BLACK FLAG:
B’TSELEM - The Israeli Information Center for
Human Rights in the Occupied Territories
35 Mekor Haim Street
P.O. Box 53132, Jerusalem 9153002
Tel. (972) 2-6735599 | Fax (972) 2-6749111
www.btselem.org | mail@btselem.org

The Legal and Moral Implications of the Policyof Attacking Residential Buildingsin the Gaza Strip, Summer 2014
January 2015

Black Flag:
The Legal and Moral Implications of the
Policy of Attacking Residential Buildingsin the Gaza Strip, Summer 2014

January 2015

Cover photo Home of al-Haj family, Khan Yunis R.C., bombed on
10 July 2014, killing eight members of the family.
Photo: Muhammad Sa'id, B'Tselem, 10 July 2014

ISBN: 978-965-7613-14-6

B’TSELEM – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories
was founded in 1989 by a group of concerned Israelis. It endeavors to document and educate
the Israeli public and policymakers about human rights violations in the Occupied Territories,
combat the phenomenon of denial prevalent among the Israeli public, and help create ahuman rights culture in Israel.

Introduction
I lost my whole family, and my home. I have nothing left. No photos, not thethings my family and I used. I lost everything. I have nothing left. I lost everything
in seconds. I lost everything.
Muhammad Nader ‘Ata al-Agha, 19, student, resident of Ma’an/Khan Yunis.1
No other country and no other army in history have gone to greater lengths to
avoid casualties among the civilian population of their enemies
Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel.2

Early on the afternoon of 8 July 2014, the first day of another bout of fighting in the Gaza
Strip, a person speaking on behalf of the Israeli military phoned one of the apartmentsin the home of the Kaware’ family, in Khan Yunis. He told residents that the military
was planning to destroy the building and that they must immediately evacuate it.
More than an hour later, a warning missile was launched at the roof. The families left
the building, but dozens of local residents continued to gather in the area. Some ofthem had even gone up to the roof, or were in the staircase, on their way there. A
missile was then fired at the three-story, seven-apartment building – members of theextended Kaware’ family lived in each of the apartments ­– and the building collapsed.
Nine people, including five children aged 7 to 14, were killed.
These are the findings of B’Tselem’s investigation of this strike. In its response,the military did not offer an alternative scenario of how events unfolded but
explained that the building had been used as a “command center for a company
commander in the Hamas Khan Yunis brigade”. The military also said that residentsof the building had been warned, both by a phone call and by a missile shot at theroof. However, despite having left it, residents returned to the building when it
was too late to redirect the course of the missile that had been fired at it.3
This explanation must be examined in the context of the open-fire policy
pursued by the military during the hostilities over the summer: the attack on
the Kaware’ home was just the first of dozens of instances in which residential

1 He gave his testimony to Khaled al-'Azayzeh on 17 September 2014.
2 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the UN General Assembly, 29 September 2014.
3 Gili Cohen, “Israeli army says the killing of 8 Gazan family members was in error”, Haaretz, 10 July 2014.

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buildings were attacked from the air or ground, causing them to collapse on
entire families. With few exceptions – the most prominent being the attackon the Kaware’ home – Israeli officials did not provide explanations for why acertain home was attacked. Consequently, B’Tselem has no way of knowing thebasis for the attack: that the home was owned by an operative of Hamas, that an
operative of the Islamic Jihad was on site at the time of the strike, that rockets
were launched at Israel from a nearby location, or any other reason.
Be the reason as it may, these strikes would become one of the appalling
hallmarks of the fighting, with more than a quarter of Palestinian fatalities killedin such a strike. B’Tselem has no knowledge of who is responsible for formulating
the policy under which such strikes on homes were permitted, nor who orderedit. Regardless, government officials and top military officials alike backed it andordered the military to continue implementing it.
There is no question that Hamas and other Palestinian organizations havebreached provisions of international humanitarian law (hereafter: IHL). Its
operatives fired at Israeli civilians from within civilian populated areas, concealed
weapons and munitions inside homes and, as a rule, did not keep themselves
distinct from the civilian population. Yet even in this situation, Israel is still boundto uphold IHL (as it insistently claims it had done) because violations of IHL by
one party do not grant the other party permission to breach them as well.
The fighting this summer did not take place in a foreign country but in an area
for whose residents Israel still bears responsibility. Even though implementationof the Disengagement Plan from Gaza was concluded in September 2005, Israel
continues to control the crossings between the Gaza Strip and Israel – which alsoenable passage to the West Bank – as well as Gaza’s airspace and maritime space.
By virtue of this control, Israel continues to control significant aspects of the livesof the over 1.7 million Palestinians who live in the Gaza Strip. In September 2007,
after Hamas’s takeover of Gaza and in response to ongoing rocket fire at Israel,
Israel made use of this control to impose a blockade – still in effect – on Gaza.
This report focuses on the policy the military implemented of strikes on homes,
which then proceeded to collapse on their occupants. The report does not address
other aspects of the fighting, albeit they too raise grim questions. The purpose ofthis report is to endeavor to explain if and how policymakers’ claims about Israel’s
commitment to IHL provisions comport with the policy of attacking residentialbuildings. Analysis of the legal aspects of this policy is preceded by accounts ofsome of the Palestinian families who lost their loved ones.
4Figures
The fighting in Gaza began on 8 July 2014. Nearly ten days later, on 17 July 2014,
the military brought ground forces into the Gaza Strip, where they remained forabout three weeks. On 26 August 2014, about fifty days after the commencementof what came to be known as Operation Protective Edge, the fighting came toan end in a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
According to an IDF Spokesperson’s statement, “in the course of the operation
more than 5,226 terror sites were attacked”, including launchers, buildings
used as “military posts”, “command and control centers, weapon arsenals, andweapons manufacturing infrastructure” as well as government institutions that
“supported military fighting”.4
More than 2,200 Palestinians were killed in these attacks and thousands more
were injured. The Palestinian dead included hundreds of children – some of
their names appear below. The fighting wrought massive devastation in the
Gaza Strip, where the state of infrastructure and housing had already been dire.
According to assessments made by UN organizations operating in the Gaza Strip,
about 18,000 homes were destroyed or badly damaged and more than 100,000
Palestinians were left homeless.5 More than four months after the fighting ended,reconstruction work is proceeding at a very slow pace, with no end in sight.
Over the course of the fighting, Palestinians fired more than 4,000 rockets andmortar shells from the Gaza Strip, about 94% of them in a radius of up to 50
km.6 These attacks targeted mostly civilian communities inside Israel, from small
rural communities to towns and cities, killing five civilians including a four-yearold boy, Daniel Tregerman. He was killed when a mortar shell hit his home in
Kibbutz Nahal Oz in southern Israel. One of the civilians killed was a foreign
national. Sixty-seven soldiers were also killed in the course of the fighting.7

4 IDF Spokesperson release, 29 August 2014, “Target by target: the main events of Operation Protective
Edge” (Hebrew).
5 Overview of the facts and figures published by OCHA - United Nations Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs. See: http://www.ochaopt.org/content.aspx?id=1010361.
6 See monthly reports for July and August on the ISA website, www.shabak.gov.il (Hebrew).
7 For figures on civilians, see www.pmo.gov.il/TerrorInjured/Pages/default.asp (Hebrew). For figures on
soldiers, see IDF Spokesperson website: http://www.idf.il/1133-20978-he/Dover.aspx (Hebrew).

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B’Tselem collected testimonies and data regarding 70 incidents, in each of which
at least three people were killed inside their homes as a result of an attack by
the military. A total of 606 Palestinians were killed in these incidents. Nearly half(45%) were women. In 53 incidents there were between five and nine fatalities:
33 in which five or more people were killed; in 11 incidents – 10 to 14 people
were killed; and in 9 incidents – 15 or more people were killed.
B’Tselem is still investigating who among the people killed had taken part in the
hostilities, but can already estimate with a high degree of probability that morethan 70% of them did not take part in the hostilities, according to the following
breakdown:–– 93 infants and children under the age of 5, including 13 less thana year old;–– 129 children aged 5 to14;–– 42 teens aged 14 to18;–– 135 women aged 18 to 60;–– 37 men and women over the age of 60.

6Illustrative incidents
Below are the details of thirteen of the 70 incidents which B’Tselem investigated.
They reflect different aspects of the policy of attacking residential buildings. The
incidents are presented in chronological order. In most cases, officials did not
explain why a building was attacked, and so B’Tselem cannot be certain why thehome was targeted and what information the authorities had prior to the strike.
In some of the cases, everyone in the house was killed, so there is no way ofknowing whether they had been issued a warning. In one case, members of
the household said they had heard a warning missile, but had not understoodthat it was aimed at their house. In other cases, survivors said they had
been given no warning whatsoever. Here too, in the absence of an official
statement, B’Tselem is unable to determine if a warning had been issued but
not understood, or if no warning had been issued at all, be it deliberately orin error.
In the 13 incidents detailed below, 179 Palestinians were killed. Over 75% ofthem belonged to three groups ­– minors, women, and men over the age of 60,
according to the following breakdown:–– 31 infants and children under age 5;–– 39 children aged 5 to 14;–– 13 teenagers aged 14 to 18;–– 47 women aged 18 to 60;–– 9 men and women over 60.

1. Bombing of al-Haj home, Khan Yunis R.C.;
8 members of the family killed, 10 July 2014
The people killed in the incident:
The parents

Mahmoud Lutfi Mahmoud al-Haj, 51

			Basemah ‘Abd al-Qader Muhammad al-Haj, 51

Their children

Najlaa Mahmoud Lutfi al-Haj, 29			Asmaa Mahmoud Lutfi al-Haj, 227			‘Omar Mahmoud Lutfi al-Haj, 20			Tareq Mahmoud Lutfi al-Haj, 18

			Sa’ed Mahmoud Lutfi al-Haj, 16

Fatmeh Mahmoud Lutfi al-Haj, 14

On the night of 10 July 2014, shortly after 1:00 AM, an aircraft fired a missile
at the al-Haj home in Khan Yunis Refugee Camp. The building collapsed
and eight members of the family were killed – the parents, Mahmoud andBasemah al-Haj, and six of their children. Only two members of the family
survived, as they were not in the house during the attack: Yasser al-Haj,
25, and Fidaa, 27, who lives in her husband’s home. In the explosion, someneighbors were also injured and nearby homes damaged, rendering someno longer habitable.
Muhammad Shahin, 44, a neighbor of the al-Haj family, described what
happened next:8
A little after 1:00 A.M., my family was already asleep. I was lying in bed
watching the soccer World Cup semi-final between Argentina and Holland.
Things were quiet outside. I didn’t hear any airplanes in the sky. I wasenjoying the game and waiting for suhoor – the last meal before each fast
day of Ramadan.
Suddenly I heard a very loud blast. I felt my bed move and I almost flew outof it. It felt like the explosion had been in our house, or right next door. The
windows flew out of their frames. The window by my head was simply tornout of place along with its frame, and fell in the middle of the room. I thankGod it didn’t hit my daughter, who was sleeping in the room. Thick smoke
filled the house. The power didn’t get cut off so there was light, but I could
hardly see through the smoke. There was a feeling of dread throughout thehouse. I heard screaming from my neighbors’ homes.
I made sure all my kids were okay and gathered them up to leave the house. I
didn’t yet understand which house had been bombed. We went outside andso did my brothers and other relatives who live nearby. We tried to figureout which house had been bombed and realized it wasn’t any of our family’s
homes. It was the al-Haj family home, which is very close to ours.

8 He gave his testimony to Iyad Hadad on 11 July 2014, over the telephone.

8Black Flag
We reached the house that had been bombed. I know it well. There
was hardly anything left. It was totally destroyed. Bits of bodies were
scattered on the road. The house next door to the al-Hajs belonged to
the Shakshak family. It was also destroyed, but it wasn’t a direct hit andthey got out alive.

Ahmad al-‘Atamneh, 24, another neighbor of the al-Haj family, also described
the incident:9
On Thursday, after 1:00 A.M., I was out on the first-floor porch of ourhouse. The porch overlooks the house of our neighbors, the al-Hajs. My
wife and my baby boy Muhammad, who is a year old, were asleep in the
bedroom, which is adjacent to the porch. I heard drones in the area andsuddenly saw a red light everywhere. Then I heard a blast that forced me
to the ground, and I lost consciousness for a little while. When I came to, I
saw people all around me, shouting and calling for ambulances. My backwas extremely painful. I heard some neighbors saying that one of the
nearby houses had been bombed and that people had been wounded
and killed. I asked for my wife and son, and a neighbor told me they were
all right.
A few minutes later, several ambulances reached the scene and took me
to Naser Hospital, south of the town of Khan Yunis. When I asked about
my family, I was told that also my father, Muhammad Ahmad ‘Abd alQader al-‘Atmaneh, 51, had been wounded while he was sleeping by
shards in his hands and feet, and that he was also in hospital. At around8:00 A.M. we were discharged.
When I got home I was surprised by the devastation of the whole area.
The home of our neighbor Mahmoud had been completely demolished,
and civil defense personnel and medics were searching the wreckage
for a member of the family. A narrow street, about two meters wide,
is all that separates my house from the one bombed. Our house wasbadly damaged and part of it was destroyed. Other neighbors’ houses
were also damaged because the houses are close together. Mere meters
separate one house from another. It’s a miracle we survived.

