“When Saturday Came…”
46 mins – script – July 2009
00:00-00:19 Sunset over Gaza (Title)
00:20-00:42 Pan down to tunnels; Two men dig.

00:43-00:49 Mix to hands digging

YOUNG MAN: We are suffering inside here for the survival of our people.”

00:50 Mix to several hands excavating; Young man walking inside the tunnel, Camera following him;

01:00 Young man digging;

YOUNG MAN: Digging all day for 80, 100 Shekels and, God may protect us, risking our lives here.”

01:10 Two young man going down deep inside the tunnel;

YOUNG MAN: We do this work out of necessity.

01:17 Boy trying to go deep inside a destroyed tunnel; Another young going after him;

YOUNG MAN: Get out of there, come on, get out of there. Come back, Amer…

01:25 YOUNG MAN WITH HIS FACE COVERED TALKING TO CAMERA INSIDE THE TUNNEL: The Israeli occupation forces fired their deadly missiles from F-16 jet fighters and we saw the missiles landing on us, on these tunnels. So, we started running like crazy. Some of our friends died in Rafah. You can see the massive destruction around you.

01:47 Pan up to the entrance of the tunnels;

Israeli Helicopter firing missiles;

01:54 NARRATOR: Israeli missiles fire at Gaza: a narrow, overcrowded coastal strip in the Palestinian Territories, bordered on the southern side by Egypt, on the east and north by Israel. It’s home to a million-and-a-half Palestinians, most of whom are refugees from the land that became Israel in 1948. Cut off from the rest of the world, the majority of Gazans live on food aid.

02:23 NARRATOR: In 2005 the Israelis pulled out of Gaza, withdrawing all troops and all 8,000 Jewish settlers, but Israel retained total control over Gaza´s airspace, coasts and border crossings, restricting the movement of people and goods in and out of the Gaza Strip.

02:40 NARRATOR: The Palestinians have dug 2000 tunnels beneath the border with Egypt, saying that under the Israeli blockade, the tunnels are their lifeline. Israel has tried to destroy the tunnels, accusing Palestinian militants of using them to smuggle arms and explosives into Gaza. Rafah is a prime Israeli military target.

03:06 NARRATOR: The Israeli raids hit many of the tunnels …but as fast as Israeli jets block them, Rafah´s tunnel diggers get back to work …

03:26 NARRATOR: It’s not just guns and rockets that come through here. These deep, sandy tunnels are used to supply Gaza with medicines, cement, sugar, rice, fuel and cooking oil - basic necessities lacking under the Israeli blockade. Food and fuel shortages have led to calls that Israel is imposing collective punishment on Gaza.

03:53 YOUNG MAN VO: (while working) “These tunnels are like oxygen for Palestinian people, a door through which Gaza breathes. Like a breath of fresh air for Palestinians. (talking to camera) We bring medicines, food or refrigerators through here. The issue of the tunnels is very clear. ke everybody knows Gaza lives thanks to these tunnels because it can´t depend on border crossings.

Pan from a tune to a young man’s face, talking to camera:

REPORTER: “What do you need this tube for?”

Young man with his face covered and his hand on the tube, talking to camera:

YOUNG MAN “This helps us to breathe inside here. If the tunnel collapses on us, having this tube that comes from outside, means we can receive fresh air, until we can be rescued.”

Diggers walking inside the tunnel; diggers excavating trying to find a cable; CS hands moving sand;

YOUNG MAN TALKING TO CAMERA WHILE EXCAVATING “When we were bombed our goods were trapped inside. Now we are digging to get them out. (Pan down to hands digging…) We have been working for 3 days now without rest. We will resist in Gaza and, despite the fact that they destroyed the tunnels and our goods are trapped (talking to camera inside the tunnel) we will dig them up with our own hands to get our belongings back, with our trust in God.

