Gaza Family says Children Executed by Israeli Military

A Palestinian family says three of their young children were shot in cold blood by an Israeli soldier after being ordered out of their home.

The incident took place near the Jabalya refugee camp on January 7th 11 days into the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip. A woman, Souad Abed Rabbo, says the family had responded to calls from an approaching Israeli tank unit to exit their apartment: "We started coming outside of the apartment, and we were waving white flags to show that we were not fighters," she said through a translator yesterday. Her son, Khaled, also emerged along with his wife and their three young daughters and other family members where they met with two Israeli soldiers standing nonchalantly on either side of the tank: "They were standing there just looking at us, and they were eating chips and one had chocolate and they were talking to each other," Husam, his brother, said. "We were waiting for about 10 minutes for directions on where we should go." It was at this point that the family says a third soldier emerged from the top of the tank armed with a rifle and began to methodically target and shoot the three daughters one by one: He did it very slowly," Ahmed, a brother, said. "He took careful aim at the little girls, and shot Amal and Souad three times. Sammer started running back up the steps toward the house and he shot her also." Horrified by the unprovoked murders, the family began to flee towards the house with the grandmother attempting to push the girls' parents back indoors. The soldier continued to shoot, now directing his fire at the grandmother, hitting her three times in the torso, abdomen and arm. All of the victims were rushed inside the house where it was discovered two of the daughters were dead and the third was in serious condition. The soldiers refused to allow a nearby ambulance driver to drive them to hospital forcing them to walk the girls over to Shifa hospital. The seven year old has since been transferred to Belgium where she is being treated in the intensive care unit. Israeli military spokesman, Captain Benjamin Rutland, said the charges would be investigated and denied the Israeli military targeted any civilians. "With regard to this particular incident, this is being investigated at the very highest levels of the IDF," Captain Rutland said. "It is a very thorough investigation."