Opening the “Humanitarian Corridor”

On 4 January, PHR-Israel asked the Israeli Chief of Staff to open a “humanitarian

corridor” to enable the transfer of humanitarian supplies to be brought into the Gaza
Strip, including medical equipment and medicine, and in order to enable the transfer
of injured persons from the Gaza Strip to Israel.41 On 7 January, the Prime Minister’s
Office issued an announcement regarding a “humanitarian arrangement,” including a
daily three-hour ceasefire between 1:00 pm and 4:00 pm that was supposed to enable
the population to stock up with food supplies.42 In practice, the declared “corridor”
was a one-way mechanism into the Gaza Strip. In other words, the declaration of this
step did not relate to the evacuation of injured persons to Israel, and in practice not a
single injured person was transferred to Israel from the date of the declaration and
through 16 January due to the refusal of the army to enable injured persons to leave
without a financial undertaking and, after the removal of this condition, due to the
refusal of the Palestinian Authority to refer injured persons to Israel.43

The Palestinian Civilian Affairs Committee Ceases to Function

Following Israeli army attacks, coordination between the Palestinian Civilian
Committee and the authorities at Erez Crossing was nearly completely halted. On 11
January, Mr. Rif’at Muheisen, the Palestinian Civilian Committee representative in
Gaza, responsible for coordinating the passage of patients and injured persons through
Erez Crossing, told representatives that the committee’s offices had been closed
shortly after the attack began due to fear of the bombardments. Moreover, the
Palestinian Ministry of Health and the office responsible for patient referrals outside
the Gaza Strip were closed after the army began the ground offensive. As a result it
was no longer possible to issue financial undertakings and referrals to hospitals
outside the area as had been routine during the period before the attack. In addition,
the collapse of the Palestinian communications network Jawal hampered
communication between the families of injured persons and the Palestinian

41
For the text of the letter, see:
http://www.phr.org.il/phr/article.asp?articleid=1033&catid=26&pcat=-1&lang=HEB.
42
See http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3651825,00.html.
43
Notification of the decision not to refer injured persons to Israel via Erez Crossing was given by the
minister of health of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, Dr. Fathi Abu Mughali, on 31 December
2009. A copy of this announcement was forwarded to PHR-Israel.

21
coordinator, the rescue services, and the other bodies involved in evacuation.44 The
dangers involved in movement from one place to another and the blocking by the
army of the road leading to Erez Crossing with piles of earth also impaired the
possibility of leaving the Gaza Strip via the crossing. The residents of the southern
sections of the Gaza Strip – Khan Yunis, Rafah, and Dir al-Balah – were completely
cut off and could not reach the vicinity of Erez Crossing in the north of the Gaza Strip
with coordination which, as will be detailed below, became virtually impossible. The
Palestinian coordinator worked from his home in the Shaja’iya neighborhood.

Damage to the Home of Dr. Abu AlAish

On Friday, 16 January, an Israeli tank shelled the home of Dr. Az-Addin Abu AlAish
in Gaza, killing six members of the family and injuring at least four. The incident was
documented on Channel Ten television during a telephone conversation between Dr.
Abu AlAish and the reporter Shlomi Eldar. The same evening, just one hour after the
attack on the family, Israel facilitated the evacuation of three members of the family
to Israel. Magen David Adom ambulances entered the Gaza area and removed the
injured persons, who were taken by ambulance and helicopter to Barzilai Hospital in
Ashkelon and Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, both prominent hospitals
inside Israel. This contrasted with Israel’s refusal during the preceding three weeks to
repeated requests from PHR-Israel to enable the evacuation of injured persons. Israel
justified its refusal on various pretexts, such as conditioning medical assistance on a
financial undertaking by the Palestinians, or insisting that it was impossible to
evacuate injured persons without the agreement of Hamas or the Palestinian Authority
in Ramallah.

The decision to enable the evacuation of the members of the Abu AlAish family in
order to provide them with medical treatment in Israel contradicted Israel’s earlier
claim that this was impossible. This move also illustrated Israel’s cynical abuse of the
evacuation of injured persons for propaganda purposes. When its image was
threatened, Israel made sure to evacuate the injured persons rapidly and efficiently.