Young men walking to the entrance of the tunnel; Young men going up, trying to reach the entrance of the tunnels; young man going out;

Young man VO: “We are working here, underground, as if God chose it as our destiny, to spend all our life here, inside these tunnels.”

Diggers moving up, various;

Mix from diggers going out of the tunnel to an Israeli aircraft on the sky of Gaza;

Pan from sky to Gaza City;

Various of Tel aviv;

Destroyed area in Gaza; Various people recovering their belongingsfrom the remains of the houses; People walking carrying their belongings; young man sitting among destroyed houses;

CS woman crying and covering her face with her hands;

05:27 NARRATOR: (starts with planes flying) Though Israel controls the skies over Gaza, on the ground it has been controlled since 2007 by Hamas, who won the 2006 Palestinian elections.

05:40 But Hamas was boycotted by Israel and the international community as a terrorist group. Following the elections Israel intensified its attacks on Gaza, imposing sanctions and an economic embargo along with repeated ground incursions, air strikes, targeted assassinations, arrests and the destruction of property.

06:04 In June 2008 there was a glimmer of hope, as a six-month ceasefire began between Israel and Hamas. Under the truce, Israel was supposed to lift its siege on Gaza, while Palestinian militants agreed to end their rocket attacks on Israel. Neither side fulfilled their promises.

Man with a shell ; destroyed house;

GS of a destroyed neighborhood;

Old man recovering cloths and giving it to a boy;

OLD MAN VO: “People, recognize: “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is His Messenger.”

OLD MAN TO CAMERA: “ We ask God for our fighter’s victory. The whole world has advanced weapons to fight with, but we have only the protection of Allah. May God help our fighter stand firm…Only with God’s help we can win.

Palestinian fighter training; walking with his back to camera, holding weapon:

Various Palestinian fighters training;

06:46 NARRATOR: Israel accused Palestinian militants of using the ceasefire to re-arm. These fighters from Islamic Jihad have much in common with Hamas. Islamic Jihad’s armed wing, the Al-Quds brigades, has claimed responsibility for many terrorist attacks on Israel. The group is responsible for the barrage of Qassam rocket attacks on Israeli towns. The rockets inflict greater psychological than physical damage. By the end of 2008 a total of 15 people had been killed by Qassam rockets since attacks began in 2001.

07:24 Most of them land on Israeli border villages like Sderot, which was founded in 1951, on the Arab village of Njad. Thousands of Qassams have rained down on Sderot over the past eight years.
Israel, village of Sderot, Various Sderot, house partially destroyed by a rocket fired from Gaza, various of destruction inside the house; Sderot street, small boy walking down the street;
MAN SHOWING DESTRUCTION INSIDE THE HOUSE: “Here you have a lot of houses where elderly live so they had to find to go to shelter or to add something like that…They have to find some solutions, because, you know, rockets Is…threat…”


07:52 NARRATOR: In the weeks leading up to Christmas 2008, Palestinian militant rocket attacks escalated…Israel has bulldozed many Palestinian orange groves from where the militants fire their rockets, but the attacks - over 3,000 of them in 2008 - continue to threaten Israeli security and strike at the heart of Israel’s right to exist.

Fighters showing an explosive device called Zilzal; Various resistance training how to plant the device;

RESISTANCE SPOKESMAN: Zilzal 1 is an anti-personnel explosive device. Zilzal 2, as you can see here, is an explosive device used against troop transportation vehicles. Zilzal 3 is a very powerful explosive device that is used against Merkava tanks and has 2 types: Zilzal 3 and 4. As you can see the device has a copper shell inside an iron tube in which TNT and others explosive elements are placed.

Various of fighters training how to plant Zilzal

RESISTANCE SPOKESMAN VO ON PICTURES OF FIGHTERS TRAINING: “As for the arsenal at Al Quds Brigades´s disposal, from a military point of view they are light weapons and cannot be compared to an army’s”

Fighters training,

SOUND BITE: “At attention! At ease!”