9 He gave his testimony to Muhammad Sa’id on 30 August 2014.

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2. Bombing of Abu Jame’ home, Bani Suheila;
25 people killed ­– 24 members of the family
and a Hamas operative, 20 July 2014
The people killed in the incident:
The grandmother Fatmeh Mahmoud Ahmad Abu Jame’, 64
Her grandson

Husam Husam Muhammad Abu Qeins, 6

Her daughter-in-law Shahinaz Walid Muhammad Abu Jame’, 28			Her children

Fatimah Taysir Ahmad Abu Jame’, 7					Ayub Taysir Ahmad Abu Jame’, 6					Rayan Taysir Ahmad Abu Jame’, 4					Rinad Taysir Ahmad Abu Jame’, 1

					
					

Nujud Taysir Ahmad Abu Jame’,
5 months

Her daughter-in-law Yasmin Ahmad Salameh Abu Jame’, 25			Her daughters Batul Bassam Ahmad Abu Jame’, 3					Suheila Bassam Ahmad Abu Jame’, 2					Bisan Bassam Ahmad Abu Jame’, 1

Her daughter-in-law Sabah Tawfiq Mahmoud Abu Jame’, 39			Her children

Razan Tawfiq Ahmad Abu Jame’, 14					

Jawdat Tawfiq Ahmad Abu Jame’, 13					Aya Tawfiq Ahmad Abu Jame’, 10					Haifaa Tawfiq Ahmad Abu Jame’, 9					

Ahmad Tawfiq Ahmad Abu Jame’, 7					Tawfiq Tawfiq Ahmad Abu Jame’, 5

Her son		

Yasser Ahmad Muhammad Abu Jame’, 27			His wife								

Fatmeh Riad ‘Abd a-Rahman
Abu Jame’, 25Their children Sajed Yasser Ahmad Abu Jame’, 5					Siraj Yasser Ahmad Abu Jame’, 4					Siraa Yasser Ahmad Abu Jame’, 2

Ahmad Suliman Mahmoud Sahmoud, 34
10Black Flag

At around 7:30 P.M. on 20 July 2014, the Israeli air force bombed the Abu Jame’
apartment building in Bani Suheila near Khan Yunis. The three-story building
had six apartments. One apartment was occupied by Fatmeh Abu Jame’, 64, andone of her grandchildren. Fatmeh’s five sons lived in the other five apartmentswith their wives and children. A total of 37 people lived in the house.
Twenty-four members of the family perished in the bombing: The mother Fatmeh,
her son Yasser, four of her daughters-in-law, and 18 of her grandchildren. Ahmad
Sahmoud, a Hamas operative who is not a member of the family, was also killed.
Only 13 of the building’s residents survived. Four of Fatmeh Abu Jame’s sons:Taysir, Bassam, Tawfiq – and his 4-year-old son Nur a-Din – and ‘Abdallah, with hiswife Meyasar and their seven children, who were not harmed as they had gone tovisit Meyasar’s parents for the meal that breaks the fast each day of Ramadan.
Tawfiq Abu Jame’, 36, who lost his wife and six of his seven children in thebombing, told B’Tselem’s field researcher that there had been heavy artillery
fighting in their area, but that they had stayed in their home because they had
nowhere else to go. He spoke of what happened on the day of the bombing:10
Sunday, 20 July 2014, the 22nd day of the month of
Ramadan, was a tough day. Areas around us were being
constantly bombed, and the streets were empty. There
were many observation planes in the sky. We stayed
home. Only my brother ‘Abdallah and his wife andchildren went to her parents to have iftar [break-fast],
and my brother Taysir went to pray at ‘Omar Ibn al-Khatab Mosque, about
100 meters away from our house.
At about 7:30 P.M., I sat down to eat with my wife and children. I’d hardly
managed to eat a date and drink some water before the house suddenly
collapsed on us and I lost consciousness. I didn’t hear the actual explosion.
I woke up in hospital about two hours later. I was slightly injured. I asked
relatives who were in the hospital what had happened and they told me
the Israeli military had bombed our house from airplanes. When I asked
who had been killed, they only told me about my mother and one of mynephews at first. I had a feeling they were keeping the truth from me andthat many more had been killed. I kept asking, doggedly, and I questioned
every person who walked into my room.

10 He gave his testimony to Khaled al-‘Azayzeh on 16 September 2014.

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At around 4:00 A.M. I found out that my wife, who was pregnant, nearly fullterm, and six of my children had been killed. My 4-year-old son, Nur a-Din,
was rescued from the rubble with head injuries. I also found out that one of
my brothers and my brothers’ wives and all their children had been killed.
We were bombed without any warning. We didn’t receive a telephone calland a missile wasn’t fired at our house, like sometimes happened in otherhouses.
I’d worked with my brothers on building this house, building our lives, since
I was eleven, and suddenly we’d lost everything. The house and the family
were obliterated in a matter of seconds. I only have my son Nur a-Din left.
All I have left of them is a few photos of my children I took on my cell phone
at a wedding a week before Ramadan. I keep turning on my phone, looking
at the pictures, and remembering my kids and the various stages in theirlives.

The ruins of the Abu Jame’ home. Photo: Ibrahim Abu Mustafa, Reuters, 21 July 2014.

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Black Flag

3. Bombing of apartment in home of al-Qasas
family, Gaza City; nine family members killed,
21 July 2014
The people killed in the incident:
Sumayah Muhammad Nassar al-Qasas, 33
Her daughters

Israa Yasser Khader al-Qasas, 10			Yasmin Yasser Khader al-Qasas, 7

			Arwa Yasser Khader al-Qasas, 5			Samar Yasser Khader al-Qasas, 3

Her mother 					

Fayzeh Saber Ahmad Siyam, 67(came from the neighborhood of a-Zeitun)

Her sister-in-law
			‘Aliaa Khader Yusef Siyam, 33(came with her daughters from a-Zeitun)

Daughters of her sister-in-law Shadyah(had come with her daughters from a-Zeitun)			

Lamyaa Iyad Sa’ed al-Qasas, 12			Nasmah Iyad Sa’ed al-Qassa, 10

Israa, Yasmin and Arwa al-Qasas. All three
girls were killed in the bombing.
Photo courtesy of the family.

At around 4:30 P.M. on 21 July 2014,
the military attacked the roof-story
apartment of the al-Qasas family home
in Gaza City. Nine members of thefamily were killed: three women and six
children, all girls. Two of the women andtwo of the girls were in that house after
the military ordered them to leave theirown homes.

The strike, which according to testimonies collected by B’Tselem was not precededby any sort of warning, was very precise: it destroyed some of the rooms in theroof-story apartment, leaving the rest of the three-story building unscathed.
The building was home to 24 people. The parents lived on the first floor with
their daughter Huda. The remaining floors were occupied by their married sons,
Salameh, Salim and Yasser, and their families.
Over the course of the fighting, 17 other relatives, who had left their homes
in neighborhoods where the military had distributed flyers calling residents to13

evacuate, had come to stay with the family. The daughter Shadyah, who lives in
the neighborhood of a-Zeitun, came with her seven children and was staying
with her parents on the first floor. Her husband, Iyad, was staying at one of the
UNRWA schools being used as shelters. Another daughter, Asmaa, who lives
in the neighborhood of a-Shuja’iyeh, was staying with her husband and twochildren on the third floor, with her brother Salim’s family.
The roof-story was the home of the son Ahmad, his pregnant wife Sumayah, andtheir nine children. Over the course of the fighting, some of Sumayah’s relatives,
residents of a-Zeitun, had come to stay with the family – her mother, her sisterin-law and her three children.
In the afternoon, some of the women and children of the family were in theroof-story apartment, preparing the iftar meal. At that time Salim al-Qasas, 28,
was in his apartment on the third floor, with some other relatives. He described
what happened:11
Suddenly, we heard an explosion from the direction of
al-Dawud Tower, which is about 200 meters to the northof us, and also from the a-Zafer Tower, also about 200
meters away. My father, my brother Yasser and I went
outside to see what had happened. Five minutes later,
we heard another loud explosion. We looked at the
towers and buildings near us, but we didn’t see anything.
Suddenly, some stones from our house fell on top of us, and it was only thenthat we realized our house had been hit. Yasser and I quickly went up to
Yasser’s apartment, and my brother Salameh joined us on the way. We saw
fire in the apartment, and bodies lying inside it.

Nine members of the family, women and girls, were killed in the attack. The
rest of the children who were in the house suffered burns, some severe, as aresult of a fire that broke out when a gas tank in the apartment exploded. Salim
recounted what happened next:
We started taking the injured out to the street. We evacuated them incars belonging to people from the neighborhood and in ambulances that
arrived in the area. Then we started collecting the body parts of those killed.
It was very hard. When my brother Yasser saw the bodies of his family, he lost
consciousness. My sister Shadyah’s husband also lost consciousness when
he saw the bodies of his daughters Lamyaa and Nasmah.

11 He gave his testimony to Khaled al-‘Azayzeh on 16 October 2014.

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Black Flag
We took Yasser and my sister’s husband Iyad to a-Shifaa hospital. We buried
the bodies on the very same day, because things were tough at the hospitaland there wasn’t enough space at the morgue.
The military attacked our house without warning. I don’t know the reason
for this attack.

Yasser al-Qasas and three of his daughters who survived the bombing. Right to left: Warda, baby Malak,and Islam. Photo: Anne Paq, Activestills.org, 11 September 2014.

4. Bombing of an office building in a-Rimalneighborhood, Gaza City; 12 people killed– 11 members of the Dirbas and al-Kilani
families, and an operative of the Islamic
Jihad, 21 July 2014
The people killed in the incident:
The siblings		

‘Ayidah Sha’ban Muhammad Dirbas, 47			Surah Sha’ban Muhammad Dirbas, 41			Mahmoud Sha’ban Muhammad Dirbas, 37
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Inas Sha’ban Muhammad Dirbas, 30			Taghrid Sha’ban Muhammad al-Kilani, 44

			Her husband Ibrahim Dib Ahmad al-Kilani, 52			Their children Rim Ibrahim Dib al-Kilani, 11					Sawsan Ibrahim Dib al-Kilani, 10					Yasin Ibrahim Dib al-Kilani, 9					Yasser Ibrahim Dib al-Kilani, 7					Elias Ibrahim Dib al-Kilani, 3

Sha’ban Suliman a-Dahduh, 34

Taghrid and Ibrahim al-Kilani with theirchildren. Photo courtesy of the family.

On 23 July 2014, the Israel Security
Agency (hereafter: ISA) reported hitting
several top members of the Islamic Jihadorganization, including Sha’ban Khaled
Sha’ban a-Dahduh, who was described as aregiment commander in the organization’s
Gaza City Brigade.12 A-Dahduh was killedin the early evening of 21 July 2014, whenthe military bombed the four top floors in
the Majd a-Salam (Tower of Peace) eightstory office building, in Gaza City’s a-Rimalneighborhood. In addition to a-Dahduh,
eleven members of the Dirbas and al-Kilani
families were killed in the attack, five ofthem children.

Adv. ’Abd al-Karim Siyam, 38, told B’Tselem’s researcher that he and his family
had left their home in the a-Tufah neighborhood of Gaza because of the shelling,
and took shelter in his office, on the second floor of the office building that wasbombed. Siyam said that on 21 July 2014, after the meal marking the breakingof the Ramadan fast for the day, he was praying at the entrance to the building
with his father and a cousin. He described what happened next:13

12 See http://www.mako.co.il/news-military/security-tzuk-eitan/Article-2acd8a1f0446741004.htm (Hebrew).
13 He gave his testimony to Muhammad Sabah on 19 August 2014.

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Black Flag
We prayed, and then we sat for a while, and suddenly we heard the crash of
wreckage and windows shattering. I also heard children screaming, and only
then, I realized that the tower was being bombed. I opened the door to thebuilding and started calling for people to come out. Then I saw my wife, mybrothers, my mother and the children coming down from the office to thelower part of the tower. They were in shock, scared, and they were crying andshouting with fear. The fourth and fifth floors of the building had collapsed.
People from the Civil Defense then came to evacuate the injured and takeaway the bodies. We went to the houses nearby. We made sure all thechildren and family members were okay, and then a cousin on my mother’sside came and took us to their house in a-Naser neighborhood in Gaza City.

One of the offices on the fifth floor of the building was the refuge of members of the
Dirbas and al-Kilani families. All told, they were 11 people, who had fled their homes
in Beit Lahiya: five brothers and sisters from the al-Kilani family, as well as Ibrahim
Dirbas, the husband of Taghrid al-Kilani (one of the sisters), and their five children
aged 3 to 11. Before they moved to the office building, they had fled to their brotherAhmad’s house in a-Tufah neighborhood, Gaza City, but they had to flee from there
too, because of persistent shelling and shooting. They were all killed in the attack.

The office building where members of the Kilani and Dirbas families were killed.
Photo by Muhammad Sabah, B’Tselem 21 July 2014.

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5. Bombing of vacant building in Jabalya R.C.;
it collapsed on home of Abu ‘Aytah family,
killing five members, 24 July 2014
The people killed in the incident:
The parents

Ibrahim ‘Abdallah Ibrahim Abu ‘Aytah, 66			Jamileh Salim ‘Eid Abu ‘Aytah, 55

Their children

Muhammad Ibrahim ‘Abdallah Abu ‘Aytah, 32			

Ahmad Ibrahim ‘Abdallah Abu ‘Aytah, 31			Ahmad’s son Adham Ahmad Ibrahim Abu ‘Aytah, 4

Left: Adham Abu ‘Aytah. Right: Ibrahim and Jamileh Abu 'Aytah. Photos courtesy of the family.

At around 1:30 A.M. on 24 July 2014, the air force attacked a house in Jabalya
Refugee Camp in the northern Gaza Strip. One of the sons of the man who
owned the targeted building is a member of Hamas’ military branch. This may
have been the reason for the attack. Testimonies collected by B’Tselem indicatethat the military fired a warning missile, but local residents could not tell whichhome it was fired at and who was meant to leave.
The house, which was vacant, was completely destroyed and dozens of othernearby homes were damaged. One of them was the Abu ‘Aytah home. Fivemembers of the family were killed, including a four-year-old, and 12 were
injured.
The Abu ‘Aytah family lived in a three-story building. Ibrahim and Jamileh Abu‘Aytah lived on the first floor with four of their children. Their three married sons
lived with their families on the ground and second floors. A total of 20 people
lived in the house.
Mahmoud Abu ‘Aytah, 30, who lived on the ground floor, told B’Tselem’s
researcher that the family had been living in that house for 15 years. He said18

Black Flag

the area where the house was located had been relatively quiet and that thefamily had managed to lead an almost normal life during the fighting, including
shopping at the market. He said they had even invited a relative who lives
near Gaza’s eastern border, in an area that was exposed to artillery fire, to takerefuge in their house. Mahmoud described what happened before the house
was hit:14
We were all at my parents’ place on the first floor. We were sitting and talking
with them, and we were happy. At about 11:30 P.M., my wife, my sisters Alaa
and Manal, and I went down to my apartment on the ground floor. I watched
the news and I was happy when they said there might be a cease-fire in thenext few days.
At around 1:30 A.M., we heard a very loud, very close explosion. My brotherAhmad, his wife and his children came down to my apartment because theground floor is safer. Then my parents, my brother Isma’il and my brotherMuhammad and his family came downstairs too. We sat on mattresses
and on the couches, and the children were playing by our side. Then weheard the sound of one missile, which sounded like a warning missile
shot from a drone. We wanted to go outside to see which house had been
warned, but my father refused and wouldn’t let us go. So we sat backdown.
Less than two minutes later, I suddenly couldn’t feel anything. I woke up thenext day and saw I was in the hospital. I was in pain. The doctors told me ahouse close to ours had been bombed and that I and the rest of my family
were injured to various degrees. I saw my brother Isma’il, and he told me mywife was in the ICU.
I was released from the hospital a few hours later. I went back to my fatherin-law’s house in the Tel a-Za’tar area in Jabaliya R.C. It was only a few hours
after that I was told that some of my family had been killed. I was in shock
when I heard that, and I collapsed. The moments when I heard that membersof my family had been killed were extremely difficult.

The hit to the home, which was partially destroyed, killed Mahmoud Abu ‘Aytah’s
parents, two of his married brothers, and one of their sons.

14 He gave his testimony to Muhammad Sabah on 9 November 2014.

19

6. Bombing of al-Far home, al-Maghazi R.C.;
9 family members killed, 28 July 2014
The people killed in the incident:
The parents

Salem Muhammad Badawi al-Far, 58

			Zinat Hassan Ahmad al-Far, 58

Their daughters

Amal Salem Muhammad al-Far, 35

			Jihan Salem Muhammad al-Far, 28			Nivin Salem Muhammad al-Far, 18			Hanan Salem Muhammad al-Far, 15Their daughter-in-law Riham Hussein Ahmad al-Far, 26
			Her brotherRamzi Hussein Ahmad al-Far, 23

			Her mother

Fatmeh Hassan Ahmad al-Far, 55

At approximately 11:00 P.M. on 28 July 2014, the two-story house of the alFar family in al-Maghazi Refugee Camp, central Gaza Strip, was bombed. Nine
members of the family were killed.
The first floor was home to parents Salem and Zinat al-Far, six of their children,and two grandchildren. The second floor was home to their son Ahmad and hiswife Riham. The couple had gotten married in February 2014. Riham’s mother
Fatmeh and her brother Ramzi were living with them, having come from Jordan
to attend the wedding and been unable to return as Rafah Crossing had since
been closed. In total, 14 persons were living in the house.
That night, the entire family, except the son Ahmad, were on the first floor,
which was considered safer. One of them, Mahmoud al-Far, 23, told B’Tselem’sfield researcher:15
It was a rough night with prolonged bombing of various
parts of the refugee camp. It was terrifying and the power
was out. Suddenly, we heard a huge explosion with no priorwarning. It was so strong that I couldn’t hear a thing anddidn’t understand exactly what was going on. I woke up
five days later to find myself in hospital. I had a head injury,
fractures in my left hand and shrapnel lodged in my body.

15 He gave his testimony to Khaled al-‘Azayzeh on 28 August 2014.

20

Black Flag

Iman al-Far, 33, survived the attack. She, too, told B’Tselem that the family had
gathered on the first floor, adding:16
We sat around after dinner talking about the war, about being afraid, andabout things that had happened. Suddenly there was a huge explosion
and I felt the living room split in half. I couldn’t see anything after that– not my sister Hanan, who had been right next to me, and not anyoneelse. I heard my brother Mahmoud’s voice. He was calling out to mybrother Ahmad and to Ramzi, calling for help. After that, I crawled undera pillar that was on a slant, so I was protected from the debris. I put one
hand out before me, because I couldn’t see anything with all the dust,in the dark. I started feeling my way through the rubble until I reachedthe house of our neighbor, Yusef Musa. His house is across from ours, on
the other side of a road that’s about five meters wide. I reached themand they sat me down. I was wounded and one of their family members
started giving me first aid. I washed the dirt and dust and blood off my
face.
They called an ambulance, which took me to Shuhadaa al-Aqsa Hospitalin Deir al-Balah. I didn’t know what had happened to the rest of myfamily. I was examined in hospital. I had shrapnel in my legs and was verybruised.

Iman told B’Tselem that she learned only later that other family members had
been killed:
I was physically and mentally injured. Because of the shrapnel in mylegs, I couldn’t walk for three weeks. Since then, my physical condition
has improved, but I’m still in shock and cry every time I remember
my family.
I miss everyone in my family but more than anything, I miss my sisters
Hanan and Nivin. We used to share a bedroom. We had a very strong
bond and I was closest to them. Nivin hoped to go to university to study
religious law. Hanan was going into the 10th grade and she was the spoilt
one of the household. She told me she wanted to switch from nightschool to day school so she could study under my sister Sabreen, who
is a teacher.

16 She gave her testimony to Khaled al-‘Azayzeh on 31 August 2014.

21

7. Bombing of three houses belonging to the Abu
Jaber family in al-Bureij R.C.; 19 people killed,
17 of them of Abu Jaber family, 29 July 2014
The people killed in the incident:
The parents

Hamdan Muhammad Suliman Abu Jaber, 77			Faddah Ghanam Hassan Abu Jaber, 60

Their children

Ahmad Hamdan Muhammad Abu Jaber, 36

			
His wife					

Sumayah ‘Abd a-Rahman Muhammad
Abu Jaber, 32			Their daughter Hala Ahmad Hamdan Abu Jaber, 4			Jaber Hamdan Muhammad Abu Jaber, 26

			
			

Dina Hamdan Muhammad Abu Jaber, 25 (came withher children from al-Maghazi R.C.)			
Her son					

Muhammad Raed Muhammad
Abu Jaber, 3			Her daughter Sama Raed Muhammad Abu Jaber, 1

			
			

‘Aishah Hamdan Muhammad a-Sa’ud (Abu Jaber), 23(came from al-Bureij R.C.)			

Fadel Hamdan Muhammad Abu Jaber, 19

			
			

Their granddaughter Tuqa Salah Khalil Abu ‘Issa,
5 months old (came with her mother from a-Shati R.C.)

People killed in the house next door:
Anwar Muhammad Salem Abu Jaber, 35
His wife		

Lina Kifah Mahmoud Abu Jaber, 22

Their daughters

Leen Anwar Muhammad Abu Jaber, 3

			Salma Anwar Muhammad Abu Jaber, 1

His sister 		Anwaar Muhammad Salem Abu Jaber, 25

Ayman Salah Sa’id Abu ‘On, 25
Ahmad ‘Omar Sa’id ‘Abd al-’Aal, 23
On 29 July 2014, approximately half an hour after midnight, the air force
bombed three houses in al-Bureij Refugee Camp, all of which belonged to the
Abu Jaber family. One house was vacant, as its occupants had gone to one of
the temporary shelters established in the Gaza Strip.
22

Black Flag

The bombing killed 17 members of the Abu Jaber family and two other people
who had met that evening with a member of the Abu Jaber family.
‘Omar ‘Abd al-’Al, 55, a neighbor whose son Ahmad ‘Abd al-’Al was killed in theattack, described what happened:17
On Tuesday evening, 29 July 2014, I was at home with mychildren. It was ‘Id al-Fitr holiday. During the war, there
were air raids and artillery shelling in many parts of alBureij Refugee Camp. That day, the bombing was mostly
in the northern part of the camp.
At about 11 P.M., Ahmad went out and I stayed home with the rest of thefamily. At 00:30 A.M., I heard an explosion that was so loud, I thought
the bombing was aimed at my house. I went outside with my family. Ourneighbors came out, too. We discovered that Hamdan Abu Jaber’s house,
which used to stand no more than 100 meters east of our house, didn’t exist
any more. It was completely destroyed.

One of the houses bombed had been home to Hamdan and Fada Abu Jaber, who
lived there with three of their sons, two of whom were married with children.
One son had a one-year-old baby boy, and the other had three children ranging
in age from a year and a half to four years old. During the fighting, Hamdan andFada’s three married daughters were also staying with them, having fled theirhomes in other parts of the Gaza Strip considered more dangerous. Two of thethree daughters had brought along their children.
The second house hit was home to Haniya Abu Jaber, a 65-year-old widow, herdaughter, her son, his wife, and their two daughters – who were 1 and 3 years
old. Haniya alone survived the bombing. She described what happened thatnight to B’Tselem’s field researcher:18
That night, there was a lot of bombing in different partsof al-Bureij Refugee Camp. At sunset, my son Anwar wentout and bought us dinner, and we all ate it together – me,
my daughter Anwaar, my son Anwar, his wife Lina, andtheir two baby girls, Lin and Salma. It was the ‘Id al-Fitr
holiday and we were celebrating it together. Then Anwar
and Lina went up to their apartment and the girls stayed downstairs with
Anwaar and me.

17 He gave his testimony to Khaled al-‘Azayzeh on 1 September 2014.
18 She gave her testimony to Khaled al-‘Azayzeh on 1 September 2014.

23

About half an hour after midnight, the power went out and then, suddenly, thewhole house collapsed on top of us. I heard no explosion. I lost consciousness.
I woke up the next day in Shuhadaa al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah. My left
leg was badly injured and I had a big wound on my head. When I woke up, I
started shouting and asking about my children. My nephew ‘Adnan was with
me. After I pressed him, he told me they had all been killed: my daughter, myson, his wife, and their little girls. The next day, my niece visited me and told
me about all the other members of the family who had been killed.
I was in hospital for three days. I was a wreck, physically and mentally. I lostmy entire family and my home. I’m now living next to its ruins, in my brother
Mahmoud’s house.
They bombed our homes without any warning. They didn’t phone us the way
they did with other people. They didn’t fire a warning missile or inform theneighbors. My son Anwar was my provider. Now I’m alone, an old, wounded
woman. I lost everything. I don’t know how I’ll carry on living.

Survivors Jana (2) and Yamen (3) who lost their parents Ahmad and Sumaya Abu Jaber, and their sister
Hala in the attack. Photo: Anne Paq, Activestills.org, 10 Sept. 2014.

Nihad Abu Jaber, 45, a relative who lived next door to the bombed houses, also
told B’Tselem how events unfolded that night:19
On Tuesday, 29 July 2014, I went to sleep. Suddenly, I heard a very loud
explosion. I woke up in a fright. The house was full of dust and smoke, and

19 He gave his testimony to Khaled al-‘Azayzeh on 1 September 2014.

24

Black Flag
the power was out. I started fumbling around in the dark. I managed to get
out of the room and found rubble. I understood the explosion had occurred
inside our house. I went into the room my mother and sister shared. Usinga flashlight, I found them both under the wreckage. I also found Yamen, my
cousin’s baby boy. The blast had thrown him from their house into ours, adistance of about two meters. Some neighbors came and helped me get thethree of them out from under the debris. My mother and sister were lightly
injured. Yamen sustained burns, head injuries and fractures in his left arm
and leg.
I looked around and saw that my uncle Hamdan’s house had been reduced
to rubble. The same thing happened to the house of my uncle Husni’s
widow. There was a big hole where the house had stood. My aunt Haniya’s
house was also in ruins, and parts of it were scattered on houses nearby.
The neighbors and I started looking for more survivors. We searched with
our hands, using cellphones as flashlights. We managed to get several
members of the family out, and then we started pulling out the deadbodies […].
We were bombed with no advance warning, with no prior phone call andno warning missile.