44
As stated by Mr. Rif’at Muheisen in a telephone conversation with a representative of PHR-Israel on
11 January.

22
The Establishment of the “Humanitarian Clinic” at Erez Crossing – Too Little,
Too Late
On 13 January, the Minister of Defence announced that the army was preparing to
establish a field clinic to treat injured Palestinians.45 The clinic, which opened on 18
January and was under the responsibility of Magen David Adom, was too little and
too late for many of those injured during the Israeli attack. The genuine need to
transfer injured persons was relevant mainly during the period of the attack, and not
after it ended. The clinic was opened as the attack on the Gaza Strip ended, by which
time most of those injured during the war who had required medical treatment had
been referred to medical centers outside the area via Rafah Crossing. The injured
persons who remained in the Gaza Strip received treatment at the Palestinian hospitals
in the Gaza Strip and did not use the services of the clinic. On 23 January Ha’aretz
reported that only a handful of Palestinians had received treatment at the clinic. On 28
January Israel announced the closure of the clinic due to the absence of patients.46 An
investigation revealed that the Palestinian authorities had refused to refer injured
persons to the clinic.

The need for assistance in treating the injured was raised from the first day of the war,
yet the announcement of the establishment of the clinic came only as the attack was
nearing its completion (13 January 2009), as Israel came under increasing
international criticism for its actions in the Gaza Strip. These circumstances suggest
that the considerations that led Israel to open the clinic at this time probably included
ones that were not purely medical. Such an approach is contrary to the instructions of
the World Medical Association regarding regulations in times of armed conflict
(section 14):47
“Hospitals and health care facilities situated in war regions must be respected by
combatants and media personnel. Health care given to the sick and wounded, civilians
or combatants cannot be used for morbid publicity or propaganda. The privacy of the
sick, wounded and dead must always be respected.”

***

45
See http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART1/839/365.html?hp=1&loc=4&tmp.
46
See http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3662249,00.html.
47
The World Medical Association Regulations in Times of Armed Conflict.
http://www.wma.net/e/policy/a20.htm

23
In addition to the considerable difficulties encountered by many injured persons in
reaching medical centers outside the Gaza Strip, the ground offensive that began on 3
January exacerbated the vulnerability of medical crews during the evacuation of the
injured. A situation emerged in which Palestinian medical crews and ICRC crews
were afraid to go out into the field, and many injured persons were trapped and
isolated for days in various areas of the Gaza Strip.

24
 Attacks on Medical Crews
During the course of the Israeli attack against Gaza, PHR-Israel received reports of
twelve cases in which Palestinian medical teams came under attack while engaging in
the rescue of injured persons in the Gaza Strip. According to a report of the World
Health Organization, 16 medical personnel were killed and 25 injured while
performing their duties.48 The immediate result of these attacks, apart from the death
and injury of medical personnel, was two-fold: Palestinian medical crews, ICRC
crews, and UNRWA staff ceased operating freely due to concern for their well-being;
and, as a result, there was an increase in the number of instances in which protracted
delays occurred in the evacuation of injured persons to medical centers within the
Gaza Strip.

“The situation is very difficult; there are many injured and dead people. I have been
out in the field since the early morning. There are lots of people under the ruins and
we cannot evacuate them. So far there are 517 dead and 2,500 injured. We cannot
approach those who need us because we are coming under fire” (Dr. Mu’awiya
Hasanin, director of Rescue and First Aid Services in the Palestinian Ministry of
Health, in a conversation with PHR-Israel, 4 January).

A bombed ambulance

48
Gaza Strip: Initial Health Needs Assessment, World Health Organization, Gaza, 16 February 2009.

25
Attacks on medical crews and ambulances, operating to evacuate the injured, are
unlawful and contrary to international law, custom law, and the Israeli law. The
protection granted to medical crews and vehicles includes not only protection against
attack, but also the obligation to permit and facilitate the operations of medical crews
so that they can perform their function.

Article 20 of the Fourth Geneva Convention specifically establishes that “persons

regularly and solely engaged in the operation and administration of civilian hospitals,
including the personnel engaged in the search for, removal and transporting of and
caring for wounded and sick civilians, the infirm and maternity cases, shall be
respected and protected.”49

The following cases were referred to PHR-Israel:

On 31 December a helicopter attacked a medical crew that had gone to
provide assistance to an injured and bleeding person in the Jabal Kashaf
area in the northeast of the Gaza Strip. As a result of the attack Dr. Ihab
Madhun and medic Mahmud Abu Khasri were killed. The injured person
they had set out to assist was also killed.

