- 13 jan 2009
Hani Muhammad 'Abdallah Abu Rayan, 25Mazen Faiz Muhammad a-Sharabasi, 25
Munir 'Abd al-'Aziz Muhammad Abu Sanimah, 25'Amar Fadel al-'Abed Sa'ed, 25
'Amar
28 apr 2012, 22:09 , Respect -
Maria 13 jan 2009
Ibrahim Rafiq Saber Abu al-Kheir, 27Ahmad Jum'ah Ahmad Abu Jamus, 27
Yasser Shahab a-Din 'Akashah,27Murad Rizeq Jamil Tanburah, 27
Murad 28 apr 2012, 22:09 , Respect -
Maria 13 jan 2009
Hazem Khaled Mahmoud 'Ayad, 28Muhammad Khalil Diab a-Tatr, 28
Nihad Muhammad Fiad Abu Kmeil, 29Muhammad 'Adel Khalil al-Ashqar, 29
28 apr 2012, 22:09 , Respect -
Maria 13 jan 2009
Rami Mahmoud Rajab al-Qadrah, 30
Yihya Jamil Mesbah 'Ayad, 30
Yasser Saqer Isma'il a-Tmeizi, 30
(4:42) Void of Responsibility 4 x viewed
Muhammad 'Abd al-Mu'ti Hamad Abu Sanimah, 31 28 apr 2012, 22:09 , Respect -
Maria 'Iz a-Din 'Ali Muhammad al-Ashqar,32
Na'el Rajab Muhammad 'Ali, 34
Rawheyeh Ahmad Suliman a-Najar, 47
13 jan 2012
Picture of Hibba al-Najjar, Israel killed her mother Rawhiya al-Najjar, 47
“The first two years I could manage but this year I have been suffering a lot from the loss of my mother. When I see girls from my school with their mother or talking about their mother, I miss my mother even more. I need to have her with me.”
In the early morning of 13 January 2009, following two days of home demolitions, the Israeli army started to shell the village of Khuza’a and its surroundings, using high explosive and white phosphorous artillery shells.
Israeli bulldozers, tanks and snipers were located on the edge of the village.
At around 7:00 soldiers ordered the residents of eastern Khuza’a, to leave the area and move towards the centre of the village. Holding a white flag, Rawhiya al-Najjar (forty-seven) led a group of approximately twenty women in an attempt to leave as ordered.
Shortly after the group turned the first corner a soldier shot and killed Rawhiya.
Another woman in the group, Yasmin al-Najjar (twenty-three), was injured by two bullets when she tried to take Rawhiya off the road. Medical staff who tried to evacuate Rawhiya’s body were shot at and had to take refuge in a nearby house, and were only able to take the body from the street after more than ten hours.
“I can still hear the bullet hit my mother in the head. I was standing right beside her when the soldier stepped into the doorway of the house ahead and shot her.
I could see him,” says Rawhiya’s seventeen year old daughter Hibba as she depicts the situation with her arms. “I keep wondering why they killed my mother while she was carrying a white cloth in the street, but why I was not killed when I was on the roof of our house earlier that morning.” Hibba still cannot make sense of what happened that day.
Hibba is an the only child. She lives with her father, Naser, his second wife, Nuha, and their three children. Her father married Nuha when it became clear that Rawhiya was not able to have any more children and convinced him to marry a second wife.
Naser became unemployed after the full closure on the Gaza Strip was imposed. Now the family is dependent on aid and shared agriculture with relatives on lands next to the village, close to the border with Israel.
From the day of the incident Hibba and her family stayed away from the house for two weeks, saying it was too dangerous to move in that part of Khuza’a. For the two months after that they only went to their house during the daytime and spent the night at the house of relatives in a safer area.
Since the death of her mother Hibba suffers from nightmares, insomnia, stress, and bedwetting.
“Before, I would sleep immediately. Now I can’t get to sleep at night,” says Hibba. Sometimes her father finds her sleepwalking and talking about her mother.
Lately she has also begun to experience blurry vision and dizziness. When Hibba started to lose her hair a few months ago, Naser took his daughter to a hospital. The doctor told Hibba and her father that she needs to spend some time outside of the Gaza Strip.
