The grandmother then left the house carrying a white banner to inform the Israeli occupying forces that a family was living in the house.  Her three granddaughters followed. The Israeli forces started shooting at them, immediately and tragically killing two of the granddaughters. Su’ad, seven years of age, died immediately, shot with 12 bullets in various parts of her body. Amal, three years of age, was shot in her neck, which caused her immediate death.

One of three sisters, Samar, five years of age, was shot in the back. Her father carried her, on foot, to a hospital two kilometers away. She is now partially paralyzed.

There are many other untold tragic stories of the plight of families from Gaza. The international community needs to scale up and stand against these grave violations of human rights. Samar, Amal and Su’ad and hundreds of other Palestinian children have been killed and injured in Israel’s three week bombardment of Gaza: they should not pay the price of Israel’s military occupation and its practices. 

The information obtained for this report on the three sisters and their plight was gathered by Al-Haq Research Field Workers based in Gaza. The information was directly solicited from the survivors of the family, who provided a first hand account.