Gaza: 'I watched an Israeli soldier shoot dead my two little girls'
Grieving Palestinian father says children were killed after family obeyed order
from troops to leave Gaza home

By Donald Macintyre in Gaza City

January 21, 2009 "The Independent" -- -A Palestinian father has claimed that he
saw two of his young daughters shot dead and another critically injured by an
Israeli soldier who emerged from a stationary tank and opened fire as the family
obeyed an order from the Israeli forces to leave their home.

Khaled Abed Rabbo said Amal, aged two and Suad, seven, were killed by fire from
the soldier's semi-automatic rifle. His third daughter, Samer, four, has been
evacuated to intensive care in a Belgian hospital after suffering critical
spinal injuries which he said were inflicted in the attack early in Israel's
ground offensive.

Mr Abed Rabbo stood near the wreckage off his subsequently destroyed home on the
eastern edge of the northern Gaza town of Jabalya yesterday and described how a
tank had parked outside the building at 12.50pm on 7 January and ordered the
family in Arabic through a megaphone to leave building. He said his 60-year-old
mother had also been shot at as she left waving her white headscarf with her
son, daughter in law and her three grandchildren.

"Two soldiers were on the tank eating chips, then one man came out of the tank
with a rifle and started shooting the kids," Mr Abed Rabbo, who receives a
salary as a policeman from the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority in Ramallah
said. The family say they think the weapon used by the soldier was an M16 and
that the first to be shot was Amal. Mr Abed Rabbo said that Suad was then shot
with what he claimed were 12 bullets, and then Samer.

The soldier who fired the rifle had what Mr Abed Rabbo thought were ringlets
visible below his helmet, he said. The small minority of ultra-Orthodox Jews who
serve in the army are in a unit which did not take part in the Gaza offensive
and only a very small number of settlers who also favour that hairstyle serve in
other units.

It has so far been impossible independently to verify Mr Abed Rabbo's claim and
the military said last night Israeli Defence Forces "does not target civilians,
only Hamas terrorists and infrastructure". It added: "The IDF is investigating
various claims made with regard to Operation Cast Lead and at the end of its
investigation will respond accordingly."

The district is named Abed Rabbo after the clan who live in most of it. The
dense concrete roof of the house now hangs at more at more than a 45-degree
angle, and at least three other substantial buildings have been flattened in the
agricultural, semi-rural immediate neighbourhood. Khaled Abed Rabbo said that
there had been a delay before the ambulance could reach the building because the
road from the west had been made impassable by the churning of the tanks.

The soldiers had in the end let the family leave on foot, he said. He added that
they walked two kilometres before finding a vehicle to take them to Kamal Adwan
Hospital. He said: "I carried Suad, who was dead, my wife carried Amal and my
brother Ibrahim carried Samer."

He added: "We are not Hamas. My children were not Hamas. And if they were going
to shoot anyone it should have been me." He added: "I want the international
community and the International Red Cross to ask Israel why it has done this to
us. They talk about democracy but is it democracy to kill children? What did the
kids do to them? What did my house do to them? They destroyed my life?

Gaza City is showing signs of returning to a form of normality as more shops
reopen. The offices of the main Palestinian telephone company Jawwal reopened
though this has not eased severe problems of connectivity on the Palestinian
mobile network.

Some Hamas policemen were back directing traffic, though in smaller numbers than
before the offensive. Unconfirmed figures are that 270 Hamas policemen were
killed, mainly in the air attacks during the first week. In a victory rally in
Gaza city yesterday, Hamas supporters converged on a square near the remains of
the bombed parliament building..

'Heartbreaking': The ugly face of war

The UN secretary general, looking distressed, described the devastation of Gaza
as "heartbreaking" on a visit to the area yesterday after the 22-day Israeli
assault.

"I have seen only a fraction of the destruction," said Ban Ki-moon, as he stood
in front of a UN warehouse set on fire by Israeli shells last Thursday. "This is
shocking and alarming. These are heartbreaking scenes I have seen and I am
deeply grieved by what I have seen today." he said.

Mr Ban demanded a full investigation into the Israeli shelling of the UN Relief
and Works Agency compound. UN officials say the compound, still smouldering
yesterday, was targeted by white phosphorus munitions which are not supposed to
be used in densely populated areas because of the harm to civilians. Mr Ban said
the Israeli attacks on UNRWA headquarters and two UN schools in Gaza, one of
which killed 40 sheltering Palestinians, were "outrageous".

Amnesty International said Israel's repeated use of the munitions despite
evidence of their indiscriminate effects and harm to civilians "is a war crime".
The Israeli army has launched an investigation but says Hamas fighters operate
from densely populated areas, and used UN buildings as cover for attacks.

Mr Ban said: "It has been especially troubling and heartbreaking for me as
secretary general that I couldn't end this faster," he said. He urged Israel and
Hamas to "exercise maximum restraint and nurture the ceasefire".
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21801.htm


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