RESISTANCE SPOKESMAN ON PICTURES OF RESISTANCE TRAINING: “So, what we have at our disposal are light weapons such as Kalashnikovs…”

Resistance training,
SB: “Company!”
RESISTANCE SPOKESMAN ON PICTURES OF RESISTANCE TRAINING: “…RPG, Hand-made explosive devices…This is not comparable to the arsenal at the disposal of the Zionist Entity…
RESISTANCE SPOKESMAN TO CAMERA: “…but, thanks to the motivation and strength of our fighters I think that these weapons can equal the force of the Zionist Army. With some of our tactical and innovative attack strategies we are ready to face its Army that has the latest weaponry at its disposal.”
Various of fighters praying

09:41 NARRATOR: Just before Christmas 2008, the six-month ceasefire between Hamas and Israel came to an end. Just days later, Gaza felt the full force of Israeli weaponry, in the heaviest Israeli attacks on Gaza for decades. Israel said its use of force was to stop the Palestinian rocket attacks.

Various of the funeral of children killed in Jabaliya School bombing, Music

FEMALE RELATIVE TO CAMERA: “This is a genocide like Jenin. They are doing to us what they did in Jenin. A genocide! The genocide of the Palestinian people. This is carnage, carnage…Allah is great! Where are the Arabs? Where are the Muslims? Why aren’t they doing anything? Why? Our children, the Palestinian people are being killed and bombed. Our houses are being destroyed, our children in pieces, in pieces. This should not be happening, it’s a sin, a sin…What they are doing to the Palestinian people is a sin. They were just kids, just kids… In the name of Islam, God, give us victory.”

11:44 NARRATOR: Saturday 27th December began like any other day. At 11.30 in the morning, as children were leaving school, Israeli F-16 jet fighters and Apache helicopters launched a series of air strikes against targets in Gaza. Local medics said at least 225 Palestinians were killed that day alone, in what would be the first day of a 22 day war. Most of those killed that day were Hamas policemen, but women and children also died. Israeli bombs struck militant bases, Hamas government buildings, a science building in the Islamic University, a UN-operated school in a Palestinian refugee camp and a mosque.

12:33 When the smoke cleared, it was carnage.

Woman showing two small children to camera
Small boy looking to camera and turning his back to camera;
Small boy going to his mother,
Various people attending children’s funeral
Mix to GS of Gaza
Music
Various Gaza
Israeli Jet fighter appearing in the sky;
Various Gaza bombing, helicopters firing Gaza,
Gaza streets full of smoke and dust; black smoke;
Israeli Air Force pictures of Gaza being targeted;

Targeted Mosque, smoke and dust;

Sequence of dead and injured, various victims of bombings,
People running from the bombing, dead and injured arriving at the Hospital, chaos at the hospital emergency room;
Man crying at emergency´s room door;
Israeli helicopter bombing Gaza;
Various Gaza, black smoke columns;

Buildings on fire; people in the street, fighter firing weapon;

People running;

Ambulance arriving at the hospital; various of dead and injured;

Meeting of Israeli pilots with their commander, various of the meeting;
SOUND BITES MEETING ISRAELI PILOTS INVOLVED IN GAZA BOMBING: “I am extremely satisfied with your operation and we will continue operating in Gaza. We delivered a strong blow to Hamas, we strengthened our deterrence, and we are working to reduce the rocket attacks, and to strike at the military wing of Hamas. If we need to continue further, we will. We will continue working, and I trust you to do all that it takes to give aid and carry out missions in the best way possible for the people in the South.”
14:06 NARRATOR: Gaza is one of the most densely populated places in the world, so the Israeli strikes aimed at "Hamas militants" were bound to take a toll on the civilian population…By late Sunday night, the official death toll after 36 hours of bombing stood at nearly 300…
Sequence of dead and injured in hospital emergency rooms;
People running from a bombed area, Al´Quran burned;
Pan down, destroyed building;
GS people recovering bodies from the rubble;
Various of building destroyed by IAF;
14:48 NARRATOR: Ignoring international calls for restraint, Israel continued Operation “Cast Lead” in the following weeks, targeting Hamas facilities and inflicting massive damage to Palestinian infrastructure. According to the Israeli Air Force, 80% of the bombs it used were precision weapons, and 99% of the air strikes hit their targets.
15:10 From inside Gaza Al Qassam Brigade’s spokesman launched an appeal to the fighters of all Palestinian factions.
ABU OBEDIA, OFFICIAL SPOKESMAN OF EZZEDINE AL QASSAM BRIGADES: “Fight them and God will make them suffer at your hands and grant you victory helping you to bear the suffering. Sons of the fighting Palestinian people, Sons of our Arab and Islamic Nation, world’s free people, it was God´s will to punish humankind by creating the murderous, perverse and treacherous Zionists. War criminals of the Zionist Army that have declared this operation as the biggest operation ever launched. On the other hand we couldn´t use the Arab weaponry, stocked in their storage houses. We have no war planes or tanks, only weapons made with our own hands.”
Night shots resistance in the streets;
Various resistance in the street going to the front;
16:16 NARRATOR: Many Hamas leaders at risk of being targeted by Israel went underground, not so Sheikh Nizar Rayyan.

VO NIZAR RAYYAN, SENIOR HAMAS LEADER: “I am a member of the Hamas political head but, in the name of God, tell me: If they invade my house, should I tell them that I am a member of Hamas’ political head? They are occupying my country so, my duty is to fight them. Politics shouldn’t stop me.”
Various night shots of Sheikh Nizar Rayyan with fighters;
16:38 NARRATOR: Rayyan was a senior Hamas leader who served as liaison between the organisation’s leadership and its military wing. (SUBTITLE: May God protect you, Mujahedeen… Welcome… May God give you strength).
16:54 On New Year’s Eve 2008, he called for the renewal of suicide attacks against Israel.

Sheikh Nizar Rayyan welcoming fighters;

Various Nizar Rayyan in the street with fighters;

Various resistance taking positions, Night shots;
VO SHEIKH NIZAR RAYYAN: “In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. The barbaric Israeli State tries to enter our land from time to time. They want to attack, annihilate us and wipe out our crops. They are cutting off our sources of fresh water. We say, there is will be no surrender, we will fight on. What we need now is Arab support for Palestinian people who are being annihilated. Arab countries have to take a stand and say what they think. Students must speak out. What we need from Arab governments and people is to have them on our side. I remember as if it was today when our Mujahedeen carried the corpses of Israeli soldiers from the Zeitoun battlefield and our Arab brothers were shocked by them. When they see our bodies they take no notice.”
Night Shots fighters standing in a corner
SB FIGHTERS: “They are bombing, they are bombing Beit Lahiya.
Are they?
Yes, I have just seen the flash.”
VO SHEIKH NIZAR RAYYAN SITTING WITH ANOTHER FIGHTER: “Today it’s the sons of Hamas who are on the frontline. Victory or martyrdom, By God´s will…”
Sheikh Nizar Rayyan by car with other fighters; Various;
18:33 NARRATOR: Nizar Rayyan was convinced that this was just another war with Israel like all those he had witnessed throughout his life. But it wasn´t. It was the deadliest Israeli attack on Palestinians since the 1967 war.
Various Nizar Rayyan´s house destroyed by IAF

Various of Nizar Rayyan and relatives´s funeral
18:51 NARRATOR: On New Year’s Day 2009 Nizar Rayyan was killed by a one ton Israeli bomb, together with his four wives and eleven children. Israeli security sources stated that Rayyan's house was an arms warehouse and contained a tunnel opening. According to a Hamas spokesperson and Rayyan's son, the Israeli Defense Forces warned Rayyan by cell phone that an attack on his house was imminent. Human Rights groups said even if the Israeli charge that Rayyan's house was a munitions warehouse were true, the large number of civilian lives taken rendered the attack "a grave breach of international humanitarian law."