Naser is thinking of taking her to Egypt for a little while next summer. However, the closure and high costs make this option far from easy. Hibba says she would like to go out of Gaza but adds that “it will not make me forget anything.”
Hibba’s schoolwork has also been affected by the traumatic experience and death of her mother.
“My mother used to help me with my homework and I used to be very good at school. Now my grades are lower and I am not able to focus in class. When I open a book I feel tired and remember my mother. Even when I study well for an exam, I often forget everything during the exam,” she says.
Hibba enjoys subjects like Islamic religion and geography but feels sad knowing her scores have dropped a lot. This is the final year of high school for Hibba. However, she doesn’t think about what comes after the final exams next summer; “I don’t want to think long-term.”
Hibba does not like the month of January as it reminds here of the time of the offensive. However, she says 13 January is like any other day for her, “there is no difference with other days because I remember my mother every day regardless.”
When she feels most sad she usually takes a chair and sits outside the house for a while. Sometimes talking to relatives and her best friend, who is also her neighbour, brings some relief. Hibba is glad to have such a good friend who tries to support her; “I can tell her everything. Without my friend I would have crumbled under the pressure of my loss.”
Hibba does not think about the future but rather relives what happened to her and her mother on 13 January 2009. “Since the morning I have been thinking a lot of the incident and how we left my mother in the street,” she says, having to pause after every few words.
Many things in daily life remind her of her old life with and her future without her mother. “Whenever I see an old woman in the street I wonder if I will still have a clear memory of my mother when I am at that age.”
Discussing PCHR’s submission of complaints to the Israeli authorities regarding the killing of her mother, Hibba says she does not care: “Nothing can compensate for the loss of my mother but I wish that the soldier who shot my mother will be brought to justice.”
PCHR submitted a criminal complaint to the Israeli authorities on behalf of the al-Najjar family on 23 June 2009. To-date, no response has been received.
http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/4028/13-january-2009_hibba-al-najjar 28 apr 2012, 22:09 , Respect -
Maria 13 jan 2009
Mahmoud Sa'id Muhammad a-Sha'er, 47
Na'im 'Abdallah 'Ali Abu Rayan, 54
Nazirah Muhammad Khaled Abu al-Kas (al-Hilu) 60
28 apr 2012, 22:09 , Respect -
Maria 13 jan 2009
Rizeq Salim Hussein Abu al-Kas, 62Mahmoud Suliman Mahmoud a-Najar, 56Khalil Hamdan Ahmad a-Najar, 75
28 apr 2012, 22:09 , Respect -
Maria 14 jan 2009
Amer Helou Farah 14 months'Aishah Ibrahim a-Sayed a-Najar, 3Hanan Sha'ban 'Urabi a-Najar, 40
'AishahThe body of Palestinian 3 year-old girl , Aysha Al-Najar, lies in the Kamal Adwan hospital morgue next to the body of her mother, Hanan Al-Najar, after they died from wounds in an Israeli military strike, January 14, 2009 in of Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip.
28 apr 2012, 22:09 , Respect -
Maria 14 jan 2009
Hadeel Jabr Diab al-Rafati, 9
Hamza Saadallah Matar Masoud abu-Halima, 8
Palestinians Will Never Forget 28 apr 2012, 22:09 , Respect -
Maria 14 jan 2009
Ziad Saadallah Matar Masoud abu-Halima, 10
Abdul-Rahim Saadallah Matar Masoud abu-Halima, 14
28 apr 2012, 22:09 , Respect -
Maria 14 jan 2009
Bassem Tal'at Jamil 'Abd a-Nabi, 11Hamza Zuhair Riziq Tantish, 12
Hamzaof Beit Lahya, Gaza, killed, with his older brother, by an IDF shell while on the roof of his grandfather's house in Beit Lahya.
28 apr 2012, 22:09 , Respect -
Maria 14 jan 2009
Khalil Muhammad Musa Bahar, 13'Iz a-Din 'Adel Khaled al-Fara, 13
KhalilPlace of Injury or Death: Close to his uncle's house at Shijaia district, east Gaza Strip. Cause Injury or Death: Israeli reconnaissance aircrafts launched a missile on him in the company of his father.
