Zuhair al-Bakri, clrek

I live with my wife and five children in the a-Saftawi section of Gaza.

On Friday, 18 January, I was at Muhammad Abd a-Jawad, my nephew’s wedding, which was held in the Tel-al-Hawa section of Gaza, about sixty meters southwest of the former Interior Ministry building.

All morning long, we were busy preparing food for the wedding. After lunch, which was held at the groom’s house in Tel-Al-Hawa, the party, held in the street outside out the house, began. The Fad’us band played and sang, and the guests danced outdoors. About one hundred people took part. It was a very joyous occasion, and my sister, the mother of the groom, gave the guests sweets.

The building destroyed in the bombing. Photo: Muhammad Sabah, B'Tselem, 20 Jan 2008.

Around 15:30, I was standing next to the door of my sister’s house. Haniyeh Abd-al-Jawad, the groom’s aunt on his father’s side, was standing next to me. My mother, who moves about in a wheelchair, was sitting next to her. Suddenly, without any prior warning, I heard a great explosion. There was smoke everywhere. I heard the sound of breaking glass and concrete blocks disintegrating, and shouts of women and children. Because of the smoke, I couldn’t see a thing.

After about five minutes passed, the smoke and dust cleared a bit, and I saw Haniyeh ‘Abd al-Jawad lying on the ground covered in blood, mostly on her face. I saw parts of her head, pieces of his brain mostly, on the ground. I looked around and saw my mother sitting in her wheelchair about eight meters from me. The intensity of the blast apparently pushed her chair away. Thank Heaven she wasn’t harmed and didn't fall from her wheelchair.

I saw a few children and adults lying on the ground covered in blood. I picked up Haniyeh ‘Abd al-Jawad and took her in my car to a-Shifa Hospital. On arrival, the doctors declared her dead. They surmised she had been killed by a stone from the abandoned Interior Ministry that struck her in the head. We learned that the Israelis had bombed the building with a missile from an F-16 airplane. The building was completely demolished and a few buildings near it were damaged. About fifty persons, among them residents who live near the building and guests at the wedding, including women and children, were injured.

The area around the abandoned Interior Ministry building is a densely-populated residential area. There are eight residential towers nearby as well as regular residential dwellings out in the area. The Israelis certainly knew there were people in the area when they fired a missile at the building. I am sure they saw a wedding was being held nearby.

Zuhair 'Abd al-Wahad Bayumi al-Bakri, 33, married with five children, is an official in the Palestinian Ministry of Trade and a resident of a-Saftawi neighborhood in Gaza City. His testimony was given at the home of the Haniyeh al-Jawad by Muhammad Sabah on 20 January 2008.