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October 1, 2003: October 18, 2003:
Hussam was sitting at home when he was shot in the face, chest, back, legs. He had nothing to do with any violent or even political movement. Hussam's crime is that he was a Palestinian. |
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21 December 04
"When the sunshine disappears": "Evacuate from your houses" announced by microphone louderspeaker one of the Israeli soldiers to the people whom are living at Block O area near the borderline, few minutes later on after that warning a very loud rocket shake the whole Rafah City leaving two houses demolished and other 12 shops were destroyed. The rockets made some kind of miss in the Rafah City, as it's for the first time that a rocket causes a large number of demolitions. On the other hand, a 14 years old boy was seriously injured this afternoon by snipers in Tal Al Sultan area, the body of that boy was transferred from Abu Youif Al Najjar hospital into the European hospital for urgent medical operations in the head and the chest. In Khanyounis, three members of family were injured , Ahmed Abu Mustafa 17 years old was injured in his head, his brother Fuad in different parts of his body and their 60 years old mother Ghfrah who gets also injured in her left arm, medical sources at Nasser hospital said. According to eyewitnesses, the three members of that family were injured by tank shells that were fired this afternoon, when the soldiers at Never Dekalem Jews settlement shelled at least 6 tank shells at the houses of the citizens. Moreover, hundreds of homeless people at Khanyounis are taking the UNRWA schools classrooms as shelters after their houses have been destroyed by the Israeli bulldozers and tanks! 18 December 04
10 year old Abeer Abu Shlouf looking at the body of her father, killed by Israeli snipers during the heavy shelling in Rafah.
A Palestinian policeman inspect what is remain after the apaches helicopters shelling, targeted a carpentry shop. It has been reported many times about unexploded rockets that explode later on after it fired from the apaches Abeer Abu Shalouf, a little girl ten years old, didn't seem to understand what was happening during her father's funeral procession in Rafah. As the mourners carried the body of her father, Saber Abu Shalouf, 36, to the cemetery, she ran up to the dead body of her father and tried to shake him awake—as if he were only sleeping. Abu Shalouf was killed by a bullet to the head while sitting inside his house in Rafah. Besides little Abeer, he left several other children. Abu Shalouf's wife was overwhelmed by grief as she tried to explain what had happened. "I was inside, and saw my husband lying face-down on the ground," she said. "I called out and asked, 'Why are you lying like that?' and there was no answer. After I asked him several times, I went to him. I tried to move his head and felt liquid flowing as fast as a water tap turned on full-force. Then I saw it was blood." Abu Shalouf was not the only civilian killed in Rafah in the past few days. The other fatalities are Jehad Abu-amir,14, Shady Al-haddad, 24, Islam Al-Nabrisy, 21, Khalid Abu 0baida, 22, Ramy Abu Sidah, 27 Said Abu Alsa'id, 25, and Ahmad Al-Shareef, 20 The doctors at Al Najjar Hospital also report tens of civilians injured. The most recent was a little girl of 3, Hala Ghrez, who was injured while standing in front of her house. Gunfire from the Apache helicopters has been near-constant over Rafah in the last few days, especially in the many neighborhoods that abut the Gaza/Egypt border. Through most of the camps, the electricity has been off almost constantly. Once darkness comes, and it comes early this deep into winter, the only light in the cloudy sky is from the automatic fire from the helicopters. It is dangerous to move around outdoors, and many mobile phones cease to work when the Apaches are close. Those whose cell phones do work cannot recharge their batteries. So the sense of isolation of civilian families huddled indoors is intense. Of course, power is often cut in Rafah and most families keep candles, but they light them only when the heavy shutters are closed. It is extremely dangerous to show a light when the Apaches are circling overhead—any flicker of light, or a photojournalist's flash, will frequently be target ed by the machine guns. This constant shelling of civilian neighborhoods is the Israeli "response"—they always use the word "response" as if machine-gun and tank fire were part of a conversation!