Details of the last hours:
During the 22-day offensive on Gaza, the difficult times that the Palestinian families have been through were beyond description. In a planted area between the Zaytoun and Shujaia neighborhoods, resided few families who hid for long hours under their beds to take cover against the Israeli shrapnel; Muhammad Bohar's family was one of those families.
On January 12, Muhammad’s family was forced to abandon its home owing to Israeli escalating strikes on the area. The family moved to their maternal uncle's home to be one of the suffering evacuees. On January 12, Muhammad, the family breadwinner, decided to go back home at 6 am to bring some needed items for the family and look over the house. Yet, Muhammad’s son, Khalil, nagged to death to go with his father who finally complied and took him.
On their way back home, Muhammad and his 3-year-old son, Khalil, rode a bicycle in empty streets. It has never come across their minds that they might be observed by the Israeli reconnaissance aircrafts. Few meters before reaching their destination, the Israeli reconnaissance aircrafts launched a missile, killing the child and cutting off the father’s leg.
The mother said: Upon hearing the news, I rushed to the hospital where they were taken regardless of the danger that I might expose myself to. There I found Khalil in the morgue. Before the missile was launched, I had a feeling that it would be my son this time, and so it was.”
Khalil was a first grade primary student. At the same year in which he died, he exerted much effort than ever. He was very excellent at school and was about to memorize the Noble Qur'an.
“Khalil was kind-hearted and knew exactly what the word “filial” did really mean. He insisted to kiss my foot, and asked for my satisfaction every time he went outside and after coming back from school.” The mother added.
About his relationship with his father, the mother said “Khalil was so close to his father. He accompanied his father all the time and even wanted to work to help him to improve our conditions. The father was under treatment in Egypt and wished to come back to Gaza as soon as possible. No words can describe the terrible pain we suffered because they have destroyed our whole life.”
http://fwd4.me/0j17
Khaled: Details of the last hours:
Like all Gazan children, the 14-year-old Ezz El-Deen had suffered severely during the Israeli vicious onslaught on Gaza. On January 14th, Ezz tended to spend a few days with his uncle’s family whose house was close to his. When the curtain of darkness fell on Gaza Strip, Ezz decided to return home, but his brother and cousin asked him to fetch something for them. On their way back home, an Israeli reconnaissance aircraft had launched one of its ruthless missiles at their small bodies. Few minutes before Al-`Isha' Prayer, the 14-year-old Ezz fell dead while his cousin was severely injured.
The mother said: “It was almost the time of Al-`Isha' Prayer when an ambulance entered our neighborhood. At that moment, I had a feeling that something has happened to my son, Ezz El-Deen, and it was true. My little angel has gone for ever. I shall never see his beautiful face again. One day before his death, I watched my dear son playing with his brothers with his eyes filled with joy. I was afraid that his happiness would vanish very soon.”
Ezz El-Deen was a distinguished second-grade student. His supremacy in school was tangible where he always achieved over 95% throughout his education. Young Ezz has a very sweet voice; he used to join school singing activities and events. As if he knew, Ezz had sung a lot of songs about farewell, death and meeting angels.
Ezz’s name significantly reflected a great deal of his characteristics; it means “self-confident”. Ezz was very skillful in breaking the ice with anybody and would immediately fall in love with that little angel. Even his school headmaster, of whom all the students feared a lot, loved young Ezz. He went to condole his family saying: “Ezz was one of the most distinguished school students.”
Ezz’s brother, Belal, remembered his brother with eyes full of tears: “Ezz was the “yes man”, he never said “no” to anyone.” Ezz’s younger brother said: “The best quality of Ezz’s character was altruism. He used to save his pocket money to give it to his family at the end of the month when they were in a dire need for every penny.” When his father asked him to buy a mineral water bottle, Ezz paid for it from his own money, refusing to take money from his father saying “keep the shekel with you Dad. You need money more than I do."