8. Bombing of a-Dali building, Khan Yunis; 34
people killed, 29 July 2014
The people killed in the incident:
The a-Najar family
Jamil Ahmad Hamed a-Najar, 47
His children		

Wael Jamil Ahmad a-Najar, 25		Wael’s daughter Layali Wael Jamil a-Najar, 3			Walaa Jamil Ahmad a-Najar, 22			Aya Jamil Ahmad a-Najar, 19			Du’aa Jamil Ahmad a-Najar, 17			Muhammad Jamil Ahmad a-Najar, 12

The M’amer family
Ahmad Marzuq Nadi M’amer, 32
His children

Yazan Ahmad Marzuq M’amer, 3			Hala Ahmad Marzuq M’amer, 2

His sister 		Hend Marzuq Nadi M’amer, 30

25

The Breikah family
Subhiya Muanis Mahmoud Breikah, 58
Her sonAhmad Faiz Ahmad Breikah, 31

		

His wife 		

Basemah Salem Salim Breikah, 35		Their daughters

Jana Ahmad Faiz Breikah, 2					Lama Ahmad Faiz Breikah, 1		Ousamah Faiz Ahmad Breikah, 16

The family of Ahmad Suliman Ahmad Abu ‘Amer
Ahmad Suliman Ahmad Abu ‘Amer, 40
His wife 		

Muna Hajjaj Ibrahim Abu ‘Amer, 40

Their children

Muhammad Ahmad Suliman Abu ‘Amer, 11			Marah Ahmad Suliman Abu ‘Amer, 10			Yasser Ahmad Suliman Abu ‘Amer, 8			Marwah Ahmad Suliman Abu ‘Amer, 5			Suliman Ahmad Suliman Abu ‘Amer, 3

The family of Wadah Hassan Ahmad Abu ‘Amer
Wadah Hassan Ahmad Abu ‘Amer, 39
His wife		

‘Orubah Suliman Ahmad Abu ‘Amer, 41

Their children‘Omar Wadah Hassan Abu ‘Amer, 12			‘Abd al-Ghani Wadah Hassan Abu ‘Amer, 10

			‘Imad Wadah Hassan Abu ‘Amer, 9			‘Issa Wadah Hassan Abu ‘Amer, 7			‘Iz a-Din Wadah Hassan Abu ‘Amer, 5

His brothers

Ahmad Hassan Ahmad Abu ‘Amer, 35			Muhammad Hassan Ahmad Abu ‘Amer, 19

Person killed next door
Aya Sami Anwar a-Ramlawi, 9

On 29 July 2014, at about 8:00 A.M., the air force bombed the three-story a-Dalibuilding in Khan Yunis. There was a kindergarten on the ground floor, and thesecond and third floors held a total of four apartments, three of which wererented out. Ordinarily, 21 people lived in the building. They were joined by26

Black Flag

another 23 people, all members of the Abu ‘Amer family from ‘Abasan al-Kbireh,
who had been sheltering in the kindergarten since the fighting began.
The bombing reduced the building to rubble and damaged houses nearby.
Thirty-three people were killed in the a-Dali building, 18 of them minors. A little
girl was killed in a neighboring house.
Hanaa a-Najar, 46, lived in a rented apartment in the a-Dali building with her
husband, her eight children, and her only granddaughter. She told B’Tselem’sfield researcher about the morning she lost most of her family:20
Tuesday, 29 July 2014, was the second
day of the ‘Id al-Fitr holiday. We all went
to sleep in the living room, because we
felt it was the safest part of the house.
When I woke up, I was buried under
wreckage and sand. Only my head wassticking out. My legs and back hurt
Hanaa a-Najar and her daughtersbadly and I could barely breathe. There
Alaa and Nur. Photo: Anne Paq,
were several young men around me
Activestills.org, 15 Nov. 2014.
trying to get me out from under theruins. They dug around me and removed debris that was on top of me. I
tried to look around and find my children, but I couldn’t see any of them.
I told the young men: “Leave me, go and find my children”, but they kept
digging around me.
A few minutes later, I saw a man carrying my daughter Nur. He put her down
next to me. Her face and hair were covered in dust and she was screaming
and crying. I saw another group of men trying to get my daughter Alaaout. She was buried under debris. I heard them say that she was breathing
and still alive. At that point, people were still digging around me, trying to
get me out. I think I lost consciousness after that, because the next thing I
remember is waking up in a hospital bed.

After she came to, relatives told Hanaa that her husband, five of her children,and her granddaughter had all been killed. She told B’Tselem:
That morning, at around 10:00 A.M., I was taken to my brother Muhammad‘Atiya a-Dali’s house. I screamed and cried the whole way. I asked to see mychildren one last time, but they wouldn’t let me because of the condition
the bodies were in. Now, two months after the bombing, I’m still living
in my brother’s house with my three children who survived. I still can’t

20 She gave her testimony to Muhammad Sa’id on 29 September 2014.

27

believe this really happened to us. I feel like I’m in a nightmare and trying
to wake up.
My daughter Alaa, 20, can’t move her hands. She can’t eat by herself and has
to be fed. My son Karim, 10, is in a bad mental state. He’s constantly afraid,
especially in the dark, and he’s cross and full of anger.

The ruins of the a-Dali Building. Photo: Anne Paq, Activestills.org, 15 Nov. 2014.

Hamza a-Rimlawi, 54, a father of four, lives with his family in an adjacent building.
He told B’Tselem:21
On Tuesday morning, 29 July 2014, it was relatively quiet. I could hear only
distant sounds of bombing. Some of my children were still asleep, and somewere already up. A bit before 8:00 A.M., I heard a loud explosion. I felt ourasbestos roof fly up in the air and fall back down. Stones fell on us. A few
moments later, I heard another explosion and the ceiling collapsed. Big
blocks of debris and stones fell on us. I heard my wife and children screaming
but I couldn’t see anything. Everything was full of dust.

21 He gave his testimony to Muhammad Sa’id on 22 September 2014.

28

Black Flag
It took about three minutes for the dust and smoke to begin to clear a bit. I
saw my son Muhammad, 25, lying on the floor with blood trickling from hishead. I also saw my sons Rami, 16, and Ahmad, 22, covered in blood and dust.
My wife Butheina and my daughter Maha, 18, were screaming. The western
walls of the house had collapsed. I didn’t know what to do. A few moments
later, neighbors came to help us. They carried us out into the street so they
could take us to hospital.
In the street, I saw a lot of people running over to my neighbor Iyad a-Dali’s
house. That’s when I understood that the attack had been aimed at his
house. It was a three-story building where families rented apartments. They
were also sheltering relatives who had escaped from the eastern parts ofKhan Yunis.
His building was a pile of rubble. While we were waiting for the ambulance, I
realized I had a head wound and saw blood on my clothes. I walked arounda bit and saw the bodies of three women lying in the street that runs parallelto the bombed building. One of them was covered with a piece of cloth. I
also saw the massive damage caused to other houses nearby, and neighbors
carrying wounded people out of my brother’s house.

9. Bombing of Balatah family home, Jabalya R.C.;
11 family members killed, 29 July 2014
The people killed in the incident:
Daughter of homeowner ‘Abd al-Karim Hadil ‘Abd al-Karim Nazmi
					
Balatah, 17
His daughter-in-law Wafa Na’im ‘Azmi Balatah, 21			Her son					‘Abd al-Karim Nazmi ‘Abd
al-Karim Balatah, 1

His brother, who came with his family to shelter at ‘Abd al-Karim’s home
Na’im Nazmi Muhammad Balatah, 45
His wife 		

Sahar Mutawe’ Muhammad Balatah, 39

Their children

Maryam Na’im Nazmi Balatah, 24			Du’aa Na’im Nazmi Balatah, 22			Hanaa Na’im Nazmi Balatah, 19			Alaa Na’im Nazmi Balatah, 14			Israa Na’im Nazmi Balatah, 13			Yihya Na’im Nazmi Balatah, 829

On 29 July 2014, at approximately 3:00 P.M., the military attacked the home of
the Balatah family in the heart of Jabalya Refugee Camp, in the northern Gaza
Strip. Eleven members of the family were killed.
Eight people lived in the three-room house: the parents – ‘Abd al-Karim andHuda – their four children, and the wife and 13-month-old baby boy of one of
their sons. As the house was made of concrete and considered relatively safe,
another nine people – the family of Na’im, ‘Abd al-Karim’s brother – had been
sheltering there since the fighting began.
At the time of the bombing, some family members were watching television in
the living room, and others were asleep or out of the house. One of Na’im’s sons,‘Alaa Balatah, 18, described what happened:22
On Tuesday, we had lunch and sat down to watch
TV. Then my father had coffee and went to sleep. We
stayed in the living room and my uncle went to sleep.
I stood on the staircase and asked my mother to getme some clothes, because I wanted to go over to ourhouse and take a shower. My mother went in to get myclothes and then I heard a loud explosion a few dozen
meters away from the house. I went up to the roof withmy cousin Nazmi and my uncle’s wife. We saw the smoke and came backdown, and then we heard an explosion in the house and the sound ofthings collapsing.

Nazmi Balatah, 24, one of ‘Abd al-Karim’s sons, described what happened next:23
We heard another bombing and right then, debris fell on us. My father
grabbed Muhammad and held him tight to protect him from the fallen
wreckage. I was with my mother by the door. Then I saw my cousin Yihya,
8, and his mother lying on the floor at the entrance to the house. My father
picked up Yihya. His head was bleeding. My mother was sobbing. My father
told me there was smoke coming from my room. I went there to rescue
my baby son, ‘Abd al-Karim, who is 13 months old. I couldn’t see anything
through the smoke and dust, but I could hear him crying. I went to mysister Hadeel’s room, which was also full of dust and smoke, and found‘Abd al-Karim there. I picked him up and went out through the window.
Some of his fingers were missing and his leg was badly injured. I didn’t see
anyone else from my family in the room.

22 He gave his testimony to Muhammad Sabah on 17 August 2014.
23 He gave his testimony to Muhammad Sabah on 16 August 2014.

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Black Flag

Nazmi took his son to hospital where, an hour later, the infant was pronounced
dead. Nazmi was subsequently informed that his wife and sister had been
killed, as were his uncle’s entire family except for one son, 18-year-old ‘Alaa. The
funerals were held the next day. Nazmi described it:
I held my son’s body and wouldn’t hand him over to my relatives for burial. In
the end, everyone went to the cemetery and I stayed put. I couldn’t go withthem, I was in shock. I didn’t move and couldn’t stop crying. I stayed like thatfor a few hours. Then I went to my uncle Jamil’s house, where the rest of thefamily was. I sat with my mother and cried and said, “‘Abd al-Karim is dead”.
I couldn’t stop crying. She tried to comfort me but it didn’t help. The pain
was so intense.

‘Alaa Balatah, 18, who lost his entire family and currently lives with his uncle,
said:
I still can’t believe my entire family was killed. I’m alone now and feel verysad. I can’t describe what I’m going through. I can’t concentrate, I’m anxious
and tense. It’s very hard to say goodbye.

10. Artillery shelling strikes homes in Jabalya;
18 people killed, 29 July 2014
The people killed in the incident:
Barakeh Ibrahim Hassan ‘Abd Rabo, 50
Her sons		‘Alaa Jamal ‘Ali ‘Abd Rabo, 29			His daughter Rahaf ‘Alaa Jamal ‘Abd Rabo, 3			Muhammad Jamal ‘Ali ‘Abd Rabo, 24			

His son			‘Abdallah Jamal ‘Ali ‘Abd Rabo, 23			Ibrahim Jamal ‘Ali ‘Abd Rabo, 20

Jamal Muhammad Jamal ‘Abd Rabo, 1

Halimah Mahmoud Muhammad al-Batsh, 77
Aya Isma’il Muhammad al-Batsh, 11
Muhammad Khader ‘Atiyyah Msallam, 26
Nihad Khalil Sa’id Suliman, 38
Her son 		

Baraa Muhammad Husseini Suliman, 6

Her daughter

Halimah Muhammad Husseini Suliman, 131

Majedah Jamal Hassan Hamuda, 50
Kaenat ‘Adel Ahmad Hamuda, 39
Hanin Husam a-Din Khalil Hamuda, 13
Ibrahim ‘Adli Hassan ‘Asaliyah, 20‘Izat Khamis Yusef Jneid, 17

On 29 July 2014, at approximately 10:15 P.M., the military heavily shelled thearea of al-‘Omari Mosque, which lies in the center of Jabalya Refugee Camp in
the northern Gaza Strip. Eighteen people were killed in the shelling, some intheir home, others as they tried to flee. The shelling last roughly ten minutes.
The area was considered relatively calm during the fighting. Some of those killedwere sheltering there with relatives, having fled homes located in areas of Gaza
considered more dangerous.
Wasfi Hamuda, 47, lost six of his relatives in the shelling, all of whom weresheltering in his home. He described what happened:24
Throughout the entire war, our area was relatively peaceful. The Israeli
military demanded that residents of other areas evacuate their homes
and move to Jabalya. We could even go to the mosque to pray and do our
shopping in the neighborhood.
On Tuesday, 29 July 2014, at around 10:20 P.M., I was at home when I heard
a series of explosions that made the whole area shake. The heavy bombing
lasted several minutes. The more time passed, the closer I felt it was getting
to my house. Everyone who was in the house crouched on the floor and wewere all very afraid. Then I saw I bright light through the window that faces
east, immediately followed by a huge blast. We felt stones and fragments
fly into the house and I heard windows shattering. We felt things weredangerous and decided to go down to the ground floor, especially when wesaw the shelling didn’t stop. Every minute we heard about six explosions,
one after the other.
We all ran to the stairs leading down to the ground floor, bumping into eachother. We were frightened and confused and the children were screaming
and crying. We got downstairs and sat there for almost ten minutes of very
heavy shelling. Then we heard a massive blast and stones fell down on us.

24 He gave his testimony to Muhammad Sa’id on 4 November 2014.

32

Black Flag
Some hit people. Part of the ground floor’s western wall collapsed in the
explosion. Staying inside was getting more and more dangerous, and weheard neighbors running down the street, fleeing. At that point, we decided
to do the same and go outside, for fear that the house would collapse on
top of us.
My brother ‘Abd al-Hakim opened the door and went outside, followedby five members of my family. I was standing by the door, about to go out
after them, when I head four loud explosions on the street, all close to thehouse. Stones and fragments flew onto us, inside the house. Then there wasanother explosion, very close by, and I was flung on my back onto the floor.

Nasra ‘Asaliyah, 36, was also sheltering relatives who had fled from other areasin the Gaza Strip. The shelling killed eight of the people in her house, seven ofthem members of the ‘Abd Rabo family. She described what happened:25
At around 10:15 P.M., I was preparing dinner and setting the table. I went to
the kitchen to get more plates when suddenly, stones started flying around
me. I heard the noise of walls around me collapsing and glass and windows
shattering. The kitchen filled with dust and I felt something warm on mylegs. I looked around and saw my children and other members of my family
running to the stairs that lead down to the ground floor. They were hysterical,
colliding into each other. I didn’t realize I was wounded and tried to walkover to flee with them, but then I felt pain in my legs. I looked down and saw
blood. I tried to take a few more steps, and at the same time heard more andmore explosions and the sound of things shattering in the house. Stones andgravel were flying every which way and the house filled with dust.
My husband came over and helped me down the stairs. He was terrified
and confused. We felt stones and hot objects falling on us. It was very dark
and I stumbled and fell a few times until we reached the door that leads out
into the yard. My children and other relatives were taking cover there, under
the staircase. I stood there, by the door, for a few moments. I heard several
explosions a minute, one right after the other, some of them really close tous. The children were screaming and crying. We wanted to leave the house
but were afraid that once outside we’d be fired on. My husband wanted togo out into the street, but I asked him to wait until the shelling stopped.
After several minutes in which the firing went on and on, some of thepeople decided to go outside: my aunt Barakeh ‘Abd Rabo and her sons‘Alaa, Muhammad, and Ibrahim. ‘Alaa was carrying his daughter Rahaf, andMuhammad was holding his son Jamal. They started crossing the yard to

25 She gave her testimony to Muhammad Sa’id on 4 November 2014.

33

One of the houses damaged in the shelling. Photo: Muhammad Sa'id, B'Tselem, 4 Nov. 2014.

reach the street, but when they were just a few meters away from us, there
was a huge blast in the yard and they were all killed. I saw a bright flash that
lit up the whole area for a split second and felt a blast of hot air push meforcefully. Stones and sand were flying around us. A few moments later, I
found myself lying on the floor. I was in great pain. I couldn’t hear or see mychildren or my relatives moving around me.
I started calling out to my husband and children, but at first no one
answered. Then I heard my cousin, Alaa Jamal ‘Abd Rabo, sobbing andsaying “Auntie, they’re all dead.” The smell of blood was everywhere. I
touched the floor and it was full of blood. A few seconds later, I touched
the body of one them, lying next to me. I felt the body was moving, theperson was breathing, but they didn’t answer when I called out and I didn’tknow who it was. Then my husband’s phone rang; it had fallen on the floor
next to me. I picked it up and answered. I didn’t know who was on theother end of line. I said everyone around me had been killed and beggedthat he send help.

About an hour later, an ambulance arrived and the wounded were taken to
hospital. Nasra ‘Asaliyah described what happened next:
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Black Flag
All that time, until the ambulance arrived, I thought all my children were deadbecause I couldn’t hear them and hadn’t seen any of them except Ahmad. I
didn’t know where my husband was, either. An ambulance came after about
an hour and took me to al-‘Awda Hospital. All the way, I kept saying, “I wish
I’d been killed with them.” The paramedics tried to calm me down. I was so
worried about my children that I didn’t feel any pain, I just kept thinking
what I would do if my husband and children were dead. What sort of life
would I have? When I got to hospital, the doctors tried to convince me thatmy children were all right but I didn’t believe them and refused even firstaid. I wouldn’t let any of them touch me until I saw my family. The doctors
kept trying to pacify me and time went by.
Later, my son Ahmad came and told me that my husband had been taken
to hospital with several wounds. He comforted me and said that the rest of
my children were okay and had only been injured. I was transferred to their
hospital room and saw all my sons, who were wounded, except 15-year-old
Mahmoud. I was afraid he’d been killed in the shelling or that the ambulance
had missed him when they took us, but after an hour of searching all thewards and various hospitals, we learned that Mahmoud had been taken to
Kamal ‘Udwan Hospital and that he was okay.

11. Bombing of al-Bayumi family home ina-Nuseirat R.C. kills 13 people, 31 July 2014
The people killed in the incident:
The daughters of ‘Amer and Intesar al-Bayumi
			‘Abir ‘Amer ‘Abd al-Hamid al-Bayumi, 18			Asil ‘Amer ‘Abd al-Hamid al-Bayumi, 15

			Hadil ‘Amer ‘Abd al-Hamid al-Bayumi, 13‘Amer al-Bayumi’s nephew Al-Hassan Muhammad ‘Abd al-Hamid				
al-Bayumi, 13
Intesar al-Bayumi’s relatives who had come from al-Bureij R.C.
Her mother		

Zeinab Yusef ‘Issa Zaqut, 77

Her brother’s son

Hassan Naser Hussein Zaqut, 21

The wife of her sister’s son Ni’mah Darwish Hussein Abu Shuqah, 44			Her daughters Labibah Ibrahim Shaker Abu Shuqah, 23

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Labibah’s daughter Malak Shaker Muhammad
Abu Shuqah, 1			Ilham Ibrahim Shaker Abu Shuqah, 18

Killed in a nearby house‘Abir Nahed Muhammad al-’Assar, 23
Her daughter

Rinad Ashraf Muhammad al-‘Assar, 2

Her niece		

Lama Raafat Muhammad al-‘Assar, 6

On 31 July 2014, at approximately 8:30 P.M., the military attacked the home of
the al-Bayumi family in a-Nuseirat Refugee Camp in the central Gaza Strip. Someof the debris fell on the house of neighbors, the al-’Assar family. The bombing
killed 13 people.
The al-Bayumi family home is in the center of a-Nuseirat camp. ‘Amer and Intesar
al-Bayumi lived on the second floor of the house with their seven children. Dueto the fighting and bombardments throughout Gaza, relatives of Intesar’s fromal-Bureij R.C. came to shelter with them: Intesar’s mother, Zeinab Zaqut; theeight-person family of her brother, Nasser Zaqut; and the eleven-member familyof her nephew, Ibrahim Abu Shuqah. The other apartments in the house werehome to the extended al-Bayumi family. On the first floor lived ‘Amer’s parents,
one of his brothers, and the brother’s family. On the third floor lived two otherbrothers with their families. In total, 43 people lived in the house.
Ibrahim Abu Shuqah, 52, Intesar’s nephew, told B’Tselem’s field researcher how
he, his wife, their seven children and two grandchildren came to be in the alBayumi house: 26
About a week after the war began, I had no choice but toleave my house with my family. At first, we went to my wife’s
brother in the village of a-Zuaidah. Two hours after we got
there, there was a bombing. We were frightened and left his
home. From there, we went to the storerooms of Al-Majd
Co., cardboard manufacturers, opposite al-Bureij camp. My
brother Muhammad, 62, his wife and their seven children were with us. There
were mattresses, water, gas and electricity there. Things were good.

26 He gave his testimony to Khaled al-‘Azayzeh on 28 August 2014.

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Black Flag
More than a week later, the shellings increased and the storeroom was hit byshrapnel, so we decided to leave again. We went to ‘Amer al-Bayumi’s housein a-Nuseirat camp. He’s my aunt’s husband. When my brother saw there
wasn’t enough room in the house for everyone, he took his wife and children
and went to stay with relatives of ours in a-Zahraa, north of a-Nuseirat camp.
I stayed with my family in the al-Bayumi home.
About a week later, during which time there were air raids on various partsof the camp, my uncle ‘Abd a-Rahman Zaqut called me. He said he wassheltering in an UNRWA school in a-Nuseirat camp and suggested I comethere with my family. We left the al-Bayumi house and went to the school.
When we got there, we saw things were very bad. A lot of people who had
fled their homes were there, and there was no water or food. We stayed
there one night and went back to ‘Amer al-Bayumi’s. My wife and children
and I sat in one room together.

On the evening of 31 July 2014, the military attacked the al-Bayumis’ home andit collapsed with its occupants inside. Two of the apartments were empty at thetime, as one family was outside the Gaza Strip and another was visiting relatives.
There were people living in all the other apartments.
The bombing killed 13 people: ten inside the house, nine of whom were on thesecond floor.
Ibrahim Abu Shuqah lost his wife, two of his daughters, and his granddaughterto the bombing. He described that evening’s events:
On Thursday, 31 July 2014, at around 8:30 P.M., I was at the home of relatives– the Hamadah Abu Shuqah family – about thirty meters away from myuncle’s house. My cousin and I were sitting there, passing the time together.
Suddenly, I heard a massive explosion and then immediately felt myself fly
up in the air with the mattress I was sitting on. I couldn’t hear anything rightafter the explosion.
I ran out into the street and realized the al-Bayumi house had been bombed.
The power was out and the street was filled with dust. I ran over to the houseand tried to go in, but people there held me back because they were afraid
it would be bombed again. I couldn’t stay outside when my family was inthat house. I turned on my cellphone flashlight, held the phone between
my teeth, and started feeling my way through the wreckage with my hands.
When I reached the second floor, where ‘Amer’s apartment had been, I foundmy wife under the debris. I called out to her but she didn’t answer. She had
been hit in the head and I realized she was dead. I carried her out into thestreet. I stumbled and fell in the rubble a few times on the way, because I
was alone. People were afraid to enter the house.
37

The ruins of the al-Bayumi family home. Photo: Khaled al-'Azayzeh, B'Tselem, 27 Aug. 2014.

Then, neighbors came over and helped carry out the wounded people and deadbodies, a process which lasted until early next morning. Ibrahim Abu Shuqah
related:
I continued searching until the sun came up. People came over and tried tocalm me down. They said there was no one left under the ruins, but I didn’t
believe them until they told me the names of my children and said they
were in Shuhadaa al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah. They also told me thatsome of the wounded had been taken to a-Shifaa Hospital.
I felt so tired. I walked away from the people talking to me and sat down a
few meters away, next to a house. I asked for water, and someone broughtme some. Ten minutes later, a man came and asked me about my daughter
Islam. He told me he was going to get her. He brought her over, and she was
all right. I found out that the force of the blast flung her about 12 meters
away and she landed in a neighboring house, but she wasn’t hurt.
I was very confused and didn’t know whether to go to a-Shifaa Hospitalor Shuhadaa al-Aqsa Hospital. I left Islam with relatives. I started walking,barefoot. It was very early in the morning and there were no cars on the road.

38Black Flag
I kept walking until I reached the entrance to a-Zuaidah, a few kilometers
away. Then my cousin, Ahmad Abu Shuqah, came by and picked me up in
an ambulance. He took me to Shuhadaa al-Aqsa Hospital, where I identified
the bodies.

The bombing also damaged the neighbors’ house, killing three others: ‘Abir al’Assar, who was nine months pregnant; her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter
Rinad; and her brother-in-law and sister-in-law’s daughter, Lama al-‘Assar, 6.
Ashraf al-‘Assar, ‘Abir’s husband, 36, told B’Tselem what he went through thatnight: 27
On Thursday, 31 July 2014, at around 8:15 P.M., my family
and I were in our apartment, in one room. I was saying
the evening prayers and the children were lying on
their mattresses. Suddenly, there was a very powerful
explosion and the walls tumbled down on us. My wife
screamed and cried out to me, and the children shoutedand called out for me and their mother. I tried to get up to save them but I
couldn’t, because I was trapped under debris. I tried several times, bruising
my hands and shoulders in the process.
I started shouting, calling my brothers and my father. It was dark and thehouse was full of dust. We were trapped under the rubble. I think we stayedthat way for about 10-15 minutes. My daughters kept screaming, but mywife ‘Abir, who was nine months pregnant, had fallen silent.
A few minutes later I heard voices of people who had come to help. When I
heard their footsteps over the debris, I started shouting loudly, but no one
heard me. I only had air coming in through a small opening in front of mynose. But I guess they heard my daughters shouting. I heard my daughter
Nagham say, “Daddy’s here.” I heard someone getting closer. He started
removing the debris, and with their help I managed to get my hand out.
I pointed to where my wife, son and my daughter Rinad had been andasked them to get my wife and children out before me. They got ‘Abdallahout from under the wreckage. I heard him screaming so I was somewhat
relieved because that meant he was alive. Then they searched for my wifewith flashlights. She was close to me and when I saw her face under the
rubble, I realized she was dead because her eyes were closed and she wasn’t
breathing. At the same time, they also tried to get Rinad out. When I saw her,I realized she was dead too.

27 He gave his testimony to Khaled al-‘Azayzeh on 27 August 2014.

39

My wife was about to give birth. Two days before she was killed, I asked her
to stay in hospital until the birth, but because of the war she insisted onstaying at home with the kids. She feared for their lives. The fetus was a girl.
Sometimes, we talked about what name to give the baby and I said that if it
was a boy, I would call him Ahmad. We hadn’t decided on a girl’s name.

12. Bombing of Abu Madi family home ina-Nuseirat R.C.; 6 family members killed,
2 August 2014
The people killed in the incident:
Yusef Da’ud ‘Abd al-Mun’im Abu Madi, 68
His sons 		

‘Abd al-Karim Yusef Da’ud Abu Madi, 23

			Hassan Yusef Da’ud Abu Madi, 17			Amin Yusef Da’ud Abu Madi, 10

His grandchildren Yusef Shadi Yusef Abu Madi, 6			Hala Shadi Yusef Abu Madi, two weeks old

On 2 August 2014, around midday, the military attacked the home of the Abu
Madi family in a-Nuseirat Refugee Camp, in the central Gaza Strip. The housecollapsed on its occupants, killing six members of the family.
The three-story house was home to the extended Abu Madi family. Parents
Yusef and Ra’isa Abu Madi lived with four of their children, aged 10 to 23, in
an apartment on the second floor. Their four married sons and their respective
families lived in the other apartments. In total, 21 people lived in the house.
Shadi Abu Madi, 32, lived on the third floor. That day, he got home around 2:00
P.M. He described to B’Tselem what happened then:28
I took a carafe of coffee and went down to talk to my mother under theawning on the first floor. My brothers ‘Abdallah and Suliman and my son
Yusef were with me. Suddenly, with no warning, the house toppled downon us. My mother and I were sitting next to the staircase at the edge of thehouse, and that’s what saved us.

