Translated Content:
(32 years old), father of four, resident of Al-Bureij camp, spoke about the shelling of the displaced persons' camp at Al-Razi School in Al-Nuseirat refugee camp, where he was injured and lost his father and two of his brothers, on July 16, 2024:
Ismail's father, Bassam Al-Jarjawi, was killed in the shelling. Photo kindly provided by the family.
Until the outbreak of the war, I lived in Al-Bureij refugee camp with my wife and our four children: Ghina (9 years old), Bassam (8 years old), Lujain (4.5 years old), and Jude (9 months old). My parents and four of my brothers, Ahmed (35 years old), Khalil (30 years old), Yousef (26 years old), and Mahmoud (23 years old), lived with us in the apartment. My married brother, Omar (31 years old), lived in a room on the roof with his wife and three daughters, Tin (4), Celia (2), and Ibtisam (1). On the third day of the war, my house, which had an asbestos roof, was severely damaged by a nearby airstrike. My brother Yousef suffered moderate injuries to his right leg, and my brother Mahmoud was injured in the head and needed stitches. My son Bassam's right hand was broken. We had to leave the house. We took some mattresses and kitchen utensils with us and moved to Abu Hamisa School, not far from our house. The women and girls stayed in one of the classrooms, and we, the men, lived in a tent in the schoolyard. There were thousands of displaced people, and the overcrowding was severe. We waited long hours in line for the bathrooms, and water was available for only two hours a day, which wasn't enough to fill the containers. We ate beans, canned cheese, and chickpeas from cans, as well as vegetables when they were available at a reasonable price. There was no cooking gas, so we could only cook with wood.
Ismail's brother, Mahmoud al-Jarjawi, was killed in the bombing. Photo courtesy of the family.
We stayed at Abu Hamisa School for about two months, until the Israeli occupation forces stormed al-Bureij refugee camp. My parents and siblings moved to al-Razi School in al-Nuseirat camp, and my wife, children, and I moved to a school under construction in the town of al-Zawayda. There was a severe water shortage and no toilets, so we left after a week and joined my family at al-Razi School. About a month later, the Israeli army ordered everyone to evacuate the area. Most of the displaced left the school, but we stayed, along with about 150 other displaced people. For 12 extremely difficult days, we did not leave the school at all due to the Israeli army presence. After the army withdrew, thousands of displaced people returned to school. On Tuesday, July 16, 2024, at around 2:00 PM, while I was in the school yard and my father, Bassam al-Jarjawi (57 years old), and my brothers Omar and Mahmoud were in a tent in the yard, the army suddenly fired two rockets that hit part of the yard where the tents were pitched, near the cafeteria. The yard was full of people at that moment, some of whom were busy spreading tarpaulins to provide shade. I was hit by shrapnel in my leg and fell to the ground. I saw rubble and thick dust all around me, as well as body parts and wounded people on the ground. My cousins quickly took me in a regular car to al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat. On the way, I told them that my father and brothers must have been killed because they were in the exact spot hit by the rockets. From al-Awda Hospital, they transferred me to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, where I identified the bodies of my father and brother Omar. It took a few hours to identify my brother Mahmoud, as only parts of his body were found in the schoolyard. About an hour later, they transferred me again, this time to an American field hospital on the beach near a-Zawayda. The next day, they operated on me and put a plate in my left thigh. I stayed in that hospital for about two weeks. When I was released, I returned to the same school that had been bombed. We still live there—my family, my mother, and my brothers. A week after Omar was killed, his wife returned to her parents' home with their daughters. Our home in the al-Bureij refugee camp has been bombed about three times and is completely destroyed. We don't know where to go. They took us out of our homes under fire and we moved to schools because we thought they were safe places, but it turns out there is nowhere safe, and the army is bombing indiscriminately, everywhere.* This testimony was recorded by B'Tselem field researcher Khaled al-'Azayzeh on August 20, 2024.