B’Tselem

Around 7:00am, an Israeli tank fired at our house. We decided to leave, and went to our neighbor, Hussein al-Aydi. A little while later, we heard that the army told people to leave the houses in the area, and we decided to go to another place. We left together with the neighbor’s family. Together, we were 25 persons.

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.

When the missile stuck, I lay down with my daughter under me. Everything filled up with smoke and dust, and I heard screams and crying. After the smoke and dust cleared a bit, I looked around and saw 20-30 people who were dead, and about 20 who were wounded. Some were severely wounded and some lightly.

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.

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.

According to B’Tselem’s figures, on 31 August 2008, Israel was holding 13 Palestinian minors, two of them girls, in prolonged administrative detention in Israel, in breach of law. At the end of June 2008, 730 Palestinians were being held in administrative detention in Israel.