Rawhiya was a 37 year old wife and mother, a native of Gaza, who was murdered on the 13 January 2009.
IMAN AL NAJAR (Rawhiya's neighbour): For 2 or 3 days before that day they had been firing phosphorus bombs randomly, but they weren't targetting our neighbourhood, they were actually firing from here, so we could see the bombs flying over our heads and falling in different areas.
We thought at first it was the usual firing of bombs overhead but then my neighbour Rawhiya started calling me. She was shouting to us that our homes were burning. We went out, the smoke was like fog covering everything. Every house received their share of phosphorus bombs. Rawhiya was trying to put out the fire at her house and other neighbours were doing the same. Then she told me hurry up your house is on fire. I ran to the house but it was all on fire.
The special forces had taken the high building and alleyway while we were putting out the fires. They later told the prisoners that they took that we saw you trying to put out the fire but we didn't see you carrying any weapons. They told them that if you had been carrying weapons we would have wiped you out.
The sun had not yet come up, it was still early, when we heard our neighbours scream. So I shouted What's wrong? and she said they're demolishing the house from the front while we are still inside.
They were destroying them like you crush a matchbox and we stood there watching. The soldier that was in the bulldozer was laughing, he was chewing gum and laughing. He turned the head of the bulldozer towards us in a playful manner as though he was telling us you are all going to die.
Nawhiya was leading them. She said if all the women and children start moving out then everyone else could follow afterwards. So she distributed white flags and led them out. She walked at the front carrying a white flag, followed by other women carrying their children.
A couple of radio stations called and we tried to echo our voice and call upon the world to find a solution for us, ar at least save Rawhiya. We didn't know at this point if she was still alive or dead.
No-one answered our call for help. At the end we decided to go out together and face the bombardment. The way we saw it was that it was better to walk into the fire than stay here and die under the rubble. If we went out some of us might get hit and some of us might die but at least someone would make it out alive to tell our story to the outside world.
I used to believe that there are international laws and that there are international courts that prevent Israel from abusing the rights of humans. I have learnt that Israel can do anything it wants without being punished, without anyone stopping it, or even asking it why. Israel can kill, demolish houses, destroy trees and wreck not only a small neighourhood or village but an entire country without anyone stepping in. The Security Council can't stop it, nor can international organisations. That's what I learnt.
NASSAR AL NAJAR (Rawhiya's husband): We used to think that this area was safe because there were no resistance fighters here. They used to bulldoze farms and agricultural lands and then leave. We didn't expect them to demolish houses. We didn't expect this extent of criminality.
At Khuza'a the villagers were used to living under the guns of the Israeli watch-towers and in the first two weeks of the war I'd become accustomed to the artillery and air-strikes but the night before Rawhiya's murder it became clear that this was something different.
She said she didn't want to leave her house and that if she was going to die, they were going to kill her, she would rather die in her own house. She said the white flags [?] so they wouldn't harm them, but they didn't respect the white flag.
My heart is wounded. It fills me with sorrow to look at the place where she died. We spent a lifetime together. She was my friend and companion since I was just 17 years old. What can I say?
HIBA AL NAJAR (Rawhiya's daughter): When they were putting out the fire the neighbour started coughing because phosporus emissions were suffocating him, so my Mum grabbed a towel and soaked it with water because we had been told that water helps.
I was right next to her, a centimetre away. My neighbour was also walking next to her. She was holding up her child as though a flag. Then he shot her. He shot her and she immediately fell to the ground.
I immediately knew that she died. I told the women she's gone. My mother died. They were trying to comfort me by saying she's going to be fine, but I shouted at them She's gone, she's dead, I know she's dead.
We were screaming and holding our white flags so they would see us and not demolish the house with us inside, but they didn't care, it made no difference to them, they started collapsing the walls with us inside.
(Crying) Whenever there's bombardment or gunfire starts we stay inside our houses. We can't go out. It is not fair what they are doing to us. We are imprisoned in our homes. We go from home to school, from school to home. What did we do wrong?
YASMINE AL NAJAR (Rawhiya's neighbour): And then they breached the wall of our house, so we tried to escape through the window. We all escaped and gathered in this empty square behind me.
We all gathered here and then the bulldozer breached the walls of the house here which was right next to us, so we started to escape. Just before that the Israelis had gathered the men and told them that we had to evacuate the area within half an hour. But it seem like they hadn't spoken with the special forces.
When we reached the top of the road the special forces were positioned in the house right opposite to us that took us by surprise.
A bullet hit Rawhiya in the head, It entered through one side and went out through the other. I was so close to her, but there were special forces in front of me. They started shooting at me again and the bullets were passing over my head, but they didn't get me this time, only a small splinter of metal that stuck in my arm.
We went through that alleyway but just as I was about to pass and cross an exit in the road, followed by most of the neighbourhood, they started shooting at us again, so everyone went in one of the houses on the street and were stuck there, but I kept running for about 300 metres until I reached an ambulance and paramedics who were waiting for us.
MOHAMMAD AL NAJAR (Rawhiya's neighbour): The place where you are sitting now was a staircase but they levelled it and placed a mattress on it. Then a soldier lay down on his stomach here. I was hearing everything that was happening and when they were taking me to the toilet they took off the blind-fold and untied my hands, so I could see a few things.
They asked me to sing along with them but I refused. They were still talking to me and one of them was translating. He said to me that if I don't do what they ask they will kill me, so I did what they asked, I started to sing with them until they retreated.
I was really scared. I was worried that something was going to happen to my family. I heard the shots being fired at Rawhiya and I heard her scream God is great. Well that scared me more because it meant that they were killing people and I thought that they were going to kill me when they started pulling out.
They were starting to pull out of the area and so they told us when you hear a few gunshots being fired you can leave. They didn't want anyone to see them, they didn't want to draw attention to themselves.
MARWAN ABU RAIDA (Paramedic): I drove straight there, I was still 60 -70 metres away from the body when what I think were Israeli special forces started shooting at me. I felt powerless, there was nothing I could do for her. My understanding was that medical teams were protected under international law and ethics. Medical teams should be protected, they should have freedom of movement and work because they are emergency services.
I ran out of the ambulance and headed toward the body of the martyr who was dead by then. She bled to death after she was lying there for about 12 hours. I took the body which was in horrible condition and headed for hospital in Khan Younis. You could tell she was killed intentionally because she received only one shot straight to the head. It was obvious that the sniper meant to kill her. I wish the International Court of Justice would take action against those who committed these crimes, because what we witnessed here is unbelievable terror.
