Relatives of Hala Khreis, a Palestinian woman killed by an Israeli sniper in northern Gaza, say the soldier shot her deliberately and in “cold blood” as she held her grandson’s hand. son who waved a white flag and walked alongside him. an escape route that had been declared safe.
Khreis was at the front of a group of Palestinians who were ordered by Israeli forces to leave their homes. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) assured them that the road would be safe and that it had been “cleared” by the Israeli army.
But members of the group who fled said they were redirected at the last moment by Israeli soldiers to another route, rather than the one they were initially asked to take.
Khreis and his grandson, Taim, 5, were slightly ahead of the group and did not see the soldiers telling them to change course; they continued along the original route. Within seconds, a soldier opened fire on Khreis before she could turn back.
In a verified and widely circulated video, Khreis was seen holding her grandson’s hand. The little child was waving a white flag when the soldier opened fire.
In the video, Khreis can be seen suddenly collapsing to the ground before Taim runs back towards the group of people who had been routed and is carried away by the group heading south.
His family was left behind while trying to provide emergency medical care to his grandmother and he has yet to be reunited with them. Despite their attempts to provide first aid to Khreis, the family members were unable to help her and she bled to death.
Taim’s mother – Khreis’ daughter – Heba, told Tel Aviv Tribune she desperately tried to find her son in the confusion following the shooting. “I begged, ‘Where is my son,’” Heba recalled. “I couldn’t even go get him for fear of being shot.”
It was only several hours later that they were informed of his whereabouts: he had arrived in Rafah with the rest of the convoy, none of whom he knew.
“I don’t know how we’re still alive.”
Speaking about the moment her aunt was shot, Khreis’ niece Malak al-Khateeb said she never imagined she would one day witness such a horrific scene. She said she was “overwhelmed with fear and confusion.”
After leaving their home that day, she told Tel Aviv Tribune they passed Israeli soldiers in two separate tanks. The first group of soldiers did nothing, she said, but a soldier in the second group indicated that they should leave the road they were on and take another road “to the left.”
At this point, the soldier was out of Khreis’s field of vision, al-Khateeb said, so she was unaware of the gestures ordering them to turn left. In the video, it appears she was about to turn around and look toward the rest of the convoy when she was suddenly shot.
“I stood still in the street, not knowing what to do… If I continued to walk straight ahead, I would meet the same fate as my aunt,” al-Khateeb said.
According to her, Israeli soldiers continued to shoot at the group of displaced people after Khreis was shot.
“I still can’t understand how we’re still alive,” she added.
Khreis’ daughter, Heba, only realized her mother had been killed when she saw one of her neighbors carrying her body.
“It was a complete shock,” Heba told Tel Aviv Tribune. “We couldn’t even bury my mother properly because we couldn’t leave – the area is under siege,” she said.
‘Safe passage’
Northern Gaza has been cut off from the rest of the Gaza Strip by Israeli bombardment which began on October 7, making it almost impossible for those still trapped there to escape. The resulting humanitarian situation has been described as “beyond catastrophic” by the World Health Organization (WHO).
None of its hospitals are functioning due to the blockade imposed on fuel, water and supplies. There are also very few staff left, the WHO said. Israeli forces besieged medical facilities and bombed or shot at doctors, nurses, ambulances and rescue workers throughout the three-month assault.
The bodies of victims of recent Israeli attacks have been lined up in abandoned hospital courtyards because they cannot be buried in safe and dignified conditions, the WHO said.
Khreis’ family was forced to hastily bury him at the entrance to their house. Now they are focusing on the search for five-year-old Taim.
Heba said she was very afraid for her son. Rafah governorate has become overcrowded and the Health Ministry has warned that the disease is spreading rapidly due to a lack of supplies, medicine, clean water and fuel.
Taim’s parents are calling for help from the international community to ensure Taim’s safe return to his family in northern Gaza. “I want my son Taim to come back to my house,” Heba said.
The family is reluctant to travel to southern Gaza, saying no one can guarantee their safety.
In previous evacuations, Palestinians fleeing parts of northern Gaza have been arrested, shot and even killed – despite the routes being declared “safe” by the Israeli military.
“We call on human rights organizations and the Red Cross to provide safe passage for Taim so that he can return safely to his mother and father,” al-Khateeb said.
The family also calls on the international community and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to investigate the circumstances of Khreis’ “execution”.
On Thursday, the ICJ opened a hearing in a case brought by South Africa against Israel. South Africa accuses Israel of committing acts of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
Targeting civilians waving white flags is a war crime, rights groups including Human Rights Watch have said.
Last month, Israeli soldiers mistakenly killed three Israeli hostages in Gaza who were waving white flags. At the time, the Israeli army said it was “illegal” to open fire on those waving flags.
He nevertheless justified the actions of the soldiers in this affair, affirming that the shootings had been carried out “during combat and under pressure”.
More than 23,000 Palestinians, mostly children and women, have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza.
The vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced and the Israeli blockade severely limiting food, fuel and medicine has caused a humanitarian “catastrophe”, according to the UN.