Falcon29
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Gaza marks anniversary of Israel attack - Features - Al Jazeera English
Ahmed Jamal al-Dalu's life changed in an instant last November. Nothing has been the same for the 29-year-old since an Israeli warplane dropped a bomb on his family's three-storey home in Gaza City, killing ten members of his family.
"We never expected that one day our home would [be attacked]," Dalu told Al Jazeera over the phone from Gaza City. "We didn't expect that my mother, my sister, my brother, his wife, his children… they would go like this in one second."
The Dalu family home was completely levelled by an Israeli air strike on November 18, 2012, during the last major Israeli military offensive into Gaza, dubbed "Operation Pillar of Defence". Ten members of the family - five children, four women, and the father of four of the children - were killed along with two neighbours, while nine others were injured. Only Ahmed's father, Jamal, and his younger brother, Abdallah, survived because they were not in the house when the bomb struck.
Ahmed was studying civil engineering in Turkey when the attack happened. A friend called to tell him the news, and he said he spent two days in a Turkish hospital for shock before rushing back to Gaza. "[My friend] called me and he told me there is an Israeli airplane that attacked your home by F-16 bomb. When I heard that, I didn't believe it. I called our home but no one answered," he said.
Human Rights Watch called the bombing "a clear violation of the laws of war". It was the deadliest single attack during the entire Israeli operation.
Now, Ahmed says, "my little brother needs care, and my father also needs a lot of support. I'm feeling like I became the father and the mother and the sister for both of them. I'm trying to make them forget, but we cannot forget."
'Threat of death'
The Israeli military offensive on Gaza began on November 14, 2012 with an air strike that killed Ahmed Jabari, a top Hamas military commander, in Gaza City. The Israeli army later posted on Twitter: "Ahmed Jabari: Eliminated". Israel justified the eight-day assault as a response to rockets fired from Gaza on southern Israeli cities.
Yet human rights groups documented several cases of indiscriminate Israeli shelling of civilian areas, and accused Israel of severe violations of international law. Gaza is one of the most densely populated areas in the world, with 1.6 million people crammed into just 365 square kilometres. For its part, Israel said armed Palestinian groups often launched their attacks from civilian areas, "creat[ing] particular operational difficulties for the IDF commanders responsible for making targeting decisions in such a challenging environment".
A ceasefire was declared on November 21, after an Egyptian-brokered agreement set out terms to end Palestinian rocket fire and slightly ease Israeli restrictions on Gaza. But the damage had already been done.
"Palestinian civilians lived under extreme fear and threats to their lives due to direct attacks on civilians and their property throughout the Gaza Strip. There was no safe place and the threat of death was felt by everyone with no exceptions," read a statement issued by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR).
called the Dalu family members' deaths "unfortunate" but said steps had been taken to reduce the chance of harming civilians.
...............
RIP to all killed and to my neighbors in Gaza the Dalu family, I saw him this summer and he still looks in total shock and has his head held low. He's trying to get better.
Ahmed Jamal al-Dalu's life changed in an instant last November. Nothing has been the same for the 29-year-old since an Israeli warplane dropped a bomb on his family's three-storey home in Gaza City, killing ten members of his family.
"We never expected that one day our home would [be attacked]," Dalu told Al Jazeera over the phone from Gaza City. "We didn't expect that my mother, my sister, my brother, his wife, his children… they would go like this in one second."
The Dalu family home was completely levelled by an Israeli air strike on November 18, 2012, during the last major Israeli military offensive into Gaza, dubbed "Operation Pillar of Defence". Ten members of the family - five children, four women, and the father of four of the children - were killed along with two neighbours, while nine others were injured. Only Ahmed's father, Jamal, and his younger brother, Abdallah, survived because they were not in the house when the bomb struck.
Ahmed was studying civil engineering in Turkey when the attack happened. A friend called to tell him the news, and he said he spent two days in a Turkish hospital for shock before rushing back to Gaza. "[My friend] called me and he told me there is an Israeli airplane that attacked your home by F-16 bomb. When I heard that, I didn't believe it. I called our home but no one answered," he said.
Human Rights Watch called the bombing "a clear violation of the laws of war". It was the deadliest single attack during the entire Israeli operation.
Now, Ahmed says, "my little brother needs care, and my father also needs a lot of support. I'm feeling like I became the father and the mother and the sister for both of them. I'm trying to make them forget, but we cannot forget."
'Threat of death'
The Israeli military offensive on Gaza began on November 14, 2012 with an air strike that killed Ahmed Jabari, a top Hamas military commander, in Gaza City. The Israeli army later posted on Twitter: "Ahmed Jabari: Eliminated". Israel justified the eight-day assault as a response to rockets fired from Gaza on southern Israeli cities.
Yet human rights groups documented several cases of indiscriminate Israeli shelling of civilian areas, and accused Israel of severe violations of international law. Gaza is one of the most densely populated areas in the world, with 1.6 million people crammed into just 365 square kilometres. For its part, Israel said armed Palestinian groups often launched their attacks from civilian areas, "creat[ing] particular operational difficulties for the IDF commanders responsible for making targeting decisions in such a challenging environment".
A ceasefire was declared on November 21, after an Egyptian-brokered agreement set out terms to end Palestinian rocket fire and slightly ease Israeli restrictions on Gaza. But the damage had already been done.
"Palestinian civilians lived under extreme fear and threats to their lives due to direct attacks on civilians and their property throughout the Gaza Strip. There was no safe place and the threat of death was felt by everyone with no exceptions," read a statement issued by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR).
called the Dalu family members' deaths "unfortunate" but said steps had been taken to reduce the chance of harming civilians.
...............
RIP to all killed and to my neighbors in Gaza the Dalu family, I saw him this summer and he still looks in total shock and has his head held low. He's trying to get better.