28 He gave his testimony to Khaled al-‘Azayzeh on 8 September 2014.

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Black Flag
The house crashed down around us in a few brief moments, and after that I
couldn’t see anything. Everything was full of dust and black smoke. I started
feeling around in the dark, looking for my mother, my son and my brothers,
but I could only feel debris all around me. I saw a weak light and moved
towards it. I went out into the yard and saw that the southern part of thehouse had completely caved in. Some parts of the northern side were still
standing.
When I got outside, I found my mother and brothers Suliman and ‘Abdallahlying on the ground. My mother’s legs were injured and my brothers had
been hit by falling blocks of concrete. My mother asked me about Yusef andI said I didn’t know.

Neighbors, civil defense teams and paramedics arrived on the scene and started
searching for the rest of the family. They took Shadi away to spare him the sightof the bodies being evacuated and took him to hospital. About two hours later,
Shadi Abu Madi went back to his ruined home to help search for his children– Yusef, 6, and Hala, a two-week-old baby girl. But the military had resumed
bombing and the search was called off as it was too dangerous to continue.
Once the bombing ceased, it was discovered that Yusef and Hala had been killedin the bombing of the house, as were Shadi’s father and three of his brothers.

The ruins of the al-Madi family home. Photo: Khaled al-'Azayzeh, B'Tselem, 8 Aug. 2014.

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Other members of the family sustained varying degrees of injury. Myasarah,
Shadi’s sister-in-law, who was seven-months pregnant, suffered a miscarriage
due to the bombing. Shadi continued:
My wife and I couldn’t find any peace because we didn’t find the bodies
of our children, Yusef and Hala. My wife kept crying all the time and wewere in a very bad mental state. After about ten days, I used the ‘hudna’
temporary ceasefire to go to the a-Nuseirat municipality and ask them tobring a crane to look for my children again. They said they had only one
crane and that it was in use in southern Gaza, but the mayor promised
to send it to me as soon as it would be available. Yesterday, 7 September
2014, the crane was brought over and we searched again for about fourhours. We didn’t find them.
My wife, our two sons and I are now living in a rented apartment. My threebrothers – ‘Abdallah, Suliman, and Ibrahim – are renting too. My mother iscurrently staying with my brother Ibrahim and caring for his sons because
their mother, who was injured, is being treated in Germany […].
My sons Mahmoud, 4, and Muhammad, 3, ask every day about theirbrother Yusef and their sister Hala. I tell Mahmoud they went to heaven.
He asks when we’ll get to where they are and when Yusef and Hala
will come visit us. Hala was our only daughter. Since the bombing, mywife has deeply changed. She’s withdrawn now. Sometimes she cries,and sometimes she’s irritable. She doesn’t eat the way she used to, andsometimes she’s delusional and thinks that Hala is hungry and is asking
to be nursed.

13. Bombing of Abu Nijem family home in
Jabalya R.C.; 10 people killed, including
two Islamic Jihad operatives, 3 August 2014
The people killed in the incident:
Home of Abu Nijem family
Muhammad ‘Abd al-Karim Muhammad Abu Nijem, 54
His sons		

Bilal Muhammad ‘Abd al-Karim Abu Nijem, 26			Muhammad Muhammad ‘Abd al-Karim Abu Nijem, 20			

Ahmad Muhammad ‘Abd al-Karim Abu Nijem, 17

His father		‘Abd al-Karim Muhammad ‘Awad Abu Nijem, 92

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Black Flag

Home of Al-Masri family
Suha Hamed ‘Abd al-Karim Nijem al-Masri, 29
Her daughter

Raghad Muhammad Sa’di Nijem al-Masri, 3

Shaymaa Wael Mahmoud Qassem, 14(whose family was sheltering in the house)
Danyal Kamel Muhammad Mansur, 41’Abd a-Naser ‘Abd al-Khaleq Ibrahim al-’Ajuri, 26
At approximately 9:00 P.M. on 3 August 2014, the military bombed the homeof the Abu Nijem family in Jabalya Refugee Camp, in the northern Gaza Strip.
The bombing destroyed the house and a neighboring house, killing two Islamic
Jihad operatives who were in the house and eight other people: five people in
the Abu Nijem house and a woman and two girls next door.
Husband and wife Muhammad and Fawziyeh Abu Nijem lived on the groundfloor with two of their children – Muhammad, 20, and Ahmad, 17. Their son Bilal,
his wife Maryam, and their two children lived on the first floor. Muhammad’s
father, ‘Abd al-Karim, 92, lived on the second floor.
On the evening of 3 August 2014, Danyal Kamel Mansur, an Islamic Jihad
operative, was visiting ‘Abd al-Karim on the second floor. At approximately
9:00 P.M. another man, ‘Abd a-Naser al-’Ajuri, joined them. Shortly afterwards,
the military bombed the house. After the attack, the ISA announced that the
military had bombed a building where Mansur, “the commander of Islamic
Jihad’s northern sector”, was present and that he had been killed. The ISA
added that Mansur was “in charge of the organization’s intelligence in Gaza andresponsible for rocket fire during Israel’s 2012 air offensive”.29
Maryam Abu Nijem, 23, who lived on the first floor, told B’Tselem what happened
that night:30

29 “Just before ceasefire goes into effect: 20 rockets fired at Israel”, Haaretz, 4 August 2014 (Hebrew). See
also: “IDF finishes destroying tunnels and kills Islamic Jihad commander”, Haaretz, 5 August 2014.
30 She gave her testimony to Muhammad Sabah on 17 December 2014.

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That day, we were fasting. At around 7:30 P.M., theIsraeli military fired light flares. They lit up the wholearea. We ate the al-Iftar meal (to break the fast) andwashed the dishes. After prayers, we sat together fora bit and then I took my children into the bedroom.
My husband sat with his mother and his brotherAhmad. My father-in-law took a cup of tea up to hisfather, Haj ‘Abd al-Karim, who was in his home on thesecond floor. I put my children to bed next to me.
The power was out at the time. Suddenly, I heard and saw our house comecrumbling down around us. I cried out to my husband. I turned on a flashlightand heard my daughter Raw’ah screaming. She’s a year old. I looked for her
and found her under the blankets. I grabbed her and my son Muhammad,
who’s three years old, and ran out of the room. I saw Ahmad, my husband’s
brother, lying dead next to the bedroom door. I saw rocks and everything inshambles. The house was completely destroyed. I heard someone groaning
and looked around with my flashlight, but there was debris everywhere andI didn’t know where the sound was coming from.
I held the flashlight and carried the children over the rubble to get out of thehouse. I left through the next door house, which had also been destroyed.
Neighbors came and took me over to one of their houses. I sat with them.

Only later was Maryam told that her husband, his two brothers, his father andhis grandfather had been killed:
I wanted to see my husband and his brothers one last time, but I couldn’t
because their bodies were disfigured. They had been hit in the head. I only
saw my father-in-law. They were buried the next morning. I was in a really
bad way. I couldn’t believe they had been killed. The house collapsed on topof us, with no warning. I just suddenly heard wreckage falling on us.

The bombing also damaged the home of neighbors Muhammad and Suha alMasri, who were sheltering relatives of Muhammad’s – Wael and May Qassem
and their five children. The Qassems lived near the mosque in Jabalya Refugee
Camp, and the military announced it planned to bomb it. The bombing killed
Suha al-Masri and her four-year-old daughter, Raghad. Shaymaa, Wael and May
Qassem’s 14-year-old daughter, was killed as well. Muhammad al-Masri, 38,
described how his house was destroyed:31

31 He gave his testimony to Muhammad Sabah on 23 December 2014.

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Black Flag

The ruins of the Abu Nijem family home. Photo: Muhammad Sabah, B'Tselem, 2 Sept. 2014.

Wael and I were sitting in the living room listening to the news on the radio,
because the power was out. Suddenly, we saw and heard parts of the housefalling on us. Everything went dark and there was dust everywhere. We
couldn’t see each other.
I jumped up and went out of the room. I made my way through the debris
and the dust to the front door. I couldn’t see a thing. My left leg hurt. I heardsome people come into the house and realized they were carrying out thepeople who were inside. I thought that my house had been the one bombed
because of all the wreckage and how powerful the blast was. I was taken to
Kamal ‘Udwan Hospital. The next morning, I had surgery on my left leg.
It was only two days after the bombing, on 5 August, that friends and relatives
told me my wife and daughter Raghad had been killed when Muhammad‘Abd al-Karim’s house was bombed. I felt immense anguish that they weredead and wept for them both. I blacked out and came to several hours later.
I still couldn’t grasp what had happened to my wife and daughter.

45

Bombing homes:
Why were there so many
civilian fatalities?
One of the central obligations of all parties to hostilities is to distinguish thosetaking part in it from the civilian population. This obligation means that attacks
must never be directed at civilian targets and that the parties to the hostilities
must adopt all safety measures and precautions at their disposal, given thecircumstances, so as to minimize as much as possible harm to the civilian
population.32
Hamas acted in complete contravention of these rules; its operatives directedmost of their attacks at civilian communities inside Israel. In contrast, Israeli
officials repeatedly claimed, both during and after the fighting, that the military
had acted in accordance with IHL. A case in point is the letter by Israel’s Attorney
General written in response to an inquiry made by the Association for Civil Rights
in Israel (ACRI) during the fighting. He stated that “IDF units are instructed to act
in accordance with the provisions of international law, including in accordancewith the principles and provisions of the laws of armed conflict”.33 Four months
after cessation of the fighting, the Military Advocate General (MAG) said “Thelaws of armed conflict are a guiding principle for the IDF and it takes determinedaction to implement them”.34
An examination of dozens of cases in which the military attacked houses
that collapsed with their occupants still inside, attacks that resulted in thedeaths of hundreds of Palestinians, indicates that at least in some cases themilitary’s actions ran contrary to IHL provisions and, in other cases, there isgrave concern that they did so. This contention goes beyond the specifics ofany particular attack, and relates primarily to the policy of attack formulated

32 Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 (Protocol I), 1977, Arts. 48-58.
33 Letter from Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein to Adv. Tamar Feldman, ACRI, 5 August 2014.
34 Lecture by MAG Major General Dani Efroni at a conference entitled Challenges of Warfare in Densely
Populated Areas, held at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) on 2 December 2014. See:
http://www.law.idf.il/163-6967-he/Patzar.aspx (Hebrew).

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Black Flagby the senior military command and by government officials, as it emerges
from the case analysis.
The immense harm to civilians was the result of three key factors:

A. Broad definition of what constitutes a“military objective” that may be targeted
A “military objective”, the only legitimate target for attack by parties to hostilities,
is defined as one that makes “an effective contribution to military action whose
total or partial destruction, capture or neutralization, in the circumstances rulingat the time, offers a definite military advantage” to the attacking side.35
Weapon and munitions stores, military bases and military vehicles meet thecriteria of this definition and are therefore considered legitimate targets for
attack. Objects that normally serve civilian purposes but are used for military
purposes during hostilities become military targets only if they meet theconditions stipulated in the above definition. In case of uncertainty as to what
use is being made of such objects, they should be treated as non-military.36
Over the course of the fighting that took place in the summer, both government
officials and top military commanders refrained from spelling out the specificobjective of most of the attacks. Instead, the IDF Spokesperson provided only
general figures on the number of strikes carried out each day against what
the Spokesperson defined as “terror sites”. Therefore, B’Tselem has no way ofknowing why the military decided to attack a certain building and why the
military found it to be a legitimate target.
The IDF Spokesperson departed from this practice when it came to hits on residencesof Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives. In a release issued on the first day of theoperation, 8 July 2014, the IDF Spokesperson said: “The targets included strikes
on four homes of operatives in the Hamas terror organization who are involved in
terrorism and in firing and directing fire toward the territory of the State of Israel”.
Yet, on the very next day, the IDF spokesperson already tried to obscure the factthat Israel’s security establishment considered these residential buildings to belegitimate targets solely because of the identity of their occupants. Instead, theIDF Spokesperson began claiming that the houses had been targeted because

35 Protocol I, Art. 52(2).
36 Protocol I, Art. 52(3).

47

of the use to which they were put. Releases issued in subsequent days referred tooperatives’ houses as “operational infrastructure”, “the organization’s commandand control infrastructure”37 or “terror infrastructure”.38
A position paper published by the MAG Corps a few days after the fighting beganalso argued that Hamas was using “the private residences of commanders in
the military branch, where their families and other civilians also live, to carryout terrorist attacks. These houses are being used to store weapons, operatecommand and control centers, and conduct military communications”. According
to the MAG Corps, these houses “may become legitimate military targets underinternational law”.39
The MAG, Major General Dani Efroni, made the same argument in a lecture hegave several months after the fighting ended:
Many Hamas military branch commanders – mid-level and up – had, in
effect, turned their apartments also into bases or operational headquarters
where they received military intel and from which orders were issued totheir subordinates, including orders for operations against our troops andfor firing rockets at Israel […] During Operation Protective Edge, there waswidespread use of private homes for concrete military purposes. There is no
doubt that these are legitimate military targets under international law.40

It is possible for residences of operatives of Hamas or other organizations to
be considered legitimate military targets, but to be defined as such, what they
were actually used for must first be determined. IHL stipulates a twofold testfor deciding whether a structure is a “military objective”: the structure must
make an effective contribution to military action, and harming it must give theattacking party a clear military advantage.
In spite of this, the IDF Spokesperson did not explain the connection between
any of the houses attacked as specified in his statements and any militaryactivity.

