Min'em Ghayeb, construction worker

I live with my mother on the first floor of a two-story building.

Last Friday [30 April], I went to sleep about 12:30 at night. Around 3:30, my mother woke me after she heard an explosion, apparently the blast of a stun grenade. I got up and got dressed immediately because I realized Israeli soldiers were in the area. I went to the guest room and opened slightly the window that faces the road, so that I could see what was happening. I saw two army armored personnel carriers. One of them was parked facing the Manasreh building and the other was where the street starts. Army jeeps were driving back and forth on the street opposite the house.

I heard soldiers call out on loudspeakers, "Come outside. Give yourself up." They repeated the call a number of times, and I heard them say, " Inshallah [with God's will], you'll return safely," but I didn't know if they were talking to me or to one of my neighbors. They didn't mention any name. The calls on the loudspeaker continued for more than half an hour, after which I heard them call out, in Arabic, "We'll bring a bulldozer and demolish the house," but I still didn't know who they were referring to.

Later, I heard the sound of gunshots. I didn't know where it came from. I moved away from the window so I wouldn't get him. After ten minutes passed, I heard women screaming loudly. I again went to the window facing the main road, opened it, and saw our neighbors, the teacher Abu Muhammad [Yusef Zalat] and his three daughters. Another neighbor, Abu al-Walid ['Abd a-Rahman Masri], was lying on the road. His wife left the house and everybody was screaming. I heard one of the girls scream that she had been hit in the midsection, and I saw her put her hand on her midsection.

Abu Muhammad was standing about thirty meters from the soldiers who were standing opposite the Manasreh building. He raised his hands and asked, "Who is in charge?" One of the soldiers said, in Arabic, "Stop or I'll shoot you." The soldier repeated it a number of times. Another soldier, whom I couldn't see, told him to go over to him. Abu Muhammad walked eastwards, to where the soldier who had called him was. I couldn't see them, and I don't know what happened to Abu Muhammad after that.

Then I saw a guy I don't know who was sitting on the ground with his hands on his head. A soldier demanded his ID card. I didn't hear what the guy said in reply. A few minutes later, the soldiers led the guy eastwards, where I couldn't see what was going on. The daughters of Abu Muhammad also moved further away from the house in an easterly direction.

Afterwards, an army bulldozer appeared and began to destroy the fence of Abu Muhammad's house. It also destroyed part of the wall of one of the rooms in the building. There were lots of soldiers at the site, and they had dogs. It was light out already, and I saw a crew from the Palestinian Red Crescent, in their red uniforms, carry a stretcher on which somebody was lying, apparently dead. Later, I learned that it was 'Itaf, Abu Muhammad's wife. She was killed when she was hit in the head by Israeli soldiers' gunfire.

After that, I saw soldiers go into the house opposite us. I moved away from the window because I was afraid of the soldiers. The action lasted until 8:30, when the soldiers left. Like the other neighbors, I then went outside to learn what had happened.

Min'em Muhammad Faiz Ghrayeb, 23, is a construction worker and a resident of Tulkarm. His testimony was given to 'Abd al-Karim a- Sa'adi at the witness's home on 4 May 2006.