GAZA
CITY, August 29 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - For the Hajeen
family in the Gaza Strip, a nocturnal harvest in their vineyards near
a Jewish settlement turned deadly, when Israeli tank fire hit their
small house as they toiled to get their grapes ready for sale at dawn
Thursday, August 29, 2002.
Four
members of the family were killed when Israeli shelling blasted their
small house in the vineyards - Rueida al-Hajeen, 55, her sons Ashraf,
22, and Nuhad, 17, as well as her nephew, Mohammad, 17, according to
Palestinian medics, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Like
many small farmers in the narrow, overcrowded coastal strip, the
Hajeen family spent the night picking grapes in their field in the
Sheikh Ajlin neighborhood of southern Gaza City, an area just a few
hundred meters (yards) from the heavily guarded Jewish settlement of
Netzarim.
They
worked at night "to be able to sell them before sunrise"
said neighbor Aahed Awad.
Awad
was in his house near the vineyard when "we were surprised by
heavy firing and tanks shells penetrating hundreds of meters into the
neighborhood," he told AFP.
Rueida
was killed on the spot with Mohammed when a shell smashed into the
small house, a relative said.
Ashraf
and Nuhad were seriously hurt and slowly bled to death as ambulances
were unable to reach the scene, Palestinian officials said.
Five
more of Rueida's sons were injured, one of them seriously, hospital
officials said.
"It's
a catastrophe," said relative Abu Mohammed, adding that the tank
shelling, which Israel later apologized for, devastated the family.
"They
had to get up early for the harvest and to sell the grapes,"
which provided their main source of income, he said while organizing
the funeral procession from Gaza's hospital.
For
more than an hour after the tank shells struck, no ambulances could
reach the house because of intensive shooting, Palestinian security
officials said.
"Rueida
and Mohammed were killed on the spot, but Ashraf and Nuhad, who were
showered with shrapnel, were bleeding for more than an hour,"
said Issa, an ambulance driver who finally made it to the scene.
"They
could have been saved," he said, calling the sudden bombardment a
"crime against humanity."
The
head of the Palestinian general security forces in the Gaza Strip,
General Abdel Razaq al-Majaida, said Israel bore "full
responsibility for the consequences which could arise from this
massacre."
The
Islamic resistance group Hamas already vowed to step up attacks in
response to the deaths.
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They were harvesting their grapes, a tank shell sent them to
Heavens
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While
Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer expressed regret for the
civilian deaths, the army claimed its troops spotted figures moving
suspiciously near the settlement, which a spokesman said had been
attacked on average of once a month during the 23-month uprising.
However,
a Palestinian Gaza resident, asking not to be named, refuted the
Israeli claims, charging that “not a single bullet was fired at the
Israeli occupation troops in the first place, not even during the
whole hour they (the Israeli soldiers) kept blasting the devastated
house”.
The
Israeli settlements, built on Palestinian land seized in the 1967
Middle East war, are considered illegal by the international
community, and are the focus of the Palestinian rage.
Ismail
Shamallakh, 4O, a farmer neighbor of the Hajeens, said he saw their
house ablaze "as a result of the shell exploding inside."
"We
were sleeping in our homes when suddenly, we heard an explosion.
Israeli tanks were invading the area, firing and shelling in all
directions, and then I saw the al-Hajeen's house on fire," said
Ismail, a neighbor whose house was also damaged in the incursion.
"Then
I fled with my brothers and we saw the ambulance at the crossing. The
Israeli soldiers stopped it and fired shots at it," he said.
Palestinians
security services said the tank shells destroyed the house and damaged
neighboring homes.
Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat said the shelling was aimed at thwarting
international efforts to find a peaceful solution to the crisis.
"This
crime shows the true intentions of whoever gave the instructions to
carry it out," he added
