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On January 4, 2009, an unmanned Israeli drone fired a missile killing Hala's daughter (age 10) and niece (age 11). Three other children were injured in the attack, including Hala's daughter (age 14) and two nephews (ages 15 and 16).
One daughter lost both legs above the knee and a nephew had one leg amputated half way up his shin. The Al-Habash home was the only house targeted in the immediate area. On June 29, PCHR interviewed Hala and her husband at their home.
On the day of the attack, "the area was very quiet, we weren't really afraid at all. There was no resistance and we felt safe. We let the children play outside." They were on the roof. Hala was so distraught, she couldn't attend her daughter's burial. "I refused. I only wanted to remember her alive."
When she visited her other daughter in the hospital, there was chaos. "There were so many injured, so many dead, so much suffering. The situation was horrible...the smell of blood and the injured. There weren't enough doctors and nurses. It was like a market, not a hospital."
Al Jazeera interviewed her daughter in the hospital, and afterward, Saudi Arabia arranged for further free treatment in the Kingdom. Hala kept in contact daily and said:
"My family is everything in my life. I have no father, no mother and no one but my husband, children, and close relatives....Once I woke up crazy, thinking why did this happen" to people she loves? "The Israelis came to fight Hamas, but they fought us. Why did they do it?"
Case Study 3: Majeda and Raya Abu Hajjaj
On January 4, Israeli forces shot and killed them. They were part of a group of 27 civilians fleeing the Johr Ad-Dik area following the ground invasion. They were killed with no warning or provocation. Majeda and another group member were carrying white flags.
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