Izaldeen Adel Khaled al-Farra
http://fwd4.me/0j28 28 apr 2012, 22:10 , Respect -
Maria 14 jan 2009
'Alaa Fathi Da'ud al-Qaram, 13
'Ismat Fathi Da'ud al-Qaram, 15
Fathi Daud 'Abed al-Qaram, 42
28 apr 2012, 22:10 , Respect -
Maria 14 jan 2009
Mahmoud Khader Mahmoud Abu Kmeil, 13
Mahmoud Khader Muhammad abu-Kamil, 14
28 apr 2012, 22:10 , Respect -
Maria 14 jan 2009
Nur 'Iz a-Din Wahid Musa, 15Muhammad 'Iz a-Din Wahid Musa, 23
Ahmad 'Iz a-Din Wahid Musa, 27
Wahid 'Iz a-Din Wahid Musa, 28
14 jan 2012
Mousa family: Izz Addin Wahid Mousa, 48, his wife, Maysara Afif Mousa, 48, their sons Wahid Izz Addi Mousa, 28, Ahmed Izz Addi Mousa, 27, Mohammed Izz Addi Mousa, 22, and daughter Nour Izz Addi Mousa, 15
“We would stay up late at night talking with each other about what had happened over the day, we were brothers, if ever I needed anything I could go to them and they would help me out.”
On 14 January 2009, at approximately 21:00, Israeli aircraft targeted the Mousa family home near al Sabra pharmacy in the south of Gaza City.
Izz Addin Wahid Mousa, 48, his wife,
Maysara Afif Mousa, 48, their sons
Wahid Izz Addi Mousa, 28,
Ahmed Izz Addi Mousa, 27,
Mohammed Izz Addi Mousa, 22, and daughter
Nour Izz Addi Mousa, 15, were killed in the attack.
The physical scars caused by the attack are still clearly visible on twenty-five year old Muhammad Mousa. With nerve and bone damage in both his right arm and leg he has been left with a strong limp and his face displays patches of taut skin showing where he was burnt from the fire that engulfed his home. His injuries have left him unable to continue working in the local marble factory, leaving him unable to pick up the pieces of his life after losing his father, mother, sister and three brothers.
Like many who lost their homes during the offensive, Muhammad, has been forced to move frequently. He has moved five times in the intervening period and, with another years rent due on his current home and no way to pay it, has not yet found stability and security. “After the attack I started rebuilding the destroyed home, but I couldn’t bear to live there, the incident would keep flooding back into my memory,” says Muhammad. “I went to live with my uncle, Hani, but he has a family of his own so I could not stay there.”
Emotionally, Muhammad has found himself hugely altered since the war and has had trouble sleeping since the incident. “At first I could not sleep at night at all, I would sit awake all night and might sleep for a while in the morning.” He now needs help doing basic things that others take for granted, such as preparing food to eat, which leaves him short tempered.
“I lose patience very quickly, when I can’t do something myself I get hugely frustrated and become angry.” This is compounded by the sense of helplessness he feels regarding medical treatment for his injuries, which he says he was told by doctors is only available in Germany. He still requires extensive medical treatment on bone and nerves in his leg and for shrapnel wounds in his abdomen.
“I was in hospital for four months in Egypt (of which two and half months was in intensive care) without knowing the fate of my family. My sisters had initially told me that they were fine for the sake of my recovery. When I told them I was ready to come home they were forced to tell me the news that they had died, I immediately regressed and had to spend another two weeks in intensive care before being able to go.”
Muhammad has fond memories of his deceased brothers Wahid, Ahmed and Mohammad who he was very close to. It is clear he desperately misses their company. “We would stay up late at night talking with each other about what had happened over the day. We were brothers, if ever I needed anything I could go to them and they would help me out.” He says they are never far from his mind day or night, asleep or awake.
Muhammad shares the dreams of any young man for his future; he wants to get married, build a home, and one day have children. But he is sceptical his hopes will come true. “How can I provide for a wife and children, I cannot work, I cannot earn a living.”
While he is optimistic about the outcome of legal action being taken on his behalf in Israeli courts he says what has been taken from him cannot be replaced, what he wants from the case is accountability for those responsible for his family’s death. “Money cannot replace what I have lost, I want to know why our home, which was nowhere near any military operations, was targeted, and why my family, who were not involved in politics, were killed.”
PCHR submitted a criminal complaint to the Israeli authorities on behalf of the Mousa family on 18 May 2009. To-date, no response has been received.
http://fwd4.me/0kMu