On 3 January an ambulance and medical crew arrived at the home of
the Dababish family in the Sheikh Raduan area in the north of Gaza City
in order to evacuate people injured after the house was shelled. The
house was shelled for a second time while the medical crew was on the
premises. As a result, Ayad Ahmad, a member of the medical crew, was
injured.

On 4 January a helicopter opened fire on an ambulance of the
Committees of the Union of Medical Workers in Beit Lahiya. The attack
killed two medics and the ambulance driver.

On 4 January a tank attacked an ambulance that was attempting to
evacuate an injured family in the Sheikh Ajalin area. Three members of
the ambulance crew – Inas Fadel Na’im, Yasser Shabir, and Rafat
Abdul-Ael – were killed as the result of the attack.

49
The Fourth Geneva Convention. Please refer to:
http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/INTRO/380?OpenDocument

26
“On 4 January I was in the hospital. At 4:00 pm we received a telephone call from a
resident reporting that people had been injured in the Dahduh area to the south of Tal
al-Hawa. I departed in the rescue vehicle with the volunteer Inas Fadel Na’im and
Rafat Abdul-Ael and Mohammed al-Jamasi. Another ambulance left together with us,
driven by Hazam al-Barawi and the volunteer Yasser Shabir. When we reached the
site at the end of Road 10, we met a ten year-old boy who told us that the injured
people were inside, on Ramle Street. The two ambulances remained outside. At this
point the volunteers – Inas, Rafat, Mohammed, and Yasser – went toward the place
where the injured people were situated, which was some 50 meters from the rescue
vehicles. As we reached the injured people a missile was fired at them from a
helicopter. The two drivers fled in one of the rescue vehicles and traveled toward Al-
Quds Hospital. There they learned that Yasser Shabir, Inas, and the boy they had met
on the road had been killed.” (Yahya Hassan, the ambulance driver injured while
performing his duties on 4 January).

On 6 January, PHR-Israel, Adalah, and other organizations submitted a petition to the

High Court against the Israeli security forces involved in the fighting, demanding that
they desist from attacking medical crews and facilities and enable the evacuation of
injured persons and besieged families.50 In the petition, the respondents were asked to
explain “why they do not refrain from attacking medical crews and ambulances
performing their duties in Gaza.” Several examples of such attacks were presented to
the court.51 The petition was submitted after four Palestinian medical personnel were
killed by army fire on 4 January, and following a growing number of cases in which
medical crews had come under attack.

In its response presented at a hearing on 9 January, the State Prosecutor’s Office

argued that the issues raised in the petition are not judiciable, among other reasons
since the army acts to avoid attacks on medical crews and facilities. The state claimed
that in addition to establishing the Humanitarian War Room, intended to resolve
difficulties in coordinating the evacuation of injured persons, the army had also been
instructed to refrain from attacking medical crews and ambulances performing their
duties “except in cases in which it is obvious and known that ambulances have been
50
HCJ 201/09: PHR-Israel et al. v Prime Minister et al.
51
Ibid., p. 1.

27
abused while performing their duties.” Further on in the response, however, the state
admitted regarding the cases detailed at the beginning of this section, which were also
presented to the court, “that we do not have full or updated information; however,
insofar as medical crews have been or are injured during the fighting this does not
happen deliberately, but as the result of combat operations occurring in the vicinity.”52
These comments were also made orally by Col. Moshe Levy, head of the Gaza DCO
and the army representative, during the course of the hearing itself.53

In its ruling, the High Court rejected the petition and determined that the State’s
response was sufficient. “Given the establishment and elaboration of the humanitarian
mechanisms as described, which it may be assumed will prove effective; taking into
consideration the notification delivered to us [by the state – D.M.] that a serious effort
will be made to improve the evacuation and care of the injured; given the
establishment of a clinic in the vicinity of Erez Crossing (and insofar as agreement
shall also be granted by the Palestinian side for the transfer of injured persons for
treatment in Israel), it may be hoped that the humanitarian system will operate
properly in accordance with its obligations. In these circumstances, we saw no further
cause to acquiesce to the granting of relief of a decree nisi at this time.”54 The ruling
further stated that the state must investigate the circumstances of the cases mentioned
in the petition. In practice, as of the date of publishing this report, the state has not
submitted an updated notification regarding the outcomes of the army’s investigation.