Various Rayyan´s funeral ;
Various Said Siam´s funeral;
NARRATOR: The IDF considered the destruction of hundreds of Hamas leaders' homes crucial to the offensive's success, believing that shelling them has seriously hindered Hamas capabilities.
19:49 Days later the Israelis killed Said Siam, the Interior Minister of Hamas´s government, along with his son and brother. He was regarded as number three behind the prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, and the party's political head in Gaza, Mahmoud Zahar.
Various Said Siam funeral, cemetery, interiors;
SB´s Said Siam´s funeral
Israeli Defence Forces moving into Gaza;
Various Israeli Defense Forces invading Gaza;
IDF operations inside Gaza
20:26 NARRATOR: On Saturday 3rd January, one hour after the sunset that marks the end of the Jewish Sabbath, Israeli ground forces entered the Gaza strip.
Various Israeli Defense Forces Operations inside Gaza
SB SOLDIERS TALKING: “They are firing at us from that house…
Great…”
SB ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES SPOKESMAN CAPT. AVICHAI ADRAEE: “Israel is defending the life of its citizens. This military operation against Hamas is our answer to their rocket attacks against our innocent citizens during the last 8 years.”
SB ABU OBEDIA, AL QASSAM BRIGADES SPOKESMAN: “The Zionists have recognized that they have carried out more than 2500 airstrikes on Gaza. They are using all their military power against this small strip, only small in size, and besieged.”
IDF Operantions inside Gaza
SB ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES SPOKESMAN CAPT. AVICHAI ADRAEE: “Unfortunately, this time, Hamas decided that it will respect nothing, not even schools, mosques or densely populated areas. Yesterday Hamas proceeded with a stupidity that is hard to understand, when radicals, members of this movement, fired mortars at Israeli ground forces. We answered this attack by shelling the area with mortars.”
Al Qassam operations;
SB ABU OBDEIA, Al QASSAM SPOKESMAN: “We can assure you that our missile-firing capability was not affected. We had been firing rockets throughout the war. And, thank God we still have this capability.”
Al Qassam rockets being fired; IDF Operations;
SB ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES SPOKESMAN CAPT. AVICHAI ADRAEE: Through the Arab press we have seen that goal of Hamas is the provocation of Israel…
SB ABU OBDEIA, Al QASSAM BRIGADES SPOKESMAN: “ After each battle we came to the conclusion that the Israeli Army is the only one in the world that uses pumpers. They are not strong enough to face men in the battlefield.”
IDF operations inside Gaza, night shots;
SB ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES SPOKESMAN CAPT. AVICHAI ADRAEE: “Hamas is harming Palestinian interests. Israel will not give Hamas the opportunity to establish the rules of the game and play with the life of Israeli citizens.”
Night shots IDF operations
SB ABU OBDEIA, Al QASSAM SPOKESMAN: “Where is the bravery of this army that fights us from the air, hidden behind the clouds, from the sea or from inside tanks, against a people that have nothing more than light weapons? But, the people can achieve miracles with their will power and convictions. Al Qassam Brigades were able to fire more than 900 rockets in response to their attack. Of those around 345 were Qassam missiles, 230 Grad missiles and 422 mortar shells.”
SB ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES SPOKESMAN CAPT. AVICHAI ADRAEE: “We will never let this kind of action go unpunished and that is why we are moving to defend the citizens of Israel”
IAF video of Jabaliya Schools bombing;
24:01 NARRATOR: Israel released this video which it claimed showed that several Hamas rockets were fired from a United Nations school in Jabaliya. 350 Palestinians were sheltering in this school. On 6th January Israeli shells landing here killed 43 Palestinians, most of them children.
SB FEMALE MOURNER: “What happened here? We had to leave our houses in Atata for this school. Children were playing outside when a helicopter fired a missile on the courtyard. When the shell fell, it was as if all the children were wiped out …While their parents were trying to help them they fired a second missile. As if that were not enough, they fired another missile on them when the ambulances were trying to rescue the injured.”
Gaza GS, various;
25:13 NARRATOR: Day after day black plumes of smoke arose over Gaza as Israeli airstrikes targeted homes in densely populated areas. The Israeli military continued to insist that Hamas was using civilians as human shields.
Various Beit Lahia UN School, IDP´s inside school;

