Testimonies

'Uthman al-Hajin, father of the family, aged 50

I own four dunams in a-Sheikh 'Ajalin Neighborhood in Gaza. On it, I grow vine, figs and vegetables. I also have there a well of sweet water. My father and step mother used to live on that land together with my brother and his children. A year ago, my father was killed in a car accident and since then, I work there and my children help me. We have a house on that land, and during this summer vacation we lived there and picked the grapes and the figs. The house has two rooms, from stone, covered with a tin roof. It was kind of a vacation for the family since a-Sheikh 'Ajalin area is beautiful and have a view to the Gaza coast.

Before the Oslo agreements, the Netzarim settlement border was about 1.5 km from my land. After the peace process started, and especially after the break of the current intifada, Israel created a safety zone around the settlement and used the lands of the residents in the area. Today, the border of the safety zone is only about 300 meters from my land. Tanks are positioned regularly on a sand hill, named a-Taba, next to the safety zone border.

On July this year, about ten soldiers came down from the hill and went north, in the direction of Shemlech family land, which is adjacent to mine. They came to my land and asked my wife and my children if we live there. They answered that we are, and told the soldiers that we are picking grapes and figs and then sell them. The officer told my family that they should not be scared. He demanded that we will not come near a-Taba hill and warned them that if anybody will, he will be shot. My wife told him: "we will not allow anybody go to that place, even not the small children." The officer thanked her and returned with the soldiers to the hill.

On Wednesday evening, August 28th, after we finished working, Muhammad Samir al-Hajin, my 18 years old nephew, came to visit us together with my relative Hashem al-Hajin. At around 21:00, I noticed a tank on a-Taba hill. My sons and the two visitors went to sleep at around 22:30. As usual, they went to sleep under a fig tree which is about eight meters east to the house. Me, my wife and my small children planned to sleep outside, next to the house, about six meters from the place my older sons slept. I went to change my clothes and got ready to sleep. My wife and the small children slept already and the others were lying awake under the tree.

When I went to sleep, I was surprised to hear three shells shot continuously. The shells fell and exploded where my older sons were lying. When the first shell was shot, I heard my sons yelling. My wife woke up, started to shout and ran to the boys. On her way, two more shells were dropped next to her. I ran away and hide in the west side of the house. When my wife arrived to the place where my sons were, I heard shootings from machine guns. My wife's screams stopped. The shooting stopped after a few minutes and then I crawled towards my small son, Sa'id, in order to save him. I arrived to the place where he was sleeping before, but I could not find him. I started to call him loudly: "Sa'id, Sa'id, Sa'id." At this moment, the tank started shooting again. I crawled back and hide again in the west side of the house. I was confused and didn't know whether to go and save my sons and risk my life or whether to wait for a miracle. I decided that the best thing to do will be to call my relatives from my mobile phone and tell them to call an ambulance.

I had a strong feeling that my wife was killed on the spot since her screams stopped at once. As for my sons, I thought they were still alive since I could still hear them screaming. When I wanted to call my relatives, I remembered that I left the phone where I was sleeping. I crawled back to the place and ran into my son Sharif, who was injured. At first I shouted: "who are you?" and then he answered that he is Sharif and started to cry. I asked him what was his condition and he told me that he is injured in his legs. I asked him if anybody followed him and he said that he doesn't know. I asked him to continue to crawl and get away from there. I continued to crawl until I reached the place where my phone was. I took it and ran fast, while I'm bending. At that moment, the tank shot another shell that fell in the place I slept before. I also heard shooting from machine guns and another shooting of a shell. At that moment, the tank lit his high lights and directed them to the house. At the same time, the tank shot two shells to Shemlech family land.

I crawled about 200 meters west, in the direction of the coast, and called my relatives. I told them to call an ambulance and the Red Cross. I stayed at my place until two ambulances arrived. I stopped them on the dirt path and told the medical staff that I'm the landlord. I went into the ambulance to show them the way. On our way to the place, the medical staff asked me where the Israeli soldiers are positioned. I told them that the tank is on a-Taba hill. The driver said that they might shot at the ambulance. I asked him: "what shall we do? We should contact the Israeli side." The driver said: "I cannot go in without coordination. We will stop on the side of the main road, a-Sheikh 'Ajalin road, until we will get permission from the Israeli army."

After a while, an UNRWA ambulance arrived. The staff told us that they have permission to evacuate the wounded. The permission was also for the two other ambulances. The three ambulances drove until we arrived to the place where the incident happened and the paramedics went to treat the wounded. One of the paramedics brought my son Sa'id, who was injured in his right shoulder. When I went to help them, I saw my son Salah lying injured on the ground. His voice was very low and with lot of pain. I picked him up and brought him to the ambulance. I returned to the place and found my wife lying on her face and blood covered all her body. It looks like she was dead but I wasn't sure since her body was still hot. I tried to pick her up but I couldn't. When I did that, I saw a hole in her left hip. Two neighbors arrived and helped me transfer her to the ambulance.

The medical staff saved the life of two injured people, who at the time I didn't know who they were. Me and one of the paramedics saved my relative, Muhammad Samir al-Hajin. The paramedics brought the other injured and I didn't know what was the condition of all my children.

My son Rafaat, aged 23, arrived to saved us. He started looking between the trees for wounded, and then the tank shot a shell at him. He ran to the neighbors' land. The tank shot three flares and Rafaat crawled and ran away.

It took about two hours, or less, until the ambulances received the permission to evacuate the injured. I arrived to the hospitals with the ambulances and stayed there until the next day in the afternoon. My sons Ashraf and Nihad, my wife and Muhammad, my relative, were killed. Five other were injured.

'Uthman Mahmoud Hussein al-Hajin, age 50, is married and the father of seven,. He works as a lock-smith, and lives in Bir a-N'ama, Jabalya.