52
As recorded in the ruling granted in the petition, p. 5, section 9.
53
Col. Moshe Levy appeared before the High Court of Justice at a hearing held on 15 January.
54
Section 23 of the ruling –
http://elyon1.court.gov.il/files/09/010/002/n07/09002010.n07.htm.

28
A Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance after bombardment

In response to the scale of attacks on medical crews, the ICRC published a sharply-
worded and unusual statement on 8 January alleging that army forces had prevented
the organization’s medical crews from reaching and evacuating injured persons. The
statement declared that “The Israeli military failed to meet its obligation under
international humanitarian law to care for and evacuate the wounded.” The ICRC also
stated that “the delay in allowing rescue services access [is] unacceptable.”55

On 11 January, Mr. Alaa al-Susi, director of the Red Crescent Emergency Center in
Gaza, informed a representative of PHR-Israel that the coordination mechanism for
the rescue and evacuation of injured persons and bodies was inefficient, since the
Israeli military chose the areas to which access was possible for non-medical reasons.
Al-Susi also clarified that in view of the numerous incidents; he did not intend to send

55
http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/palestine-news-080109.

29
additional ambulances to certain areas due to fear of additional attacks on medical
crews.

“I myself was involved in an evacuation five meters from the medic Salah Qatatani.
He is in front of me now, in shock and unable to function. When there is a call we try
to go out to help and evacuate. But it’s very hard, and sometimes we cannot go on.
We prevaricate about whether and how to go out. There is pressure from the
population under the ruins crying out for help, but on the other hand two tanks and
helicopters are firing at the medical crews and ignoring the emblems on the vehicles
and our vests as medical crew. The Israeli forces control Netzarim junction and the
Samuna area to the southwest of Gaza, and so they have cut the Gaza Strip into north,
south, and center. Tanks fire at anyone who tries to use the coastal road, and the same
is true in the Shuka area (in the southern Gaza Strip in the Rafah area) and at Kisufim
(in the south). We feel resentment toward the ICRC because people contact them but
they do not manage to change the situation and enable the evacuation of the injured.”
(Dr. Mu’awiya Hasanin, director of Rescue and First Aid Services in the Palestinian
Ministry of Health, in a conversation with PHR-Israel, 5 January).

Additional attacks on medical crews:

7 January – prevention of evacuation of injured persons in the
Zeitoun neighborhood. An attempt was made in the evening to reach
the Zeitoun neighborhood following a report of injured persons in the
area. The ambulance managed to reach an earth roadblock
approximately one kilometer from several homes. The crew began to
walk in darkness to the first house (there were three bodies in the
entrance to the house). As the crew entered the house they encountered
soldiers who shouted at them and told them to go. They continued to
another house where there were injured people, but again soldiers
prevented them from approaching and they were forced to turn back.

7 January – medical team shelled in Jabaliya refugee camp.
Ambulances from Al-Khidmat al-Tabiya and the Palestinian Ministry of
Health came to the home of the Al-Kurdi family in Jabaliya refugee
camp. Before the three members of the medical crew had even managed

30
 to enter the house and evacuate the wounded, the neighboring house was
shelled. The members of the crew were not hurt but both ambulances
were destroyed by the force of the explosion. The members of the
medical crew fled from the scene; the ambulances were only removed
the next day.

8 January – shots fired at ambulances and medical personnel.
During the morning several ambulances tried to reach an area in the
northwest of the Gaza Strip where dozens of injured persons were
waiting. There were also dead bodies in the area, as well as residents
trapped without food or water. The army fired shots toward the
ambulances, injuring one of the crew members in the leg. The crew was
forced to turn back and evacuate the injured man to hospital. The next
day they again attempted to enter the area, but the area was still coming
under attack from tanks and bombs and the crew were afraid to
approach.

