Transcript:
Officially, the Israelis say their soldiers opened fire only after a group of men assaulted them and tried to grabbed their weapons. Those who were there say that's lie.
"This is a family. An innocent family living by itself inside their house. They came like wild dogs, and when they did they opened the door and started shooting. The soliders killed an old man, the head of the household. His wife came out screaming so the soldier shot her, and then shot his brother and then the children. Go look at the house. It's a pool of blood"
It's no exaggeration - it is a pool of blood. One relative says the shooting was completely indiscriminate.
"He shot the boy inside and then the two girls and my wife in the other room."
According to those on the scene, the soldiers shot and killed one man, wounded his wife and four others.
And that's according to the dead man's daughter, still covered in blood as she describes what happened:
"My mother told the soldier to stay away from him, from my father. And then he shot him and then my mother yelled "You Bastard" and then he shot my mother and wounded my brother Rajeh. They shot my brothers and the children. This one while he was running, his mother fell."
And this is just one incident, one family. The images are as shocking as the story itself. But for those who have lived under conditions like this for 40 years, incidents like this one no longer come as a surprise.
Al Jazeera
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
REF.: 15.2007E
6 June 2007
As a human rights organisation dedicated to the protection and promotion of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), Al-Haq is gravely concerned by the actions of Israeli soldiers during an arrest raid in Hebron early this morning, which left one person dead and several others seriously injured. Based on first hand testimony gathered by staff members in the aftermath of the event, Al-Haq has documented the incident, the facts of which are summarise below.
At approximately 12:20 am on Wednesday, 6 June 2007, a large Israeli military force, comprising at least 50 soldiers, came to the house of Yehia al-Jabari. Yehia, who was 72-years-old, lived with his family in a two-storey house in the B'er Haram area of Hebron city. Upon opening the front door of the house to the soldiers, Rajih al-Jabari, the26-year-old son of Yehia, was dragged outside. Without any warning or justification, the Israeli soldiers began to beat Rajih, violently hitting his head against the wall of the house. At this point, Yehia, who had only moments earlier returned home from visiting a relative, came outside with his wife Fatima to see what was happening. Seeing the soldiers attacking his son, Yehia, who was unarmed, attempted to intervene and protect his son. While doing so, he was shot once in the forehead by an Israeli soldier; the bullet exiting the rear of his head. He then fell to the ground, where he lay motionless, presumably having been killed instantly. Immediately afterward, his wife, who was also unarmed, began screaming and attempted to reach Yehia's body. An Israeli soldier, however, opened fire on her, hitting her six times. Fatima, who was hit in numerous parts of her body, including the head and chest, fell to the ground.
At this time, two of Yehia's sons, 24-year-old Kamil and 36-year-old Radi, exited the front door of the house. There, they found their parents lying in pools of blood on the ground, surrounded by a large number of Israeli soldiers. In attempting to move their father's corpse from the front steps, where it was lying, the two brothers were screamed at by an Israeli soldier who ordered them to stop. Radi ignored the soldier, pushing him away. In response, however, the soldier opened fire on the brothers, hitting Kamil in the foot. After Kamil had fallen to the ground, Radi knelt beside his father's body and began to cry. The soldiers, however, began to beat him in an attempt to move him away.
By this stage, a number of other family members and neighbours had gathered nearby. They were prevented from reaching the injured persons by the Israeli soldiers who forced them back violently, in some instances, beating the men and women with the butts of their guns. Soon after the aforementioned events had taken place, the injured were transferred to ambulances that had arrived at the scene. Despite the serious condition of several of the wounded, the Israeli soldiers refused to allow the ambulances to leave the area for a full 15 minutes after they were ready to do so.
Once the injured persons were eventually transferred to hospital, the soldiers gathered the remaining family members, as well as a number of other individuals who were present, inside the house. There, the women were kept in a single room, while the men were kept under guard in the corridor outside. They remained there for 45 minutes while the Israeli soldiers carried out an extensive search of the house, in the course of which they found no weapons, nor did they arrest any individuals. Only after the soldiers had completed the search did they inform the Palestinians present that they were looking for Salih al-Jabari, the17-year-old son of Yehia. At approximately 2:30 am, the soldiers finally agreed to leave the area after receiving assurances that Salih would present himself to the Israeli authorities the following day.
Regarding those Palestinians taken to hospital for treatment, a number of individuals were released after been treated for shock and/or for the injuries they sustained being beaten by the Israeli soldiers. More worryingly, 57-year-old Fatima al-Jabari is presently in a critical condition, while her son, Rajih al-Jabari, remains in an extremely serious condition.
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