25:24 NARRATOR: At the UN school in Beit Lahia 1,600 Palestinians sought shelter
from the bombardment. The United Nations in Gaza said the school was clearly marked as a UN building and that it had provided GPS coordinates for the site to Israeli forces.
Abdel Rahman, IDP that sought refugee at Beit Lahia School; Abdel Rahman with children, sitting inside a classroom, Abdel Rahman walking out with children;
SB ABDEL RAHMAN, PALESTINIAN IDP: “In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful, my name is Rahman Muhammad Abdel Rahman, from Atata, in the Beit Lahiya neighborhood. My house is near the school. I held on, trapped in my house for 2 days, after the Israeli tanks invaded. Then I had to take refuge in the school. Where can we go? Our houses have been destroyed. In my house we were 5 families, 35 members in total. Now, all 35 of us are homeless with nowhere to go. Every day we hear them saying that we have to move from here and find somewhere else to stay. They keep telling us but we have nowhere else to go. May God help us and grant us the victory. They humiliated us right here in this school…As if we were here, begging for help. Here are my children, my family…”
Photos of the Israeli attack on Beit Lahia school.
NARRATOR: 27. 07 On Saturday, 17th January, the last day of the Israeli offensive, the UN school in Beit Lahia was hit by shellfire. A high explosive shell hit one of the school buildings, killing two boys. The UN says at least two artillery rounds emitting white phosphorus landed inside the school.
SB ABDEL RAHMAN, PALESTINIAN IDP: ”They fired four white phosphorous shells that burned this area. One fell behind that wall and they fired another two after that. When the emergency teams arrived to assist the injured and parents were trying to help their children. When they were running away they fired on them again”
Photos of the attack on Beit Lahia School
SB JOHN GING, GAZA UNITED NATIONS RELIEF AND WORKS AGENCY (UNRWA): “We are all on notice…we are all on notice that nowhere whatsoever in Gaza Strip is safe for the civilian population. People here, this morning, were completely terrorized and traumatized by what they experienced here in this compound. Artillery shells landing in here, phosphorous burning everywhere and of course high explosions, mutilating the bodies of little children, who, as I say, nobody can say were anything but innocent. But now they are dead, now there is no way we can restore their lives who we need to protect, they are living in Gaza, right now because otherwise, in other hour more will be dead and then it will go on and on and on. Thank you very much”.
Various of bombed school; Various of Israeli aircraft shelling White Phosphorous over Gaza; Various of White Phosphorus’s victims in hospital;
28:43 NARRATOR: Israel was using white phosphorous against the laws of war. It’s legal in open areas as screen for troops, but illegal under the Geneva Convention for use against civilians. Human Rights Watch concluded that the Israeli military “fired white phosphorus repeatedly over densely populated areas, even when its troops weren't in the area and safer smoke shells were available. As a result, civilians needlessly suffered and died."
Doctor walking in hospital corridor,
Doctor asking for patient´s list;

SB NAFEZ ABU SHABAN, HEAD OF BURN UNIT, Al SHIFA HOSPITAL: White phosphorous burns through its victims’ bodies. It burns continuously, literally disintegrating the tissues very deep inside the body. So it burns the skin, the skin tissues beneath, muscles, bones…This is something that we could see with our own eyes. Patients brought in are literally on fire, with smoke coming from inside their bodies. The tissues keep burning …The effects of white phosphorous are clinically already proven, even they recognize that. The new fact here is how they used it, as all victims came from densely populated areas.”

