Submitted by crinadmin on
[Gaza Strip, 21 January 2009] In a quiet courtyard hidden down a maze of alleys, the Abu Eich family gathers to mourn their four girls killed by an Israeli shell just hours before Israel halted its assault on Gaza. Such tragedies have been repeated across the heavily-populated Palestinian enclave where Israel carried out a 22-day assault against the Islamist Hamas movement. But the story of the Abu Eich family has entered not only Palestinian hearts but also those of Israelis. Within minutes of the shell crashing into his home on Saturday, Dr Ezzedine Abu Eich, a noted Gaza gynaecologist working in Israel, was flashed on prime time Israel television, venting his anguish and pain. "They must be the last children to die," says his brother Atta at the house in the northern Gaza Strip town of Jabaliya. The shell slammed straight into the bedroom of Aya, aged 13, Mayar, 14 and Bissam 20, killing the doctor's three daughters and their cousin Noor, 16. Three days after the offensive ended in a fragile ceasefire and more than 1,300 Palestinian dead, more than 400 of them children, a steady flow of neighbours keeps arriving here to offer condolences. They embrace Atta and take a seat on one of a line of green plastic chairs to share a cup of Arab coffee. The facade of the four-storey, green-and-white painted building bears the black stains left by the shelling. Dr Ezzedine's work at Tal Hashomer hospital near Tel Aviv since 1992 has not passed unnoticed in Israel and he maintained contact with a Channel 10 news presenter. When he called the presenter in distress after learning of the death of his daughters, he was live on air. In seconds the doctor was piped through to the nation. "They are girls, just girls," Ezzedine cried. "They have been shelled. I want to know why they were killed? Why where they killed? That could put me at rest. I want to know. Who gave the order to fire." The doctor remains inconsolable today, but is still working in Israel. "My daughters are dead. I can't find the words, I can't speak," he told AFP by telephone, his voice breaking after three nights without sleep. "Why did they do it? We are respectable people. We do not hate anyone. May the voices of peace be heard in the world to stop this madness." At the family home, Atta relates the terrible events of Saturday. "We had stayed at home indoors for several days after the offensive started. There were 25 people, my brothers and their families on every floor. "The day before it happened, tanks drove right up to our door," Atta says. As darkness fell, a first shell struck the house. "The windows and doors were blown out." Another of the doctor's daughters, Shaza 17, was badly hurt. "I ran out carrying her down Salahadin street looking for an ambulance, but the road was empty," Atta says, choking back the tears. "I had turned back when another shell hit the girls' bedroom. I went upstairs. They lay bleeding on the floor. My daughter Ghayda was seriously wounded. She is only 12." The whole family swears there was no one from Hamas at the house when the army shells struck. An Israeli army spokesman said an inquiry had been launched. "No rocket had been fired from near our house. It's too dangerous, too open, there is no place to hide in the area," Atta says. "They (troops) fired blindly, without a thought for civilians. What happened in Gaza is a massacre." Asked if he was angry with Hamas, Atta says: "It's difficult to answer this question. But I say to Hamas, I say to (Hamas prime minister in Gaza) Ismail Haniyeh: 'We want to live like normal people.' "We have to live in peace. I hope these will be the last children to die. Even if these words are hard to say, we have to say them." In the ally outside the house, four young children are playing marbles and laughing. One bounces up and down chanting a Hamas slogan: "We won't recognise Israel." Further Information: ** Update from NGOs on the ground (19/01/2009) ** More on the situation in Gaza