37 IDF Spokesperson statements of 9 and 10 July 2014. For full text see IDF Spokesperson website, http://
www.idf.il/1153-he/Dover.aspx (Hebrew).
38 See, e.g., IDF Spokesperson statements of 12, 16 and 23 July 2014.
39 See IDF website for paper posted 11 July 2014: “According to international law – a house used for military
purposes is a legitimate target” http://www.idf.il/1133-20899-HE/IDFGDover.aspx
A similar version of the paper was posted on the IDF English blog site on 10 July 2014: “IDF Strikes Houses
in Gaza Used for Military Purposes: When houses are used for military purposes, they may become
legitimate military targets under international law”, http://www.idfblog.com/blog/2014/07/10/idf-strikeshouses-gaza-used-military-purposes/.
40 MAG lecture at INSS conference, see footnote 34.

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The IDF Spokesperson did not go beyond listing the occupants’ past andpresent actions against Israel, without linking such actions to the house itself.
For example, in a release issued on 12 July 2014, the IDF Spokesperson said:
As part of the destruction of operational infrastructure, the operational
infrastructure of a top Hamas operative in the southern Gaza Strip, ‘Atiyyah
Abu Naqirah…
‘Atiyyah Abu Naqirah, born in 1976, is a top Hamas operative in Rafah. Overthe years, he has been involved in many terrorist attacks against Israel andagainst IDF forces, including carrying out terrorist attacks and firing mortarshells. In 2001, he was involved in the terrorist attack in which part of the
Termit military post was destroyed with a powerful bomb planted inside atunnel under the post. Over the years, he was involved in anti-airfcraft, antitank and rocket fire toward Israel and at IDF forces. He was also very activein strengthening the Hamas terror organization. Abu Naqirah was involvedin the fighting both during Operation Cast Lead and Operation Pillar of
Defense and led terrorist activities against the State of Israel.41

In a statement issued on 16 July 2014, the IDF Spokesperson said: “Included
among the operational infrastructure attacked tonight was the operational
infrastructure of Mahmoud al-Za’ar, who serves as a member of the politicalbureau in the Gaza Strip, and head of the Political Committee and Foreign Liaison
Department”. In this case, the Spokesperson does not even make mention ofany military activity carried out by the occupant of the house, and, it follows, of
how such activity might be connected to the house.
In his lecture, the MAG asserts that Hamas commanders had turned their homes
into “operational headquarters” and used them when they issued instructions tofire at Israeli military forces and Israeli civilians. However, even if his descriptionof the situation is perfectly accurate (notwithstanding that the military haspresented no evidence of it), it still begs the question what concrete use wasmade of each house, with said use making an effective contribution to military
action, and thereby making the house a military target. The answer depends
on the nature of the activities carried out in the house and how extensive they
were. For example, a telephone call made in the house on an earlier occasion ora meeting held there do not constitute use that makes an effective contribution
to military activity, since the call and the meeting could have been held
anywhere.

41 For more examples, see IDF Spokesperson statement of 10 July 2014.

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In the absence of specific information about the effective contribution a given
house made to military action and the clear advantage gained by destroying
it, the fact that a Hamas or Islamic Jihad military branch operative lived in it isinsufficient grounds to make the house a legitimate military target.
The term “operational infrastructure” proves nothing in itself about any alleged
military use of the residence. Its repetition does, however, serve to unmask
the attempt by policymakers to lend an air of legality to such attacks. The
explanations the IDF Spokesperson and the MAG provided for the destruction ofoperatives’ homes are unconvincing and appear to be no more than a cover-up
for the actual reason for the destruction – the identity of the occupants. In thissense, these strikes constitute dozens of cases of punitive house demolitions –prohibited in themselves – carried out from the air.
B’Tselem has no way of knowing in how many cases during the fighting themilitary attacked houses simply because of who lived in them, and in how
many it attacked homes for other reasons, such as that they served to conceal
weapons. Additionally, B’Tselem has no way of knowing the number of cases
in which, when the military attacked a house because of the identity of its
occupants, the house was vacant at the time of the strike, and in how many
the house collapsed with the occupants still inside. The military alone has theanswers to these questions and it refrains from providing information on thismatter. All that is available are media reports, published about a week after theoperation began, stating the military had attacked about a hundred homes of“Hamas and Islamic Jihad commanders”.42
B’Tselem has previously addressed the military’s far-reaching interpretation of
the term “military objective”. This interpretation was in evidence on the first day
of Operation Cast Lead, 27 December 2008, when the military bombed Gaza’s
main police building, killing 42 cadets. In the days that followed, the military
targeted the legislative assembly building and several government buildings in
Gaza. Israeli officials justified these attacks, saying that “anything affiliated withHamas is a legitimate target”.43 The interpretation whereby the private homesof operatives are legitimate targets was also brought to bear in Operation

42 Gili Cohen, Jackie Khoury, “Testimonies: The IDF does not always warn before bombing”, Haaretz, 14 July
2014 (Hebrew).
43 Comments made by Major Avital Leibovitch of the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit in Griff Witte and Sudarsan
Raghavan, “’All-Out War' Declared on Hamas”, The Washington Post, 30 December 2008. For more on thissee, B’Tselem, Guidelines for Israel’s Investigation into Operation Cast Lead 27 December – 18 January 2009,(February 2009), pp. 11-14.

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Pillar of Defense (November of 2012). A release issued by the ISA at the end of
the fighting stated that the military had attacked approximately “30 homes ofsenior commanders of the military wing of Hamas, some of which also served
to store arms and ammunition”.44 These interpretations of the term “military
objective” mean that it can be applied even to patently civilian objects, which
are prohibited targets.

B. Flexible interpretation of what constitutes
lawful “collateral damage”
The parties to the hostilities must also adhere to the “principle of proportionality”,
whereby when harm to civilians as a result of an attack is projected to be
excessive in relation to its anticipated military advantage, the attack should not
be carried out.45 Obviously, this principle is relevant only in cases of legitimate
military targets. Otherwise, the attack is unlawful a priori, regardless of the
expected “collateral damage”.
The proportionality of an attack is measured by the projected harm it would
cause to civilians and the military advantage it would give, rather than by thedamage caused in actual fact. It follows that the answer to the question ofwhether the military complied with the principle of proportionality depends on
the information it had when launching the attack, requiring the examination ofmatters such as: What military advantage did the military expect to gain in eachof the attacks? What information did those who ordered the attack have – orshould have had – with respect to civilian presence at the site of attack? Could
this military advantage have been gained by other means?
The military refrains from giving the public answers to these questions.
Therefore, in the vast majority of cases, B’Tselem cannot know what
considerations underpinned the attacks. Some of B’Tselem’s investigations didlead to conjectures regarding the reasons for an attack on a specific house, suchas: the presence of a Hamas operative in the house at the time of the attack orseveral hours earlier; the fact that the homeowner’s son was an operative – atone or another level of seniority – in an armed Palestinian group; or the firing of
Qasam rockets from somewhere near the house. However, in the absence of an

44 ISA announcement of December 2012. On this see, B’Tselem, Human Rights Violations during Operation
Pillar of Defense 14-24 November 2012, (May 2013), pp. 38-39.
45 Protocol I, Art. 51(5)(b).

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official statement from the military, B’Tselem cannot determine with certainty
why a given house was attacked, whether it met the definition of a legitimate
target and if so, whether the attack may be considered proportionate.
The MAG did no more than present the general argument that the militaryadhered to the principle of proportionality. For example, in his talk he said:“The IDF is assiduous in complying with the principle of proportionality whencarrying out attacks, doing so only after taking many precautions, sometimes
even beyond legal requirement.”46 On another occasion, the MAG explainedthat in terms of international law, it would be wrong to examine the legalityof Israel’s actions during the fighting in terms of the overall death toll, and thateach attack should be examined separately, adding that, “in any case, whether
or not the commander’s decision was reasonable must be examined in view of
the information he had at the time of the attack, rather than retrospectively”.
The MAG also said that “the law is probably the most effective tool for fending
off arguments made against us”.47
However, the MAG provided no information that could corroborate his claimthat the military complied with this principle. True, proportionality is measured
by the information the commander had at the time he gave the order to attack,but given the fact that the attacks targeted residential buildings, and that manyof them were carried out at night, severe harm to civilians must have been
anticipated at the time of making the decision to attack. This is particularly true
with respect to a number of such attacks carried out during the fighting in which
many civilians were killed. The MAG also failed to clarify what he considers to be“reasonable” harm to civilians, nor did he even hint at the military advantage themilitary expected to gain.
Given these circumstances, the MAG should have explained the basis for his
assertion that the military had acted in accordance with the principle ofproportionality: if the harm was anticipated, but deemed “reasonable” or “notexcessive”, the MAG should have indicated the definite military advantage which
justified the harm according to the planners of the attack; alternatively, if theharm were not anticipated, he should have explained how it is that it occurred
and what lessons were drawn from the incident.

46 MAG’s lecture at INSS conference, see footnote 34.
47 Lecture entitled “The Military in the Grip of the Law” by MAG Major General Dani Efroni, given at aconference held by the Israeli Association of Public Law, on 2 January 2015. Published on the MAG
website, http://www.law.idf.il/163-7040-he/Patzar.aspx (Hebrew).

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The severe harm caused to the civilian population is graver still considering themeans at the disposal of the Israeli military, which allow it to significantly reducesuch harm. First, the military’s technological capabilities enable precision hits
limited to the selected target. In a publication by the Israeli Air Force regarding
its actions during Operation Protective Edge, a pilot said: “We save human lives”.
Another pilot explained that on several occasions, an attack was deferred until
the civilians left the site of the target. A third pilot expanded: “We use precise
weapons that allow us to attack many targets within a short period of time andin the right places”. According to the website, efforts to avoid harm to the civilian
population are made “from the planning stages to the implementation”.48 A story
about Operation Protective Edge published in the journal of Israel’s Ground Forces
included a description of how the Artillery Corps used the Tamuz missile during
the fighting. The Tamuz is considered a “precise guided munition”. Lieutenant
Colonel Tomer, commander of the unit that uses these missiles, described theunit’s activities: “Our advantage over other means is the relatively low collateral
damage and the constant availability to the brigade commander.”49
Additionally, the military has powerful intelligence capabilities with respect
to Gaza residents. Intelligence information made it possible for the military toknow the precise location of people it intended to target. The Ground Forces
journal mentioned above provided a detailed description of surveillancemeasures available to the military, including observation balloons, drones, andobservation officers who analyze the findings.50
As part of the policy of attacking homes, the military attacked dozens of houses
that collapsed with their occupants inside. Many civilians who took no part in thefighting were killed in each of these attacks. After repeated attacks with many
civilian casualties, decision makers should have anticipated the severe harm causedby these attacks. Yet, such attacks persisted throughout the fighting, and the policyof firing at homes remained unaltered. In the absence of proof that the militaryadvantage anticipated from these attacks was both unmistakable and significant,the inevitable conclusion is that the principle of proportionality was violated.

48 See, “Aerial Reconnaissance Division Examines Every Single Spot in the Gaza Strip”, Israeli Air Force (IAF)
website, published 9 July 2014 (see, http://www.iaf.org.il/4410-42173-he/IAF.aspx (Hebrew); “Airstrikes
and Reconnaissance: ‘Sufa’ At Work”, IAF website, published 10 July 2014 (see http://www.iaf.org.il/441042174-en/IAF.aspx).
49 Yehonatan Sherr, “A Tuned String”, BaYabasha: Ground Forces Journal, October 2014, No. 29, p. 15(Hebrew).
50 Avigail Bokobza, “Collecting on the Frontline”, ibid., p. 22.

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C. Warning absent or ineffective
To minimize harm to civilians, armed forces are required to give “effective
advance warning” prior to the attack, “unless circumstances do not permit”, inorder to allow civilians to protect themselves.51 The duty to take precautions isenshrined in IHL. It is not an act of goodwill on the part of the military toward
the residents, but an express obligation the military must fulfill. When residents
are given a warning with which they cannot comply, the warning is consideredineffective. In any event, a warning – effective or not – does not absolve themilitary of its obligation to continue taking all possible precautions to avoid
harming civilians, nor does it permit the military to operate on the assumptionthat no civilians remain in the area or house it intends to target.
Over the course of the fighting, the military mostly employed the following two
methods of warning:

1. Warning residents of a specific home the militaryintends to target
In some cases, the military had a person phone a specific home, inform its
occupants that the house is to be the object of an attack, and order them toevacuate. In other cases the military informed residents that it plans to attack anearby house, and ordered them to warn their neighbors.
One method the military used to warn the occupants of a building was dubbed“knock on the roof”. The military fires a relatively small missile at a house it istargeting, with the object of letting the occupants know that the house will
shortly be targeted by a larger missile and, consequently, they must leave.
In some cases, residents evacuated their homes and escaped harm. In others,
the warnings were ineffective for various reasons. Sometimes, residents were
not given enough time to evacuate. In other cases, it was not clear which house
was being targeted. This was especially so when the “knock on the roof” method
was used while there were other attacks in progress in the vicinity and residents
could not tell apart the smaller missile hitting the roof of their house. In othercases, residents who had been warned did leave the house, but people living
nearby – who had not received a warning – were hurt when their homes alsosustained damage in the attack.

51 Protocol I, Art. 57(2)(c).

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In some of the cases we investigated, occupants told B’Tselem that they hadreceived no warning prior to the attack, and therefore did not leave. B’Tselem
has no way of knowing whether the military had given these residents a warningthat they did not understand or had given no warning at all.