9 January – ambulance in the Zeitoun neighborhood hit by tank
fire. Since the beginning of the Israeli attack, the Red Crescent had
attempted to make arrangements to enable an ambulance to enter a
section of the Zeitoun neighborhood where there were known to be a
large number of injured persons waiting for evacuation. The army
refused to permit an ambulance to enter the area. Authorization was
given for the first time on 11 January and the arrival of the ambulance
was coordinated. Since the roads in the area had been demolished, the
ambulance could not reach the site where the injured persons were
waiting and the medical crew was obliged to walk for some two
kilometers. Israeli tanks opened fire on the ambulance. No injuries were
caused, but the ambulance was badly damaged and the crew was obliged
to return to Gaza City without evacuating the injured.

10 January – ambulances in the Al-Atatra neighborhood come
under tank fire. The Al-Atatra neighborhood was subjected to heavy
bombardment by the army during the attack on Gaza. Repeated attempts
by the Red Crescent and the ICRC to arrange for an ambulance to enter
the area proved unsuccessful. On 10 January five ambulances from the
Red Crescent entered the neighborhood, accompanied by an ICRC

31
 vehicle. As the medical crews reached the neighborhood they came
under tank fire. As a result of the attack the ambulance driver Marwan
Hamuda and the medic Hassan Al-Atal were both injured. Due to the
attack the crews returned to Gaza without evacuating the injured.

12 January – aerial attack on medical crews in Jabaliya. Five
ambulances attempted to evacuate injured persons from a tower in
Jabaliya. The rescue services arrived in a relatively large number of
ambulances in order to ensure that they were clearly visible in the area
and deter the army from attacking. Immediately after entering the tower,
a missile was fired from an F-16 fighter plane, completely destroying the
tower. As a result, one of the physicians – Dr. Issa Salah, a 32 year-old
dentist, was killed. The paramedics Ahmad Abu al-Ful and Abd al-Majid
Abu al-Ayash were slightly injured by shrapnel.

12 January – stun grenades fired at rescue crews in the Zeitoun
neighborhood. In the afternoon a Red Crescent ambulance and a vehicle
from the ICRC that were traveling to evacuate injured persons in the
Zeitoun neighborhood were stopped by army forces close to earth
mounds blocking the road. For two hours the crews were forced to
search for alternative ways to reach the area. After they failed to identify
other routes they returned to the same point. ICRC coordinators
descended from the vehicles, holding ICRC flags, in order to speak with
the soldiers and ask them to clear the way. As they began to approach
the soldiers, the latter fired stun grenades. As a result the coordinators
turned around and the vehicles left the area, returning to the center of
Gaza without evacuating the injured.

12 January – ambulance in the Khuza’a area comes under fire. At
about 9:30 am, an ambulance from the Palestinian Ministry of Health
was on its way to rescue an injured woman in an area inhabited by the
Al-Najar family on Azata Street in the outskirts of Khuza’a to the east of
Khan Yunis. Before the crew had managed to reach the woman, army
forces fired shots at the ambulance. The ambulance driver, Marwan Abu
Rida, fled the area immediately in the ambulance and entered a
courtyard belonging to members of the Al-Najar family. It is not known
what became of the injured woman.

32
***
As mentioned above, the attacks on medical crews and the increasing reluctance of
the Red Crescent, UNRWA, and the ICRC to send crews to evacuate the injured
meant that many injured persons were trapped without access to medical attention.
We do not have precise figures concerning the number of injured persons who died,
or whose medical condition was exacerbated, due to these delays. However, given the
scope of Israeli attacks on Palestinian medical crews;56 given the protests of the
international organizations, particularly the ICRC and UNRWA; and against the
background of the large total number of Palestinians injured, it is reasonable to
assume that many of the injured suffered additional injury due to the long and
medically unreasonable periods of time they were forced to wait for evacuation.

A Palestinian ambulance after bombardment

56
According to the ICRC, the average time required to evacuate injured persons was between two and
ten hours.

33
 Evacuation inside the Gaza Strip – Injured and Trapped Persons
During the war, PHR-Israel received reports of entire families trapped in their homes,
and of injured persons trapped in vehicles. Following the attacks on medical crews
travelling to rescue the injured, and particularly following the beginning of the army’s
ground offensive, injured persons were left in isolated areas, unable to evacuate
themselves and with no way of securing supplies. As mentioned above, the ICRC has
estimated that the average time required to evacuate injured persons was between two
and ten hours. PHR-Israel’s experience in coordinating evacuation raises similar
findings, if not worse – as detailed below.