Victim of White Phosphorous in hospital bed, doctor showing the burns;

SB NAFEZ ABU SHABAN: “Multiple, different depth of wound injuries. Here is skin, here is cauterization and down is the muscle being dipped. Phosphorous keeps burning and burning and burning, you know?…(His) injury in the small bowel and large bowel. We explored him he is ok here, it is temporary, so we call it’ileostomy’. Later on, after 2, 3 months we are going to close it. Even his genitalia if we’re going to just expose it actually…there is wound here, there is wound here, there is wound everywhere. He was having his big vessel/arterial blood supply to the lower ????? injured and repaired. This injury is still this is types of phosphorous burning all of his abdomen. He’s okay in general condition hopefully he will do a. Blood supply to the lower…
Already he is having amputation here, those toes has been lost, only 3 fingers…was dressed this morning, hopefully will be okay.”
SB Doctor talking to the patient
PATIENT: “I want to get up and walk.
SB NAFEZ ABU SHABAN: I’m going to dress him and take him for a walk .Do you want to tell them what happened to you? Where were you when you were injured?
PATIENT: In Atata
SB NAFEZ ABU SHABAN: Do you mind if they ask you some questions? Where were you when you were injured?
PATIENT: In Atata. Behind the school…Behind the school that was bombed.”
Doctor walking in hospital’s corridor;
32:13 NARRATOR: Doctors and human rights groups also accused Israel of using another controversial weapon: Dense Inert Metal Explosive. Designed by the US Air Force in 2006, Dense Inert Metal Explosive minimizes damage to structures while inflicting multiple amputations on its victims. Most of those who survive the initial blast die of organ failure.

Doctor entering a patient’s room; Woman in a wheelchair; amputation;

