'Adnan Abu Jazyeh. retired teacher

Our family lives in a one-story house with an asbestos roof. We have five rooms, a living room, two bathrooms, and a kitchen. My wife is partially paralyzed following a stroke that she had ten years ago when our eldest son, Ra'id, 31, was arrested. He is now being held in a prison in the Negev Prison .

Last Friday [30 June], around 11:30 in the morning, while I was showering in preparation for Friday prayers, I heard a very loud noise that was a sonic boom caused by F-16 aircraft. The noise was deafening. I opened the shower door to see what happened in the house because I heard my daughter daughters 'Aida, 18, and 'Ola, 13, and my wife screaming. When I opened the door, I saw that the asbestos ceiling had fallen to the floor even though it had been well attached by heavy poles. I put my pants on. I don't remember if I put them on right, or inside-out. The only thing I wanted to do was check if my wife and daughters were all right. Before I went into the shower, my wife was sitting in the middle of the living room on a chair, 'Aida was baking bread, and 'Ola was helping with the baking and was standing next to the door, opposite the baking oven. Rami, my son, was sitting with his mother in the middle of the living room. My nephews were also there. They had come to paint to the house for Rami's wedding, which was scheduled for 19 July.

The Abu Jazyeh family's living room after the ceiling collapsed. Photo: Zaki Kahil, B'Tselem, 3.7.06.

When I left the shower, I heard my daughters and wife and the others other people screaming from all directions. I saw my nephew Aa'il Wael , 16, stuck under the asbestos that had fallen on the floor. He had been unconscious, and had been struck a few times in the body, but he regained consciousness and was all right. My nephew Nasser, 25, was injured, his left hand, shoulder, and leg had been fractured. Luckily, my wife had moved to the side of the living room a few seconds earlier and was not injured. If she had kept sitting in the middle, I don't know what would have happened. She can't move by herself [because of the paralysis]. Later, my son told me that he moved his mother because the sun was too strong. A few minutes before the planes appeared, I shouted to my small nephew not to paint up to the asbestos ceiling in another room . [??] Luckily, he didn't hear obey me, otherwise he would have remained in the living room and the ceiling would have collapsed on him. When I saw what happened, I went into shock. was very frightened. I couldn't stand on my feet, and I fell to the floor. I was terrified by what had happened, and that made me fall.

For some time, from before the time that the roof collapsed, I have not been able to sleep. I wake up terrified and worrying every night because of the sonic booms. Often, my two daughters wake up in panic, run to me, and grab my pants or their mother's leg when they hear the booms. Small Little 'Ola throws herself onto her mother and trembles. Since the ceiling collapsed, we have been even more frightened. Now I am worried that any second the whole house will collapse on our heads. I'm afraid I worry that I'll might lose one members of my family.

For three nights now, my daughters have been talking crying in their sleep. Their dreams have turned into nightmares. Now, they constantly ask me to find another house. 'Aida is especially insistent that we move, because she was wounded by a stone that hit her in the head. It was a slight wound, but it affected her greatly. She worries a lot and does not sleep much.

'Adnan Sa'id Saleh Abu Jazyeh, 56, married with four children, is a retired teacher and a resident of the a-Shati refugee camp in Gaza Strip. His testimony was given to Zaki Kahil at the witness's home on 3 July 2006.