Ibrahim al-'Amleh, 41

Yesterday [Saturday, 3 February], at around 11:30 in the morning, my sister woke me up and told me that they [the Israelis] were firing tear-gas canisters in the area. I got up and went to wash my face. My sister went outside to call the children to come into the house. She brought them inside, along with 'Abud a-Zalbani, our neighbors' eight-year-old son.

'Abud stayed in our house for a very short time, a few seconds, before he rushed outside. I think he was shy and just wanted to leave. I went to get him. When I got to the door and opened it, 'Abud was one meter away from me. Suddenly, something hit him in the head, after which I heard a huge explosion. 'Abud fell to the ground. I hesitated for a few seconds and then went to help him. I saw five police officers dressed in Border Police uniforms standing about four meters away from 'Abud. One of them, who seemed to be in charge, was tall, heavyset, and had a dark-brown complexion. At the entrance to the neighborhood, about fifteen meters north of where we were, there were three more Border Police officers.

The back of 'Abud's head was bleeding. I picked him up. He was motionless. It was as if he was dead. I went to the road, carrying him along the way, when I met Ahmad Jamil. I was tired out, so I gave 'Abud to Ahmad, so he could evacuate the child. I went over to the police officers and shouted at them. The ranking officer justified the firing of the grenade on the fact that children had thrown stones at them. But when 'Abud was struck, nobody was throwing stones. The children had already dispersed before, when the police fired the tear-gas. Later, the police officer got into their jeeps. As they were leaving, some children gathered and threw stones at them. The police fired dozens of stun grenades and tear-gas canisters and then left.

Ibrahim 'Ismail Muhammad al-'Amleh, 41, married with four children, is unemployed and a resident of the Shu'afat refugee camp in East Jerusalem. His testimony was given to Karim Jubran, at the witness's home, on 4 February 2006.