the mosque, get up and see, and recite the Shahada [Prayer of the dying].” It was dark, and I couldn’t see anything. I recited the Shahada. I felt something heavy choking me and pressing on my body. Samira Balousha testifies to the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem about the deaths of her five daughters. 

Testimony: Jewish settlers assault family in Hebron

11 December 2008



My husband and I live with our five children in Wadi al-Hussein. My brother-in-law Husni al-Matariyeh and his family live in the same building. He has 10 children. The building is located about 20 meters from the fence of the Kiryat Arba settlement and two 200 meters from the house that the settlers invaded about a year and a half ago [“the House in Dispute”]. Settlers have been assaulting us almost every day for a long time. 

Testimony: Israeli navy shoots and wounds fisherman off Gaza coast

13 November 2008



I live in the Sultan neighborhood in Rafah with my parents, three brothers, and three sisters. In 2006, I began to work as a fisherman. My father taught me the trade and I worked with him for about two months. Then I went to work with Omar al-Bardawil. Omar has two boats, one a motorboat and the other a rowboat. When gas is available in the Strip, we use the motorboat, and when there isn’t gas, we use the rowboat. 

Testimony: Twelve-year-old beaten and imprisoned with adults

11 November 2008



I live with my family in Nilin. We live on the ground floor of the house, my two uncles and their families live on the first floor, and my grandmother lives on the second floor. Last Thursday [11 September] around 3:00am, I woke up from my mother’s shouts. She was shouting, “Get up! Get up! The army is here!” My father wasn’t home that night. I got up and went out with her to the inner courtyard of the house.