--to a Hamas operation where six Israeli soldiers were killed and another 8 injured when 3000 pounds of explosives in a tunnel dug under an Israeli outpost at Rafah Terminal were detonated, followed by gun battle between Palestinian militants and the Israeli soldiers. The Fatah Hawk group, the militant wing of the Fatah party, and Hamas, took joint responsibility for this attack on an Israeli military target. The occupation army's Apaches were firing missiles at civilian neighborhoods all along the border areas of Rafah within an hour or so. Hundreds fled rather than risk being killed inside their houses. Others felt there was no place to go and chose to stay in their homes. Day by day, a few at a time, houses are being razed throughout Rafah. The newly-homeless often have no place to go but the street. Some take shelter with friends or relatives, but many families who still have someplace to live have already taken in homeless relatives and neighbors. Few days ago, a Palestinian policeman, Samir Khafaja, 25, was killed in Rafah while on duty near the Gaza/Egypt border. Umm-Samir, his mother, cried, "I'm sad, I'm sad, oh, people, my heart is very sad. They took my son Samir from me. May God destroy them!" This evening, five Palestinians were trapped while trying to dig a trading tunnel under the razed no-man's land between the houses and the actual Gaza/Egypt border. The tunnel collapsed and buried them. Excavations of any sort are very dangerous due to the frequent heavy rains—the soaked ground is extremely unstable. The five men are still underground. Some eyewitnesses said they are dead, while others insist they are still alive. Rafah Municipality rescue trucks and bulldozers are trying to dig them out, though at this writing, no one can confirm if they ar e seeking living men, or dead bodies. All of Rafah is within the southernmost closed zone. As often happens after militants kill or injure Israeli soldiers, Gaza has been split into three closed areas, the north around Gaza city, central Gaza, and the Rafah-KhanYounis southern zone. Movement between zones is impossible. Within the zones, there are many other checkpoints, demolished roads, and roadblocks. Rafah Terminal crossing, the only exit and entry point for Gaza's Palestinian population to travel to and from the world outside without passing through Israel, is completely closed until further notice. Now thousands of university students and other travelers are trapped until the Rafah crossing re-opens. There are no humanitarian exceptions. Patients needing medical treatment unavailable in Gaza often travel to Egypt and other foreign destinations. Now that is impossible. Normal life is suffocated whenever Rafah Terminal is sealed, as badly as if a person were being strangled. All kinds of critical goods, including petrol and medicine, cannot be imported to Gaza, and already we are starting to feel the shortages. It will only get worse as the border closure continues. 14 December 04 Breaking News: Heavy shelling targeted Hay Al Salam area, and many people were killed and injured, ambulances can't reach some injured people due to the massive shelling. Ten minutes ago, Samir Khafaja 25 arrived to the hospital after being shot in his head by the Israeli snipers in Rafah. The number of demolished houses gets increased into 15 during the ongoing Israeli incursion targeted the Western Camp at Khanyounis City. Isareli Occupation bulldozers are invading the houses and agriculture farms at Al Shejaea'a area in the East of Gaza Cit y, medic reports mentioned about 10 people were injured, most of them were children.
Dr. Ali Musa, director of Abu Yusuf Al Najjar Hospital in Rafah, reported five Palestinians killed in and near the city during the night of 9 December, while others were injured in several different neighborhoods. The fatalities were Waled Al Trabin, 24, Rashad Abu Snimah, 23, Iyad Fayad, 20, Salah Sheikh El Eid, and one other man who has not yet been identified. In addition, three other injured people were arrested by the IOF. The five youngmen were killed by tank shells and rockets fired from several different Israeli army posts near the Rafah/Egypt border. The attacks continue a pattern of daily random shooting into civilian neighborhoods near the border. In a separate incident, the commander of the Palestinian Resistance Committee, Jamal Abu Samhadanah, survived a third assassination attempt when his car was targeted by an unmanned drone and hit by a rocket while he and two bodyguards were driving from Khan Younis to Rafah. They were near the European Hospital when their car exploded. Abu Samhadanah and the other passengers jumped out of the car seconds before the rocket hit, and the commander sustained only a slight injury to his face. The bodyguards also received non-life-threatening injuries. The Israeli rocket attack on the militant commander took place in a populated area and four by-standers walking down the street near the targeted car were also injured. The Palestinian Resistance Committee is an umbrella organization comprising a number of militant factions. Mahmoud Abbas and other Palestinian government officials have asked the Sharon government to cease these extra-judicial assassinations to further the resumption of peace talks. 5 December 04
Thousands, of Rafah's citizens routinely join the funeral processions that take place nearly every day here. They have become such a common sight that small children sometimes "play funeral"--staging their own processions. Children elsewhere imitate storybook or cartoon characters--our children play at being mourners.
