Testimony, B'Tselem, 4 January 2009
Samira Tawfiq Said Balousha, 36, married with nine children, is a homemaker and a resident of Jabalya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. Her testimony was given to B'Tselem's Muhammad Sabah by telephone on 30 December 2008:
My husband and I lived with our children in a three-room asbestos house in Jabaliya refugee camp. The house is next to Imad Aqel Mosque. We had nine children: Tahrir, 17, Iman, 16, Ikram, 14, Samar, 12, Samah, 10, Dunia, 7, Juhar, 4, Muhammad who's a year and a half and Bara, who's two weeks old.
Last Saturday [27 December], after the Israeli bombing began and after pieces of asbestos fell from our house because of the bombing of the district-government building, my husband and I took the children and went to my father's house. We stayed there for one day and then returned home and continued our normal life -- I did house work and the girls prepared for their mid-year tests that were to take place during the week.
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. I was buried under a concrete clock, stones, and sand, and barely managed to move. I succeeded in freeing my hand and pushed aside the things that had fallen on me. I got up and went to look for my children.
I found Bara, my two-week-old daughter. She was alive, even though her bed was buried under the ruins. I saw my husband getting out of the ruins, and I handed Bara to him.
I then went to look for my son Muhammad, who was sleeping next to me. At first, I didn't see him because of the rubble, but I found him alive under the ruins. I managed to free him, and I gave him to one of the people who came to help clear away the rubble.
In the meantime, I continued to look for my daughters. Their bedroom was covered with blocks of concrete and stones and sand. Other people helped me look for them. I was very weak because I had been injured in the head, and I was taken to Kamal Adwan Hospital.
At the hospital, I learned that five of my daughters -- Tahrir, Ikram, Samar, Dunia, and Juhar -- had been killed, and three were wounded. Muhammad was injured all over his body, mostly in the face.
Israel bombed the mosque next to our house without warning and without thinking about the people who live next to it. Lots of houses in the area were damaged in the blast.
Testimony: “They found her body in the kitchen”
Testimony, B'Tselem, 4 January 2009
Abdallah Tawfiq Hamdan Kashku, 44, married with four children, is a policeman who mediates disputes and is a resident of Gaza City. His testimony was given to Khaled Azaiza on 30 December 2008 alongside the family's bereavement tent:
My family and I live in a three-floor house in al-Zeitun, Gaza City. On Sunday [28 December], around 7:00pm, I was sitting with nine members of my family around a bonfire in the yard. It was cold, and we didn't have electricity to heat the house. I asked my little daughter, Ibtihal, who is eight, go up to the second floor, to the apartment of her brother Talal and his wife to ask for some chamomile for tea. She got up and went upstairs.
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. I didn't know what happened to me or to my family. I began to cry out for help. The smoke was thick. I couldn't see any of my family, who had been sitting with me a few moments earlier.
It took a few moments before I realized that the house had collapsed because of the bomb. Neighbors rushed over to lift the ruins off us. People took my family to the hospital, some by car and some by ambulance. I was taken to al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, where the doctors examined and treated me. I was lightly wounded, a bit in the leg. Later, a doctor came and asked me to identify a woman's body. I went with him and immediately saw that it was Talal's wife, Maysa Munir Yihya Kashku. She had been struck in the head. I asked my relatives and the doctors where the rest of my family was. They told me that my wife had a broken pelvis and that the others suffered light wounds but that they hadn't found my little daughter, Ibtihal. I felt horrible, worrying so much about her. I felt even worse because she had gone upstairs because of me, after I asked her to bring me chamomile.
Early the next morning, my brothers went home to look for Ibtihal. They looked under the ruins and found her body in the kitchen on the second floor.
Almost the entire house collapsed. The kitchen on the second floor was hanging above the ruins.
Our house was in a quiet area. I don't think there are military objects in the area. We don't have relatives or neighbors who are wanted. I am still in shock from what happened. In a few moments time, the life of my family turned completely upside down.
Related Links
- B'Tselem - The Israeli information center for human rights in the occupied territories
- BY TOPIC: Gaza massacres
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