A/HRC/12/48
page 172
they had interacted with during the preceding 24 hours and therefore knew to be civilians, killing
the child Ibrahim Juha.
7.
The killing of Majda and Rayya Hajaj
764. The Mission visited Juhr ad-Dik village twice and interviewed three eyewitnesses of the
killing of Majda and Rayya Hajaj422 and two other members of the family, sons of Rayya Hajaj
(and brothers of Majda). The Mission also measured the distances between the reported location
of the victims at the time of the shooting and the tanks. The Mission further obtained copies of
the PRCS records on its attempts to obtain approval from the Israeli armed forces to dispatch
ambulances to Juhr ad-Dik. Finally, the Mission saw the agricultural land destroyed by tanks and
bulldozers, the rubble remaining of the house of Saleh Hajaj, and the devastation and graffiti423
left by the Israeli soldiers in Youssef Hajaj’s house.
765. Juhr ad-Dik is a village in an agricultural area south-east of Gaza City, about 1.5
kilometres from the border with Israel (the so-called Green Line). On 3 January 2009, an Israeli
tank force entered Juhr ad-Dik. Part of the tank force moved on towards Salah ad-Din Street and
Zeytoun; the remaining force occupied Juhr ad-Dik.424
766. On 4 January 2009, at about 6 a.m., shells hit the house of Youssef Hajaj’s family, where
he, his wife and children, the wife and children of his brother Majd (who was not with his
family), their sister Majda, aged 37, and mother Rayya, aged 65, were taking shelter. A daughter
of Youssef, 13-year-old Manar, was injured. Between 9 and 10 a.m., the Hajaj family decided to
move to the house of their neighbour Muhammad al-Safdi. Around 11 a.m., Youssef Hajaj
received a phone call from his brother Majd, informing him that the Israeli armed forces had
announced on local radio stations (al-Aqsa and al-Hurriya) that people living along the border
between Israel and Gaza should evacuate their houses to remain safe. Having prepared two
make-shift white flags, which were carried by Majda Hajaj and Ahmad Muhammad al-Safdi,
25 years old, who was also holding his two-year-old son in his arms, 26 members of the two
families (more than half of them children)425 left the al-Safdi house. They started walking down
the road westwards, where a group of Israeli tanks was standing at a distance of 320 metres.426
They walked very slowly, covering 200 metres in about 10 minutes. The group was some
120 metres away from the Israeli tanks when, without warning, they were fired on from the
direction of the tanks. Majda Hajaj and her mother, Rayya, were hit. Majda died of her injuries
instantly. Rayya tried to flee, but fell to the ground after a few metres.
Mission interviews of Ms. Farhaneh Hajaj, Ms. Siham Hajaj, Mr. Muhammad al-Safdi, Mr. Youssef Hajaj and
Mr. Saleh Hajaj.
422
Graffiti photographed by the Mission in the Hajaj house included, in Hebrew, names and dates, such as “Yahir
Ben Eliezer Commander mon. [for month] March 2006” and “Yohanan Boutboul Commander mon. [for month]
November 2005” and, in English, the phrase “Death will find you soon”.
423
424
Testimony to the Mission by Youssef and Saleh Hajaj, 3 June 2009.
The overall number of persons leaving the house of the al-Safdi family was also indicated to the Mission as 28.
The Mission was told that 17 children led the procession.
425
426
This and the other distances mentioned in the summary of the case were measured with GPS instruments.
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents