When Your Home Becomes a `“Sitting Duck`

How would it feel to be targeted in the street, or in the car, what sort of live you will be living while knowing that you might be a moving object of a machine which is ready to launch, and above all, how would it feel when your home becomes a “sitting duck” and easy prey for shells and bullets, when you can’t feel safe enough while you are sitting at home?!

Hundreds of families in the Gaza Strip are living a live which depends on moments, living in their homes under the mercy of a tank located over the hill, or the mercy of a soldier equipped with heavy artillery on a monitoring tower, next to your home.

How would if feel to see a military apache, which shelled the home of your neighbor flying once again over your home?!

A family from Jabalia refugee camp, tells the story of a good day which ended with blood, without any reason or cause, the day went away and took with it the life of an old woman;

A member of the family of Hussein, from Jabalia refugee camp, in the north of the Gaza Strip reveals the story of the death of their grandmother Fatima, 65 years old, while she was at home on October, 15, 2004.

Haitham Abdul Salam Hussein, told a field researches at B’selem “The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories”, that his grandmother was sitting in the living room with ten of her grandsons, waiting the evening prayers after fasting on the first day of the Moslem Holy month of Ramadan.

“We were waiting for the Evening Prayers to start, my father was washing his hands, I was standing near the door of the living room, waiting the evening prayers”, Haitham said.

“I saw two tanks centered on a sand hill some hundred meters away from my home, suddenly we heard intensive shooting coming from the north, where the tanks were centering since the beginning of the vast military operation which started on September 28, 2004, they always used this hill because it overlooks at nearly every place in Jabalia refugee camp”, Abdul-Salam said.

Abdul-Salam said that the situation was calm, no shooting was heard, but it seems that this was the silence which precedes the storm.

“All of a sudden, we heard shots, then several rounds broke the windows of our home from the northern side, bullets penetrated the window, broke the glass and cause damages to the walls, my kids were screaming, and trying to find anyplace at the home to use it as a cover, panic and fear was felt allover”, Abdul-Salam added.

Haitham said after the shooting had stopped, his eyes fell over his grandmother, laying on the ground, severely bleeding from her head,

“The ground behind her head was flooded with her blood, she was severely bleeding from the left side of her head, without any movement or breath”, Haitham said.

The father, Abdul-Salam, rushed to save his family, but only some seconds after the shooting, soldiers fired again, yet he had to reach his mother, and to check his family, he managed to reach his mobile phone, and phoned Kamal Adwan Hospital, yet he was still unable to reach his mother, no body could as the shooting continued.

“After ten minutes the children managed to leave the living room, but he could not reach my mother, the ambulance arrived in tens minutes, then the medics entered carrying a stretcher, and took her to the hospital, but I could tell she was already dead, I could see parts of her brain on the ground, there was a gap in the left side of her head.

At the Hospital doctors officially pronounced her dead, “there is nothing we could do, army never stooped shooting, they killed her in front of us, they could have killed us too, and our home was a stand still and easy target from their guns”, Haitham said.

Unfortunately this is not an isolated incident, army in every operation carried out in the Gaza Strip, fired and shells homes, the homes there are “s standing duck”, an easy target for the shells and bullets, while the residents remain the victims of hatful shells and bullets.

Several months ago, a similar incident occurred in Khan Younis refugee camp, in the south of the Gaza Strip, during a military operation in the camp.

A bullet fired by soldiers penetrated the chest of Ni’ma Abu Sahloul, 55 years old, while she was making some tea for her guests in west Khan Younis refugee camp.

Fayza Abu Sahloul, Ni’ma’s daughter-in-law, said Ni’ma was making some tea when several rounds and then a loud roar were heard.

“We knew something terrible happened, we heard her screaming, and rushed into the kitchen to find her soaked with her blood, she looked at us, with a short smile…and died”, Fayza said.

The house is located on the outskirts of the camp, several homes beside it were damaged and shelled, and their house became obvious and exposed and can be seen from Al-Tuffah Checkpoint, and several military camps surrounding Naveh Dkalim settlement.

Bullets which killed Ni’ma are still there, damages are still there, witnessing a new crime to be added to the history of the camp.

Stories of death…from Palestinian, not a sort of fiction or wild imagination of an author, it’s a living reality, repeated incidents of shelling and shooting carried out by the army against tens of homes.

“No Place like Home”, who doesn’t believe it! Who doesn’t say it!, it is the way it should be, homes are supposed to be safe environments, not shooting ranges, yet the army keeps targeting the homes, targeting school, and cars and is bold enough to target hospitals and ambulances.