Elderly father is supported by other family members as he mourns his murdered son.
It isn't just possessions that are damaged beyon d recognition when the Israeli bulldozers tear through a neighborhood. This woman in Hay Al Salam and her whole family will have nowhere to go now but a tent. If they are unusually lucky, perhaps some friend or relative can find a spot for some or all of them, but after four years of steady home demolitions, most families with a bit of room have already crammed in homeless relatives. Now it is becoming difficult to find relatively safe places to put tents. From one day to the next, the Israeli aggression continues against Rafah. The politicians meet in Europe ostensibly to talk peace—or at least to talk about talking peace!--while more and more civilians get killed and injured here.Last Sunday night, on 29 November, Dr. Samier Hejazi, an orthopedist who works at Nasser Hospital in nearby Khan Younis, was killed by random tank fire as he walked outside his house. In the same incident, Motaz Al Rekhawi, 20, was also killed. The same day, Mahmoud Keshta, 16, died when a suspicious object in the area near the Rafah/Egypt border exploded. Many residential areas of the refugee camps are next to the no-man's land the IOF keeps widening with home demolitions. For many ordinary people here, it is impossible to stay out of harm's way—even hiding indoors won't protect the residents of many neighborhoods. The constant targeting of civilians by heavy arms and tank fire into civilian neighborhoods, came shortly after the 25 November incursion into the Hay Al Salam neighborhood which left one person dead, many injured, seven arrested and seven houses destroyed. Yesterday, many Rafah residents participated in a funeral for an unidentified man who had been in the morgue at Al Najjar Hospital here for 20 days. Dr. Ali Musa, director of the hospital, said an ambulance crew found the body of an adult man who had been killed by IOF shelling near the Egyptian border. Among other injuries, he had lost his arm which was never recovered.. No ID or weapons were found with the body; the only clue to his identity were some Egyptian bonds and an Egyptian train ticket in his pocket. For nearly three weeks, details of his description were widely announced in both Egyptian and Palestinian media. However, no one on either side of the border identified him or claimed the body, and a proper funeral was organized for him. He now rests in Rafah cemetery in the company of many others killed by the IOF. Now the IOF soldiers fire so freely there seems to be not only no distinction between young and old, adult and child, civilian or militant, but no distinction between Palestinian and Egyptian. Three weeks ago, IOF shelling killed three Egyptian soldiers in the Egyptian city of Rafah. They were deployed on patrol Now, a night never passes without shelling. On 3 December, 8-year-old Khalil Berika was seriously injured by a bullet in his ear while inside his home. Fathia Al Akhras, a woman of 53, was also injured by random fire in the Hay Al Salam neighborhood. on the evening of December 4, Al Najjar hospital announced that the ambulances just brought two more injured civilians to them. It has become harder to file updated reports since the electricity transformers were destroyed last week during the shelling. Most electronic communication comes to a halt, as does much of normal life, without electricity. Cell phones work only until the battery fails, and then, of course, recharging is impossible. Night comes early now, and families sit together in the dark listening to the Apaches circle and the shells fall with no way to check on the safety of friends and relatives. The shelling has been so constant that municipal repair crews could not get to the destroyed transformers to fix them until now. Of course, there's no way to tell how long it will be before the IOF will target the equipment again.
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