Death of Innocent Civilians
B'Tselem Update
9 May 2002
Since the outbreak of the al-Aqsa Intifada, B'Tselem has documented many cases of innocent civilians being wounded or killed by IDF gunfire. The IDF repeatedly claims that all precautionary measures possible are taken to prevent harm to civilians.
The following examples are just the most recent instances in which testimonies given to B'Tselem indicate that in fact, frequently this is not the case. The testimonies describe the killing of five innocent civilians in three separate incidents over a six-day period. These incidents clearly point to carelessness and negligence on the part of the IDF.
1) On Tuesday, April 30, 2002, at 10:30 PM, Muhammad Shaluf, of Rafah, woke to a loud explosion near his house. When he stepped outside to find out what had happened, he saw an Israeli tank some 100 meters east of his home and a thick cloud of dust near it. The tank cannon that had been pointed to the north, suddenly shifted eastward toward Shaluf's house and began shelling it. Shaluf's 24-year-old wife Mas'uda and their two daughters, three year-old Suha and one year-old Huda, were inside the house at the time. Two of the shells hit his house and the yard, causing some walls to collapse and cracking others. The bedroom sustained a direct hit, and was completely destroyed. When Shaluf went inside to check if his family had been hurt, he discovered that Huda had disappeared. He searched for his daughter among the ruins, while under continuous fire. He finally found Huda, alive under a pile of stones. Shaluf rushed his daughter to the hospital, but by the time he reached it, she had already died.
The full testimony of Muhammad Shaluf is available at:
2) On May 2, 2002, at 4:00 PM, the Ghanem family heard tanks moving toward their home in the A-Salam neighbourhood in Rafah, near the Egyptian border. At 5:00 PM, they saw four Israeli tanks approximately 500 meters east of their home. The tanks began firing towards the north. Sabha Ghanem, aged 48, was standing next to the window watching the tanks with her daughter Imtithal, aged 17, and their neighbor Fathia al-Kasir, aged 40. They heard a series of explosions and saw smoke and dust rising near one of the tanks. Half an hour later, a bullet hit the window of the home. Imtithal was wounded in the arm, Fathia in the shoulder, and Sabha fell to the ground. The family thought at first that Sabha had fainted, but when they went to treat her, they discovered her clothes were bloodstained. Islam Ghanem, Imtithal's brother, took his mother to the hospital, where she later died of her wounds.
The full testimony of Imtithal Ghanem is available at:
3) On May 5 2002, 30-year-old Fatma Zakarneh and her two young children were killed by IDF gunfire in the Jenin area. Testimony given to B'Tselem reveals that Zakarneh was working with her children and husband Muhammad picking grape leaves in the area. At around 11:30 AM, two armored vehicles (at least one of which was a tank) arrived. When the vehicles were about 30 or 40 meters away from the family, soldiers from the tank opened-fire, after hearing a loud sound. The indiscriminate fire from the tank killed Fatma Zakarneh woman and her children. The IDF initially claimed the tank had run over a mine, but later acknowledged that the tank's track had simply disconnected. While the IDF expressed regret for the deaths, they maintain
that the soldiers acted according to regulations.
Further information on this incident is available at:
The testimony of Rafa'a Hasan Ahmad Kamil, a witness to this incident, is available at:
For further information about unjustified and indiscriminate gunfire, see B'Tselem's report: Trigger Happy - Unjustified Gunfire and the IDF's Open-Fire Regulations during the al-Aqsa Intifada, which is available at:
