On 20 June 2012, the family decided to go to a piece of land they own outside Gaza City near the beach. Ma’moon went to the property first, whilst Amneh prepared a picnic. She recalls her son telephoned her after he got to the land. “He asked me to get there quickly because many Israeli drone planes were circling the sky near the land. I also heard drone planes circling over our neighbourhood. Life had been very tense since Monday, 18 June, with Israel bombing different areas in the Gaza Strip, killing and injuring several people.” Amneh says she was nervous as she drove to their property but was relieved to see families sitting outside and children playing in the neighbourhood where their land was located. After arriving the family sat down to rest in their hut and Ma’moon took a nap on his mother’s lap.
“Several hours later, we performed the noon prayer,” Amneh recalls. “Ma'moon started a fire and made us some coffee. After that, Ma'moon got his ball and said he wanted to play around in the land. It was around 2:30 pm. He was playing west of the hut about three to four metres away, when a huge explosion rocked the entire area. ‘Ma'moon, my son. My child is dead. They've killed him,’ I shouted as thick smoke filled the area. I went crazy. I got up and started looking for Ma'moon between trees, hoping he might have escaped. I called his name but he did not answer. I could not see him,” says Amneh.
“I looked at the spot where the explosion had taken place. The smoke was still rising,” Amneh remembers. “I saw Ma'moon on his back on the ground. His body was covered in blood and full of shrapnel. He was moaning, and then quiet. I put his head on my shoulder and carried him back to the hut. I placed him on my husband's lap,” Amneh says. “At that moment, I saw my husband's neck and head bleeding profusely.” Amneh shouted for an ambulance and men from the neighbourhood rushed to help her carry her son and husband.
“Doctors pronounced Ma'moon dead at the hospital,” Amneh says. “My husband's head, neck, leg and one of his fingers were injured by shrapnel. The drone targeted my only child and took him away from me. [...] Why? He was not a fighter. Neither was he found near fighters. They killed him while he was playing with his ball. Who is going to tease and joke with me? Who is going to take my husband out to the neighbourhood and the mosque? Ma'moon was his father's eyes. He was my hands, my legs, my heart and my mind. I lost everything when I lost him.
“Several hours later, we performed the noon prayer,” Amneh recalls. “Ma'moon started a fire and made us some coffee. After that, Ma'moon got his ball and said he wanted to play around in the land. It was around 2:30 pm. He was playing west of the hut about three to four metres away, when a huge explosion rocked the entire area. ‘Ma'moon, my son. My child is dead. They've killed him,’ I shouted as thick smoke filled the area. I went crazy. I got up and started looking for Ma'moon between trees, hoping he might have escaped. I called his name but he did not answer. I could not see him,” says Amneh.
“I looked at the spot where the explosion had taken place. The smoke was still rising,” Amneh remembers. “I saw Ma'moon on his back on the ground. His body was covered in blood and full of shrapnel. He was moaning, and then quiet. I put his head on my shoulder and carried him back to the hut. I placed him on my husband's lap,” Amneh says. “At that moment, I saw my husband's neck and head bleeding profusely.” Amneh shouted for an ambulance and men from the neighbourhood rushed to help her carry her son and husband.
“Doctors pronounced Ma'moon dead at the hospital,” Amneh says. “My husband's head, neck, leg and one of his fingers were injured by shrapnel. The drone targeted my only child and took him away from me. [...] Why? He was not a fighter. Neither was he found near fighters. They killed him while he was playing with his ball. Who is going to tease and joke with me? Who is going to take my husband out to the neighbourhood and the mosque? Ma'moon was his father's eyes. He was my hands, my legs, my heart and my mind. I lost everything when I lost him.
At around 7:10 am, Kolthoum, their neighbour, heard that “a home-made rocket was fired from the town cemetery, about one kilometre to the west of my house.” Kolthoum’s four-year-old grandson, Khader, was playing outside with Wafi, so she rushed to the window to tell him to come inside immediately. “Just then,” she says, “I saw Ayoub coming out of the orchard and standing in the empty land in front of the orchard.” Within minutes, there was a huge explosion. Kolthoum rushed outside to find Khader at the main door, “crying and terrified of the bombing, [...] at the same time, Wafi’s sister rushed out of her house, picked up Wafi and rushed back into the house. Wafi was shaking with fear.” Kolthoum followed them inside. “I could see that his leg was bleeding,” she says. “His family called an ambulance.”
The ambulance arrived a few minutes later and took Wafi to the hospital. He had to be treated for injuries in his leg. “I told the paramedics to look for Ayoub, as he was near the fence at the time of the bombing,” Kolthoum continues, “I think he was on his way to school because he was wearing his school uniform. One of the paramedics went to the orchard and found Ayoub in the orchard, just two metres away from the fence. They carried him out and the lower part of his body was severely injured. He was not moving.”
When Ayoub’s mother heard the explosion she rushed out of the house to look for her son. She watched as the paramedics put Ayoub on a stretcher. “I started shouting as I saw them putting him on the stretchers with his body blown in two. Some of them were carrying his legs. I could not believe it. I collapsed.” Ayoub was dead on arrival in hospital.
“What was his fault to be brutally bombed?” says his mother. “He was not a fighter. There were no fighters in the orchard in the first place. They assassinated my little child just because, as I was told by Kolthoum, he and Wafi were chasing a small dog [...] This is his destiny; to be blown into pieces that are still scattered on the leaves of the trees in the orchard. He promised to get me a present for Mother’s Day. He said he would get me a bottle of perfume and a rose. But it was me who bought the perfume and the roses to put on his body.”
The ambulance arrived a few minutes later and took Wafi to the hospital. He had to be treated for injuries in his leg. “I told the paramedics to look for Ayoub, as he was near the fence at the time of the bombing,” Kolthoum continues, “I think he was on his way to school because he was wearing his school uniform. One of the paramedics went to the orchard and found Ayoub in the orchard, just two metres away from the fence. They carried him out and the lower part of his body was severely injured. He was not moving.”
When Ayoub’s mother heard the explosion she rushed out of the house to look for her son. She watched as the paramedics put Ayoub on a stretcher. “I started shouting as I saw them putting him on the stretchers with his body blown in two. Some of them were carrying his legs. I could not believe it. I collapsed.” Ayoub was dead on arrival in hospital.
“What was his fault to be brutally bombed?” says his mother. “He was not a fighter. There were no fighters in the orchard in the first place. They assassinated my little child just because, as I was told by Kolthoum, he and Wafi were chasing a small dog [...] This is his destiny; to be blown into pieces that are still scattered on the leaves of the trees in the orchard. He promised to get me a present for Mother’s Day. He said he would get me a bottle of perfume and a rose. But it was me who bought the perfume and the roses to put on his body.”
two cousins, both 12 years old, have been killed when munitions they took from an Israeli army firing range exploded.
Paramedic Eid Abu Munshar from the Palestinian Red Crescent said the boys belong to a family that collects spent munitions and shells from the West Bank firing range and sells them for scrap metal.
It's not clear what type of munitions the boys were handling, he said Tuesday.
The Israeli military said an investigation was under way, and initial findings showed that one of the boys set fire to an unexploded shell.
The Palestinian medic said the boys, Hamza and Zayed Jaradat, were killed near their home in the southern West Bank.
Wounded children
He said three other teens were wounded in the explosion.
Paramedic Eid Abu Munshar from the Palestinian Red Crescent said the boys belong to a family that collects spent munitions and shells from the West Bank firing range and sells them for scrap metal.
It's not clear what type of munitions the boys were handling, he said Tuesday.
The Israeli military said an investigation was under way, and initial findings showed that one of the boys set fire to an unexploded shell.
The Palestinian medic said the boys, Hamza and Zayed Jaradat, were killed near their home in the southern West Bank.
Wounded children
He said three other teens were wounded in the explosion.
OPERATION CAST LEAD 27 DEC 2008-18 JAN 1009
Fares a-Samuni 12
Killed 05-01-09
Killed in a-Zeitun neighborhood when soldiers ordered the extended Samuni family to gather in the house of one of the family members.
The next morning, the house was bombed and collapsed on its occupants, killing 21 of the family, and injuring many.
The following is a translated transcript of the appeal from Helme Samouni:
"On behalf of the surviving members of the Sammoni family and the hundreds of other families in Gaza who have been killed by war crimes committed by the Givati Brigade of the Israeli Army, we are shocked and disappointed by the decision of De Beers to present the Queen of England with a diamond manufactured by the Steinmetz Diamond company -- a company which supported the Givati Brigade during the Israeli war on Gaza late 2008 as they murdered 29 members of our family in cold blood. We the Sammoni family call on the Queen of England and the British people to decline this gift. We demand that De Beers be instructed to remove this offensive blood diamond display immediately.
Diamonds that generate revenue used to fund a regime guilty of war crimes are de-facto blood diamonds.
We call on De-Beers to show respect for the surviving victims of the diamond-funded Givati Brigade's actions in Gaza and remove the Forevermark Steinmetz Jubilee diamond from the Tower of London.
We call on Steinmetz Diamond company to end all support for and association with the Israeli military and to make reparation to the Sammuni family and the other victims of the Givati Brigade's actions in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead.
The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem describes the massacre of 21 members of the Al Samouni family as follows:
"On 4 January 2009, at the start of the ground phase of operation Cast Lead, about 100 members of the extended a-Samuni family were huddled inside one house in the a-Zeitun neighborhood of Gaza City. The next morning, an Israeli airstrike killed 21 people inside the house, including 9 children and 10 women, and injured dozens of other family members. During the next two days, the army refused access to medical teams, in spite of being informed of the terrible outcome by family members who managed to escape the bombed home and human rights and humanitarian organizations, including B'Tselem. When medics managed to get to site, they found four small children next to their dead mothers in one of the houses, and evacuated several wounded people. The army refused permission to evacuate the bodies and they remained in the rubble for a further two weeks."
A UH Human Rights Council investigation concluded that Israeli forces committed serious war crimes and possible crimes against humanity.
The Sammoni family, 29 members of which were killed by the Israeli military in Gaza in 2009, have issued an appeal to the British Queen to remove the Steinmetz Forevermark Jubilee Diamond which De Beers put on display in the Tower of London to mark the Queen Elizabeth II's Jubilee.
In total, 29 members of the Sammoni family were killed by the Givati Brigade of the Israeli army during the Israeli assault on Gaza (Operation Cast Lead) in December 2008 – January 2009. 21 were killed in a single airstrike on a building in which the family were taking cover, and 8 others killed during the course of the 23-day-long attack. The Steinmetz diamond company has "adopted" a Unit of the Givati Brigade which it funded and supported during the brutal assault on the people of Gaza.
In the appeal, posted to YouTube today, Helmi Sammoni, speaking on behalf of the family said: "On behalf of the surviving members of the Sammoni family and the hundreds of other families in Gaza who have been killed by war crimes committed by the Givati Brigade of the Israeli Army, we are shocked and disappointed by the decision of De Beers to present the Queen of England with a diamond manufactured by the Steinmetz Diamond company – a company which supported the Givati Brigade during the Israeli war on Gaza late 2008 as they murdered 29 members of our family in cold blood. We the Sammoni family call on the Queen of England and the British people to decline this gift. We demand that De Beers be instructed to remove this offensive blood diamond display immediately."
Background
In one of the most despicable example of gross human rights violations recorded during the three weeks of the attack, twenty one members of the Sammoni family - innocent and defenceless children, women and men - were killed by the Givati Brigade in a single incident. The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem describes the incident as follows:
"On 4 January 2009, at the start of the ground phase of operation Cast Lead, about 100 members of the extended a-Samuni family were huddled inside one house in the a-Zeitun neighborhood of Gaza City. The next morning, an Israeli airstrike killed 21 people inside the house, including 9 children and 10 women, and injured dozens of other family members. During the next two days, the army refused access to medical teams, in spite of being informed of the terrible outcome by family members who managed to escape the bombed home and human rights and humanitarian organizations, including B'Tselem. When medics managed to get to site, they found four small children next to their dead mothers in one of the houses, and evacuated several wounded people. The army refused permission to evacuate the bodies and they remained in the rubble for a further two weeks."
A UN Human Rights Council investigation concluded that Israeli forces committed serious war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during Operation Cast Lead.
Sean Clinton, coordinator of the Boycott Israeli Blood Diamonds campaign for the Boycott Israel Network (BIN) and the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) stated: "Diamonds that generate revenue used to fund a regime guilty of war crimes, in this case Israel's apartheid regime, are de-facto blood diamonds. We call on De-Beers to show respect for the surviving victims of the diamond-funded Givati Brigade's actions in Gaza and remove the Forevermark Steinmetz Jubilee diamond from the Tower of London."
Killed 05-01-09
Killed in a-Zeitun neighborhood when soldiers ordered the extended Samuni family to gather in the house of one of the family members.
The next morning, the house was bombed and collapsed on its occupants, killing 21 of the family, and injuring many.
The following is a translated transcript of the appeal from Helme Samouni:
"On behalf of the surviving members of the Sammoni family and the hundreds of other families in Gaza who have been killed by war crimes committed by the Givati Brigade of the Israeli Army, we are shocked and disappointed by the decision of De Beers to present the Queen of England with a diamond manufactured by the Steinmetz Diamond company -- a company which supported the Givati Brigade during the Israeli war on Gaza late 2008 as they murdered 29 members of our family in cold blood. We the Sammoni family call on the Queen of England and the British people to decline this gift. We demand that De Beers be instructed to remove this offensive blood diamond display immediately.
Diamonds that generate revenue used to fund a regime guilty of war crimes are de-facto blood diamonds.
We call on De-Beers to show respect for the surviving victims of the diamond-funded Givati Brigade's actions in Gaza and remove the Forevermark Steinmetz Jubilee diamond from the Tower of London.
We call on Steinmetz Diamond company to end all support for and association with the Israeli military and to make reparation to the Sammuni family and the other victims of the Givati Brigade's actions in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead.
The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem describes the massacre of 21 members of the Al Samouni family as follows:
"On 4 January 2009, at the start of the ground phase of operation Cast Lead, about 100 members of the extended a-Samuni family were huddled inside one house in the a-Zeitun neighborhood of Gaza City. The next morning, an Israeli airstrike killed 21 people inside the house, including 9 children and 10 women, and injured dozens of other family members. During the next two days, the army refused access to medical teams, in spite of being informed of the terrible outcome by family members who managed to escape the bombed home and human rights and humanitarian organizations, including B'Tselem. When medics managed to get to site, they found four small children next to their dead mothers in one of the houses, and evacuated several wounded people. The army refused permission to evacuate the bodies and they remained in the rubble for a further two weeks."
A UH Human Rights Council investigation concluded that Israeli forces committed serious war crimes and possible crimes against humanity.
The Sammoni family, 29 members of which were killed by the Israeli military in Gaza in 2009, have issued an appeal to the British Queen to remove the Steinmetz Forevermark Jubilee Diamond which De Beers put on display in the Tower of London to mark the Queen Elizabeth II's Jubilee.
In total, 29 members of the Sammoni family were killed by the Givati Brigade of the Israeli army during the Israeli assault on Gaza (Operation Cast Lead) in December 2008 – January 2009. 21 were killed in a single airstrike on a building in which the family were taking cover, and 8 others killed during the course of the 23-day-long attack. The Steinmetz diamond company has "adopted" a Unit of the Givati Brigade which it funded and supported during the brutal assault on the people of Gaza.
In the appeal, posted to YouTube today, Helmi Sammoni, speaking on behalf of the family said: "On behalf of the surviving members of the Sammoni family and the hundreds of other families in Gaza who have been killed by war crimes committed by the Givati Brigade of the Israeli Army, we are shocked and disappointed by the decision of De Beers to present the Queen of England with a diamond manufactured by the Steinmetz Diamond company – a company which supported the Givati Brigade during the Israeli war on Gaza late 2008 as they murdered 29 members of our family in cold blood. We the Sammoni family call on the Queen of England and the British people to decline this gift. We demand that De Beers be instructed to remove this offensive blood diamond display immediately."
Background
In one of the most despicable example of gross human rights violations recorded during the three weeks of the attack, twenty one members of the Sammoni family - innocent and defenceless children, women and men - were killed by the Givati Brigade in a single incident. The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem describes the incident as follows:
"On 4 January 2009, at the start of the ground phase of operation Cast Lead, about 100 members of the extended a-Samuni family were huddled inside one house in the a-Zeitun neighborhood of Gaza City. The next morning, an Israeli airstrike killed 21 people inside the house, including 9 children and 10 women, and injured dozens of other family members. During the next two days, the army refused access to medical teams, in spite of being informed of the terrible outcome by family members who managed to escape the bombed home and human rights and humanitarian organizations, including B'Tselem. When medics managed to get to site, they found four small children next to their dead mothers in one of the houses, and evacuated several wounded people. The army refused permission to evacuate the bodies and they remained in the rubble for a further two weeks."
A UN Human Rights Council investigation concluded that Israeli forces committed serious war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during Operation Cast Lead.
Sean Clinton, coordinator of the Boycott Israeli Blood Diamonds campaign for the Boycott Israel Network (BIN) and the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) stated: "Diamonds that generate revenue used to fund a regime guilty of war crimes, in this case Israel's apartheid regime, are de-facto blood diamonds. We call on De-Beers to show respect for the surviving victims of the diamond-funded Givati Brigade's actions in Gaza and remove the Forevermark Steinmetz Jubilee diamond from the Tower of London."
OPERATION CAST LEAD 27 DEC 2008-18 JAN 1009