2. Warning that required residents to evacuate vast areas
In some parts of the Gaza Strip, the military airdropped flyers calling on
residents to evacuate. This occurred, for example, in Beit Hanoun and
Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, in the Gaza City neighborhoods ofa-Shuja’iyeh and a-Zeitun, and in Bani Suheila and Khuza’ah in the central
Gaza Strip. For example, on the night between 12 and 13 July 2014, before theincursion of ground forces into Gaza, the military distributed flyers in northern
Gaza calling on residents to evacuate their homes by noon that day. The flyer
distributed in Beit Lahiya said:
To the residents of Beit Lahia,
The IDF intends to attack terrorists and terror infrastructures in the areaeast of Al-Atatra and Al-Salatin St., and in the area west and north ofMa’ascar Jabaliya. Israel is currently attacking, and will continue to attack,every area from which rockets are being launched into its territory.
The civilians are requested to evacuate their residences by 12:00 PM today,
south of Jabaliya Al-Badr via Shar’a Al-Faluja. The IDF’s campaign is to be
short and temporary. Those who fail to comply with the instructions will
endanger their lives and the lives of their families. Beware.52

Tens of thousands of residents did leave their homes following such warnings.
However, in some cases investigated by B’Tselem, members of families who
had fled their homes in accordance with the military’s warnings, fleeing toneighborhoods considered safer, ended up perishing in an attack.
There were residents who remained in their homes, some by choice, others
because they were unable to leave, despite the warnings. Many had nowhere
to go, as the military was conducting strikes throughout the Gaza Strip during
the fighting. Nowhere was safe, and without bomb shelters or secured spaces,
residents were unable to protect themselves, nor could they leave Gaza, asIsrael and Egypt closed the crossings into their territories, leaving residents

52 IDF Spokesperson statement, 13 July 2014. English version appears on IDF blog, at http://www.idfblog.
com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/10500347_806521929370679_3330483129239796339_n.jpg. Errors
in original.

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trapped. In addition, since the fighting went on for many weeks, some residents
who did leave returned home to collect various items, such as clothes andblankets.
Under such circumstances, the generalized, sweeping warnings issued by the
military did not allow residents to protect themselves and, consequently, cannot be
considered effective. In practice, even if this were not their intent, the warnings served
to sow fear and panic among residents who were powerless to do anything.
This situation notwithstanding, the military considered areas where it had
distributed flyers as though residents had all been evacuated and viewed themas legitimate military targets that may be attacked without taking precautions.
This is how Major Amitai Kanarik described the process:We try to create a situation whereby the area where we are fighting is sterile,so any person seen there is suspected of engaging in terrorist activity. At thesame time, we make the utmost effort to remove the population, whether
this means dropping flyers or shelling. Ultimately, we manage to convinceeven those who weren’t at first persuaded, until we get to a situation where
the neighborhood becomes a ghost town, so that anyone who suddenly
surfaces automatically becomes a suspected terrorist.53

The harm to civilians in these areas was exacerbated by the use of artillery fire,
which is inherently inaccurate. During the fighting, the military made extensive
use of artillery inside residential areas. An article published in the Ground Forces’journal noted that about 14,500 tank shells and 35,000 other artillery shells were
fired during the fighting.54 According to a story in Israeli daily Haaretz, a senior
general staff officer confirmed that the military had fired more shells than it hadplanned to, probably four times as many as during Operation Cast Lead.55 After
hitting the target, artillery shells can have a deadly effect on a radius of 50 to
150 meters from the site of explosion, and can injure people at a 100 to 300meter radius.56 A former artillery soldier gave the following description:

53 Major Kanarik heads the Military Doctrine Department at the headquarters of the Chief Infantry andParatroopers’ Officer. Avigail Bokobza, “Collecting on the Frontline”, BaYabasha, Ground Forces Journal,
October 2014, No. 29, p. 62 (Hebrew).
54 “Taking Stock”, BaYabasha, Ground Forces Journal, October 2014, No. 29, p. 47 (Hebrew).
55 Amos Harel and Gili Cohen, “Top general staff officer: Troops fighting in Gaza used more ammunition
than IDF planned”, Haaretz, 14 August 2014 (Hebrew). Amos Harel and Gili Cohen, “Massive artillery
shelling may have caused numerous civilian fatalities in Gaza”, Haaretz, 15 August 2014.
56 Human Rights Watch, Indiscriminate Fire­– Palestinian Rocket Attacks on Israel and Israeli Artillery Shellingin the Gaza Strip, July 2007. See Amos Harel and Gili Cohen, “Massive artillery shelling may have caused
numerous civilian fatalities in Gaza”, Haaretz, 15 August 2014.

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It is impossible to aim the shells in an accurate manner and they are notmeant to hit specific targets. Different factors such as the humidity of theair, the amount of heat in the barrel and the direction of the wind may
determine whether the shell falls 30 or even 100 meters from the spot at
which it was aimed. For that reason, a multi-barrel artillery battery fires abarrage of shells in a certain direction knowing that statistics will work theircourse, and that due to the scatter and the amount of damage caused bymany shells, the target will indeed be hit.57

In densely populated urban areas, such as the Gaza Strip, weapons with a possible
deviation of a few dozen meters or more may result in fatalities of civilians who
did not take part in hostilities. Even if some houses in these areas were being
used for military purposes and even if residents were given warnings, the choicemade by the military to consider entire neighborhoods military targets flies in
the face of IHL provisions, whereby the use of inaccurate weapons inside civilianneighborhoods is unlawful. 58

57 Idan Barir, “IDF soldier: Artillery fire in Gaza is like Russian roulette”, +972 Blog, 8 August 2014, see
http://972mag.com/idf-soldier-artillery-fire-in-gaza-is-like-russian-roulette/95194/.
58 Protocol I, Art. 51(4).

57Conclusions
Over the course of the fighting in the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2014, more than
2,200 Palestinians were killed, thousands were injured, and tens of thousands ofhomes were destroyed, leaving hundreds of thousands homeless. During thistime, thousands of rockets and mortar shells were fired into Israel. Five civilians
and 67 soldiers were killed.
A hallmark of the fighting in Gaza this summer was the numerous strikes on
residential buildings, destroying them while their occupants were still inside. This
aspect of the fighting was particularly appalling: dozens of air, sea and ground strikes
killed hundreds of people. Time and again, Palestinian families suffered much grievous
loss of life. In a single instant, so many families were ruined, with the wreckage of
their lives mirroring the devastation of their homes. B’Tselem investigated 70 such
incidents, with a total of 606 fatalities, the vast majority of whom took no part in thefighting: more than 70% were either under 18, over 60, or women.
The policy of bombing homes was implemented throughout the Gaza Strip
all through the fighting. Testimonies by people who lived in the houses andeyewitness accounts gathered by B’Tselem’s researchers paint a horrific picture.
Over and over again, they described their sense of helplessness, a pervasive
despair that enveloped them with the realization that they cannot shield theirchildren or themselves even in their own homes, and told of the unbearable
anguish of losing an entire family.
These attacks were not carried out on the whim of individual soldiers, pilots orcommanders in the field. They are the result of a policy formulated by government
officials and the senior military command. These officials backed the policy of
attacking homes, reiterating the argument that the attacks conform to IHL, andeschewing any responsibility for harm to civilians, laying the blame squarely on
Hamas and its modus operandi.
An example of this is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying, “Security forces
are doing everything in their power to avoid harming civilians and if innocentsare hurt, it is because Hamas deliberately hides behind Palestinian civilians”.59

59 Yoav Zitun, “Two IDF soldiers injured by mortar fire in Eshkol”, ynetnews, 10 July 2014 (Hebrew).

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Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein asserted that Israel is committed to the law,
but “terror organizations make cynical, depraved use of the civilian population
as human shields against IDF operations. Regrettably, in this reality, evenattacks that are lawful and proportionate under IHL may result in unintended
and undesirable harm to civilians and civilian property.”60 Similarly, Chief of Staff
Benny Gantz said that “the results in Gaza are devastating, and the tragic fault
lies with Hamas leaders who operated from inside population centers”.61
Statements like these have been made in the past, both after Operation Cast
Lead in January 2009 and after Operation Pillar of Defense in November 2012.62
They were wrong then and they are wrong now. It is true that Hamas and otherorganizations operating in the Gaza Strip do not abide by IHL, nor do they
purport to do so. As pointed out by B’Tselem both during and after the fighting,Hamas has breached these provisions and in particular, its duty to distinguishbetween civilian objects and military targets: not only did Hamas fire toward
Israeli civilians and civilian objects, it did so from within the civilian population.
Hamas operatives fired from sites located near civilian dwellings, concealed
weapons and munitions inside them and dug tunnels under them. Mixing withthe civilian population is contrary to the most fundamental principle of IHL,
which is designed to minimize harm to civilians as much as possible and remove
them from the battleground.
Given this reality, the issue at hand is what conclusions policymakers may draw
from the conduct of Hamas and other armed Palestinian organizations. The
above quoted statements by the prime minister and the chief of staff indicate
they believe that Hamas and the military share the responsibility of taking
precautions. For example, in a case in which Hamas did in fact conceal weapons
in a residential building, thereby turning it into a military target that may betargeted, Israel’s interpretation would be that the military would attempt towarn the building’s occupants before striking. If the warning accomplishes its
objective so the civilians are unharmed, Israel can use the incident to showcase
how the military abides by IHL. If civilians are harmed, whether or not a warning
was issued, Hamas will be held responsible.

60 Letter from Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein to Adv. Tamar Feldman, ACRI, 5 August 2014.
61 Yoav Zitun, “IDF Chief: Hamas badly hurt. The military will stay near the Gaza Border. The fields will growgreen once more”, ynetnews, 6 August 2014 (Hebrew)
62 See B’Tselem, Guidelines for Israel’s Investigation into Operation Cast Lead 27 December – 18 January 2009;
B'Tselem, Human Rights Violations during Operation Pillar of Defense 14-24 November 2012, (May 2013).

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Accepting this interpretation would mean that there are no restrictions
whatsoever on Israeli action and that whatever method it chooses to respondto Hamas operations is legitimate, no matter how horrifying the consequences.
This interpretation is unreasonable, unlawful, and renders meaningless theprinciple that IHL violations committed by one party do not release theother party from its obligations toward the civilian population and civilian
objects.63
Yet this interpretation is designed to block, a priori, any allegations that Israel
breached IHL provisions. It focuses exclusively on policymakers’ intentions,which cannot be examined as no official information is available, while
completely ignoring the outcome, even when the same deadly results are seentime and again. Several days into the fighting, decision makers surely would
have had no doubts about the results to be expected from continuing thepolicy of attacking homes.
In light of all this, the argument that the house bombing policy is lawful must be
rejected. This argument ignores the spirit and purpose of IHL, which primarily
aims at reducing as much as possible the harm caused to the civilian population.
This policy is unlawful through and through: from a broad and unlawfulinterpretation of what may be considered a military target, to the subversion of
the principle of proportionality, to using ineffective precautions, if any.
In some cases, the military did fulfil its duties under IHL: the media extensively
reported on a few cases in which attacks were called off when children wereobserved at the target. However, in dozens of other cases, including those
covered in this report, there was extensive harm to civilians and civilian property.
These cases received almost no media attention and officials generally chose not
to offer any explanations, continuing instead to argue that the military obeys
the law, without substantiating the claim. This is how the MAG, Major General
Dani Efroni, summarized Operation Protective Edge:
The conclusion – the IDF attacks only military targets not because of theprinciple of distinction, but because it is deeply committed to the [ethicalcode of ] “purity of arms”. The IDF makes inordinate efforts to minimize harm
to uninvolved individuals, not because of proportionality, but because of
the value of human life.64

63 Protocol I, Art. 51(8).
64 MAG’s lecture at the Israeli Association of Public Law conference. See footnote 47.

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This is not a statement that was made before the fighting began. The MAG
was speaking several months after the fighting ended, when its outcome wasalready known: hundreds of civilians killed, dozens of families shattered. Given
this outcome, it is hard to think of a reality farther removed from expressions like“purity of arms” and the “value of human life”. The MAG, like all other government
and military officials who had a hand in approving the policy described in thisreport, can no longer just describe the military’s efforts to avoid harming thecivilian population while ignoring how hard this population was in fact hit.
At the end of the day, discussing the extent to which Israel followed IHL cannot
express the scale of the enormity reflected in the number of fatalities and therepeated harrowing testimonies, only a few of which were included in thisreport.
Fighting Hamas is, in fact, extremely challenging: How can military targets bedistinguished from civilian objects in these circumstances? How is it possible
to avoid harming civilians who are not taking part in the fighting, when Hamas
operatives fire at Israel from within populated areas? B’Tselem does not purport
to offer the Israeli government or the military any operative plans for conducting
armed conflict in Gaza: that is not the role of a human rights organization. The
government is responsible for responding to these challenges in ways thatmaintain humanity and uphold the law.
What is clear is that the policy described in this report – attacking homes fromthe air and the ground, resulting in their collapse with residents still inside –is not a legitimate response to these challenges. Even if political and militaryleaders thought this policy would bring an end to attacks on Israeli communities,
they should not have implemented it, both because of its foreseeable horrifying
consequences and because of the black flag of illegality flying over it.

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BLACK FLAG:
B’TSELEM - The Israeli Information Center for
Human Rights in the Occupied Territories
35 Mekor Haim Street
P.O. Box 53132, Jerusalem 9153002
Tel. (972) 2-6735599 | Fax (972) 2-6749111
www.btselem.org | mail@btselem.org

The Legal and Moral Implications of the Policyof Attacking Residential Buildingsin the Gaza Strip, Summer 2014
January 2015