AUREL
On July 17, 2014, in the midst of the Gaza war, a brief ceasefire was held to provide relief to residents facing heavy fire from the Israeli army. The target is the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas as part of Operation Protective Edge, which caused the deaths of 1,462 civilians, including 551 children, as well as 11,000 injuries on the Palestinian side and 6 deaths, including a child, on the Palestinian side. Israeli. Three children of Wissam and Kefah Shuheibar took the opportunity to go outdoors and play with two of their cousins on the roof of the building where they live in the Sabra district of Gaza City just before the end of Ramadan fasting.
“It was the eighth day of the war, but everything was quiet then. “We are not in a military zone,” said Wissam Shuheibar, 47, a police officer working for the Palestinian Authority. When the rocket hit the roof, I was in the room below. From where I was standing, the explosion didn’t make much noise. I opened the window to understand what was going on and saw all the neighbors looking towards my terrace. » His building was the only one in his neighborhood that was hit by war in the summer of 2014.
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Despite the risk of a second blow, he rushes to the roof. “There I saw a pool of blood, the water tank was leaking everywhere and mixed with the children’s blood. The bomb had not left a large hole, but the walls were littered with thousands of small metal shards. My daughter showed me her torn hands and said, “Dad, it hurts.” I picked her up and carried her to the ambulance that came. She died on the way,” says Wissam Shuheibar, who is still affected almost ten years later.
“We still don’t understand the reason for this shooting”
Two more children die: Wassim (9) and Jihad (10), the sons of Wissam’s brother Issam Shuheibar (45). Like little Afnan, 8 years old, they are covered in shrapnel. The missile fired from a drone is as deadly as it is precise: the fragments do not exceed an area of two to three meters. It is a precision weapon – possibly a Spike, Mini-Spike or Lahat missile, according to experts – designed to kill a human target without destroying an entire building.
A son of Wissam, Oudaï, and one of his nephews, Bassel, were seriously injured. The first was hit in the brain and transported to Turkey and then to Germany for surgery. He suffered significant psychological damage. The second, despite four operations, still has metal parts in his arms and legs and cannot carry a particularly heavy load. Nine years later, the psychological aftereffects affect the entire family.
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