Diaa' Balbisi, ambulance driver

I have been driving ambulances for the Red Crescent for five years. On 3 January 2008, I was in an ambulance together with Fawaz al-Bitar, a paramedic, at Refidiyah Hospital. Some young men were throwing stones nearby. Around noon, the traffic officer called me and said a pregnant woman from the Abu Za'rour  family was choking from inhalation of tear gas. Immediately, I drove to the scene of the incident.

When I was about 15-20 meters from the woman's  house, I saw an army jeep parked in the middle of road, blocking it. By loudspeaker, the soldiers ordered me to back up. I backed up a few meters and shouted to the soldier that there was a pregnant woman whom we had to take to hospital. The soldier spoke to us in Arabic. He told us to drive toward him. I drove forward a bit and then he told us to get out, lift our shirts and turn around. Fawaz and I did as he said. Then he told us to sit on the sidewalk and turn our heads the other way. We did as he said. Then a soldier called out to me, "Where is the woman who is about to give birth?". I said, "She is at home. We came to get her". The soldier hit me in the shoulder with his rifle butt and hit me again twice in the shoulder with his hand. He swore at me and told me to get out of there. Fawaz and I got into the ambulance and drove about 40 or 50 meters. I called the Red Crescent office and the Red Cross and told them what happened. A person from the Red Cross asked us to remain at the site and said that they would arrange the evacuation with the Israeli liaison office.

While I was on the phone, the jeep pulled up next to us. A soldier in the jeep shouted at us a few times to back up, and then proceed forward, and then back again. We did as he said. The soldiers were mocking us. They didn't care that we were a medical team and had to evacuate a woman who had been injured. They ordered us to back up until we reached the spot where the young men were throwing stones. A few stones hit the ambulance.

The soldiers ordered us to drive forward again, and we did as they said. Then they told us to back up again, but this time we didn't. Four soldiers got out of the jeep. We sat in the ambulance, with our window open. One of the soldiers was holding a tear-gas grenade. Two soldiers aimed their weapons at us. One of them asked me if I was happy with what was happening. I told him I wasn't. "You don't want to leave here?" he asked. I told him a pregnant woman had been injured from inhaling gas. He opened the safety catch of the grenade. I moved his hand away because I realized he intended to throw the grenade through the window into the ambulance. The other soldier hit me in the hand. The soldier holding the grenade threw it into the ambulance. He put his hand through the open window and pressed the vehicle's buttons. I think he tried to lock us inside, but by mistake pressed the button that closes the windows.

I opened the door and quickly got out. So did Fawaz. We ran to get away from the gas. We ran about 50 meters. The soldiers also moved back. About 10 minutes later, we went back to the ambulance but couldn't get in because of the odor. I called the Red Crescent office and told them what happened. They sent an ambulance, which took us to the office. I had a headache because of the gas and couldn't continue working. I went home and took a pain reliever.

Diaa' 'Abdallah 'Abd al-Qader Balbisi, 43, is married, has six children, and lives in Nablus. He gave his testimony to Salma a-Deb'i at the Red Crescent office in Nablus on 9 January 2008.