Evidence of Israeli murder of civilians holding white flags in Gaza emerges

international | anti-war / imperialism | other press Tuesday February 03, 2009 09:34 by gazasympathiser

'How could they not see they were shooting at children?''

Four-year-old Samar Abed Rabbu is a little girl with a captivating smile to melt the heart of the most hardened correspondent.

Samar had been shot in the back at close range. The bullet damaged her spine, and she is unlikely to walk again.

At her bedside, her uncle Hassan told us the family had been ordered out of their home by Israeli soldiers who were shelling the neighbourhood.

A tank had parked in front of the house, where around 30 people were taking shelter.

The women and children - mother, grandmother and three little girls - came out waving a white flag and then, he said, an Israeli soldier came out of the tank and opened fire on the terrified procession.

Samar's two sisters, aged seven and two, were shot dead. The grandmother was hit in the arm and in the side, but has survived.

Samar's uncle said the soldier who had shot his niece was just 15m (49ft) away.

''How could they not see they were shooting at children?'' he asked.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_corr...7.stm

Mr al-Safadi, 59, a carpenter, said the Israeli military broke into radio broadcasts to announce those in border areas should leave their homes, holding white flags. His son Ahmed, 23, and Majda Abu Hajaj, 35, tied white scarves to sticks and led the group out. As they passed the their home, they saw tanks that opened fire on them.

Mr al-Safadi was carrying his year-old son, Mohammed, and walking close to Majda's 65-year-old mother, Raya. He and Majda's brother both say Majda fell dead, apparently shot in the back, as the group ran back the way it had come and that Raya was also shot. Mr al-Safadi grabbed the wounded grandmother and they ran for the cover of the Abu Hajaj house. "She was saying, 'My hand, my hand' and then she lost her breath and died," he said.

The rest of the group made it back to Mr al-Safadi's, despite what the families say was continued fire – and some shelling on the surrounding open land – from the tanks. After a night back in the house the group decided, says Mr al-Safadi, "that it was better to be shot while we are walking than shelled in our home". They used the cover of trees to make their way back to the centre of the village, and on to the relative safety of the Bureij camp. The bodies of Majda and Raya were not recovered until the ceasefire 19 days later.

This incident, one of several being examined by Human Rights Watch in which residents allege they were shot at while holding white flags, underlines the dangers that were faced by residents told to leave their homes during the offensive.

Both the al-Safadi and Abu Hajaj families are adamant there was no militant activity in the area where the two women – including Majda, who was holding the white flag – were killed.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/gaz....html