The right of injured persons to receive medical treatment is well established in

international and Israeli law and is not voided in situations of combat. Article 16 of
the Fourth Geneva Convention addresses the treatment and evacuation of the injured
and constitutes the central source for the obligation incumbent on military forces to
enable the evacuation of the injured for the purpose of hospitalization and medical
treatment. The article establishes:

“The wounded and sick, as well as the infirm, and expectant mothers, shall be object
of particular protection and respect. As far as military considerations allow, each party
to the conflict shall facilitate the steps taken to search for the killed and wounded, to
assist the shipwrecked and other persons exposed to grave danger, and to protect them
against pillage and ill-treatment.”

The obligations incumbent on the army relating to the evacuation of the injured are
also detailed in Article 15 of the First Additional Protocol to the Geneva Convention
which establishes, among other provisions:

“At all times, and particularly after an engagement, Parties to the conflict shall,
without delay, take all possible measures to search for and collect the wounded and
sick, to ensure their adequate care, and to search for the dead and prevent their being
despoiled.”

In a petition submitted to the Israel High Court, as detailed in the previous section, the
state addressed the question of the evacuation of injured persons in general, and the

34
case of two trapped families in particular. In the ruling, President Dorit Beinish
emphasized that the evacuation of injured persons is to be facilitated in accordance
with military considerations, and rejected the petition.

In an update published on 3 January, the ICRC claimed that:

“Some wounded people simply die while waiting for an ambulance… this is of course
absolutely appalling. The ambulances must reach the injured as fast as possible.”

Trapped and Injured Persons

PHR-Israel received numerous reports throughout the war of families and individuals
trapped without access to electricity, water, and food; some of the cases involved
persons injured by army fire who were left without medical treatment. During this
period the army created countless obstacles for the rescue teams in the field who
attempted to evacuate trapped and injured persons. We present below two of the many
testimonies PHR-Israel received that illustrate the difficulties encountered by the
Palestinian medical crews and international organizations as they attempted to meet
calls for help from families, on the one hand; and the grave suffering caused to injured
and trapped persons as the result of the protracted – and sometimes intolerable –
delays, on the other.

The Al-Aeidi family – seven days of hell

 3 January – army forces shelled the home of the Al-Aeidi family,
numbering over twenty individuals, most of them women and
children. The attack destroyed part of the home and six members of
the family were injured: two 80 year-old women were injured in the
head and face; two youths sustained injuries to multiple body parts; a
girl and a three year-old boy sustained shrapnel wounds to multiple
body parts. The family home is an isolated building between Netzarim
and Karni Junction (to the southeast of Gaza City). Any attempt to
leave the home prompted shooting by the army.
 4 January – after a telephone conversation in the morning with Mr.
Hasin Al-Aeidi, the head of the family, PHR-Israel contacted the
Gaza DCO in order to coordinate the evacuation of the Al-Aeidi
family from their home. The Red Crescent and ICRC also contacted

35
 the army on the same day to coordinate the safe arrival of an
ambulance to the home. The efforts were unsuccessful, however: the
army declined to permit ambulances to reach the area on the grounds
that fighting was taking place.
 6 January – MK Haim Oron, chairperson of Meretz – The New
Movement, submitted an urgent request to the Minister of defence to
facilitate the evacuation of the Al-Aeidi family. PHR-Israel contacted
several European embassies in Israel and asked them to apply
pressure on the Israeli Foreign Ministry to contact the army and
facilitate the evacuation of the family.
 7 January – PHR-Israel, Adalah, and other organizations petitioned
the Supreme Court and asked that the army be instructed to evacuate
the family.
 7-8 January – Despite Israel’s announcement of the opening of the
“Humanitarian Corridor,” which was intended to enable a three-hour
lull in the fighting, the army refused to enable an ambulance to reach
the area. On 8 January, an army representative claimed in a telephone
conversation that the army did not know where the family was
situated – despite the fact that over a period of five days PHR-Israel
had several times reported the family’s location. The army
representative also claimed that they had been unable to contact the
family, and accordingly could not evacuate them – despite the fact
that PHR-Israel knows that Hasin Al-Aeidi, the head of the family,
spoke to one of the officers at the Gaza DCO for half an hour on the
telephone the previous evening.
 9 January – two of the six injured members of the family were
allowed to leave the home. They walked 2-3 kilometers to a
prearranged point and a vehicle then took them to hospital. Four
injured persons remained in the home since they could not manage
such a long walk. Later the same day PHR-Israel contacted diplomats
and foreign organizations and requested urgent intervention in order
to secure the evacuation of the four injured persons in the house. At
5:00 pm the army again opened fire close to the Al-A’iedi family
home. That evening the Palestinian Red Crescent declined to evacuate

36
 the injured members of the family due to concern that the army would
open fire on its employees.
 10 January – the family despaired of waiting for an ambulance due to
the repeated refusals to allow access. Fearing further attacks, PHR-
Israel representatives contacted the soldiers and arranged that the
entire family would leave the home on foot. The four injured family
members were carried by their relatives to the hospital in Gaza.

The Shurrab family – one son was shot dead, the other bled to death
 Mohammed Shurrab and his two sons, Ibrahim (18) and Qasab (28),
were injured on 16 January in the Al-Fakhari region, that borders their
agricultural farm, at 2:00 pm as they were heading to the city during
the three-hour daily ceasefire known as the “Humanitarian Corridor.”
Qasab was very seriously wounded and died shortly afterwards.
Ibrahim was injured below the knee and lost a large quantity of blood.
The father of the family sustained light injuries from shrapnel.
 Large army forces operated in the area around the vehicle.
The vehicle of the Shurrab family following the attack

Orignial photo: Shurrab family. Copy made by Alicia Vacas Moro, Fact Finding Mission, February
2009

37
 Immediately after the attack, the father desperately attempted to call
for a rescue vehicle using his mobile telephone. He contacted the
rescue services of the Palestinian Red Crescent and the ICRC. He
called the soldiers around him several times telling them his younger
son was bleeding and asking for their help. At 7:30 pm PHR-Israel
contacted the army, which replied that the rescue could not go ahead
due a lack of details as to the precise location of the vehicle.
 At approximately 1:00 am (between Friday and Saturday), a
telephone call was received from Dr. Hala Zakut, a physician in Gaza,
who provided information about the case. Dr. Zakut reported that the
father was still trapped in the car with his two sons, one dead and the
other injured and in a grave condition. At 1:15 am PHR-Israel
contacted the father who reported that his second son, Ibrahim, had
died shortly before after losing a large quantity of blood.
 Mohammed stated that his son Ibrahim was shouting in pain and he
tried to call an ambulance. The army soldiers shouted at him and and
cursed him: "shut up or we will shoot you.” Mohammed later
contacted the Red Crescent and the ICRC. Many hours passed but no
ambulance arrived. His son Ibrahim died due to loss of blood at 24:30
am, approximately twelve hours after he was injured.
 A PHR-Israel representative stayed in contact with Mohammed
throughout the night. Mohammed cried for the loss of his sons who
were lying outside the vehicle. He said that he could see the soldiers
and tanks at some distance, but they did not approach him. In addition
to his extreme emotional distress, Mohammed’s hand was bleeding
and he spent the whole night suffering from cold.
 Mohammed was evacuated from the scene at 12:00 noon on Saturday
17 January, together with the bodies of his two sons – approximately
24 hours after the incident began.

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The late Ibrahim Shurab

Orignial photo: Shurrab family. Copy made by Alicia Vacas Moro, Fact Finding Mission, February
2009

***

The cases of the Al-Aeidi family and the Shurrab family offer some insight into the
tragedies faced by many of the residents of Gaza during the attack. Mohammed
Shurrab’s sons Qasab and Ibrahim died after being shot by army forces. The forces
were present in the vicinity but refused to provide medical assistance. The Al A’iedi
family was forced to suffer for many days. The army forces close by not only refused
to allow medical crews to reach the family, but also refused to permit the injured
family members to evacuate themselves to hospital. The behaviour of the army in
refusing to provide assistance to the injured and in preventing access by Palestinian or
international medical crews caused extensive and possibly indescribable suffering,
including fatalities that could very possibly have been avoided.

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Photo: Reuters

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