SB NAFEZ ABU SHABAN: “Do you mind if we show them your amputation?
The kind of injures that we have seen are not a result of conventional weapons such as bullets or artillery shells. Maybe for them they are conventional weapons but, what we have seen these days goes far beyond that.”
IDF Ground operations inside Gaza
SB ABU OBEIDA, Al QASSAM BRIGADES SPOKESMAN: “As you know the number of fallen martyrs is more than 1300, most of them are civilians.”
IDF Ground operations inside Gaza
SB ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES SPOKESMAN CAPT. AVICHAI ADRAEE: “We are defending our lives and the life of our citizens. Hamas, and its leaders, hidden underground, are completely responsible for the suffering of Gaza’s people”.
Man´s feet; young man walking into a yard; young man entering a house and going upstairs;
33:31 NARRATOR: On Saturday 17th of January Israel announced an end to military operations in Gaza saying its troops would remain in the Strip.
That day a window was opened over Gaza unveiling a thousand stories of death and destruction.
LIVE ON TAPE Woman, owner of a house destroyed by IDF showing the destruction; -
WOMAN: “They are here…Let them come and see the destruction, let them film the destruction they left behind, in Gaza…Please see….Give me the Qur’an they were pissing on…No money, no gold, nothing, they took our money, our gold, everything. They burned us alive, they didn’t leave me even one dress. They destroyed us…God, You are my best defendant, you are our Lord , help us against those who help Israel destroy us and our children. My God, this is all I ask of you.
Man taking his belongs out of the rubble while talking;
MAN: “We have nothing. No money. We only have the clothes we stand up in. What can we do now? Dig a hole and bury ourselves to make the Jewish happy? We should have received support before the Jews attacked us. I can´t understand why the Jews and the governments just watch us on TV and do nothing. What do we get out of all those summits? What do we need the United Nations for? They’ve been sitting around doing nothing for 60 years now while the Palestinian people have been displaced and destroyed. Our land is destroyed, our crops are destroyed. They kill our wives, they kill our children, leaving us with nothing. What will we do now? I swear to God that I am one of many others that can’t sleep at night, thinking how we can rebuild all this.
Back to woman
WOMAN: Look, my son’s qualifications…Is he guilty of something? They think by doing this they will stop Al Qassam brigades, but this will not stop them or change Hamas’s principles. We are the ones who were destroyed…
OTHER MAN: This is my mother´s room. Look how they opened the door, by shooting at it. Here the same, they opened it with shots. They didn’t conduct a normal search. They shot everything. Look how they left the room. They did the same in all rooms. My mother spent all day praying and reading the Qur’an and they have been pissing on all her things, they pissed everywhere”…
Back to man
Before the war, before the attacks and destruction, Why did nobody come to help us? Why did it have to happen to us? I can’t understand, there were human beings living here, entire families, happy and peaceful. Why did they have to come and destroy us? Israel is a fake nation, this is not their land, this is not their country, they came here using force. It was a very calm area, I can’t understand why they came here. Not Al Fatah, not Hamas, they just want to destroy the land and displace us. They’ve been displacing us for more than 50 years now. We are human beings like them. My God, why are they doing this to us? Look, these are children’s clothes…People don’t believe we are peaceful people. These are women and children’s clothes. Why did the Jews have to destroy this? The tanks rolled over the people that were living here…They destroyed the walls and the rubble fell on them. Women and children were killed here. The Jews came to kill us in our own land. I want to know why people just look at us, doing nothing when we are in this situation…Look, here we had small children…All this, why was it destroyed by the Jews? Why? Aren’t we human beings? What have we done to them? Tanks and missiles?…What tanks and missiles? There were small children playing here and they came to destroy them… Look, this is all we have to eat now…Our life now depends on tinned food.”
Samouni family relatives attending the funeral;
Various of Samouni´s family funeral
38:47 NARRATOR: Israel’s attack devastated much of crowded Gaza. But few families felt the wrath of the Israeli military more than the Samounis. 48 members of the same family were killed in one day.
Various at Samouni’s funeral. SB Samouni’s family relative sitting near the rubble of Samouni’s house
RELATIVE: “At 7 o’clock in the morning they knocked at the door of my relative Atiya Samouni. When his son heard the knock he answered. They were all together in one house because of the bombings. They left the mud houses and sought refuge in a concrete one thinking it would be safer. They entered the house and asked: “Who is the owner of this house? ”Faraj, the oldest son went out with his hands up, holding up his documents. They asked: “Are you the owner of this house?” He said: “Yes” They shot him immediately. Yesterday, when I recovered the body he was in the same position as when he fell, with his face down and his hands up…
Various Samouni’s funeral, funeral in the streets, inside Cemetery;
40:02 NARRATOR: The Samouni family was told by soldiers that they would be safe gathered in one building. With the entire family huddled together in one house soldiers started shooting.
Then three rockets hit the building and tore apart the rooms where the family was gathered.

SB Samouni’s relative sitting near the rubble of the house
RELATIVE: “6 people died in that house. 6 in the other. Another 6 in the next…There more and more and more…29 people killed in 10minutes…”
Various Samouni’s funeral
40:35 NARRATOR: For days Israel refused the medical teams access to the Samouni family and the injured were left to bleed to death. Others died from hunger and thirst. When the Red Crescent could finally reach the remains of the house they found under the rubble four small starving children, too weak to stand, next to the bodies of their dead mothers. The Red Cross issued an uncharacteristically strong condemnation pointing out that failing to help the wounded violates the rules of war.
Samouni´s relative walking in the site of the massacre.
RELATIVE: “Look over there, it was my uncle’s house. A carnage took place there. Yesterday we recovered 22 bodies from the rubble. We had to use tractors to recover the bodies from under the rubble, right there, where that woman is taking photos. My relatives are there, searching for their belongings: their clothes, money, gold…They are trying to recover the few things they have left. That’s my uncle over there. Look where he is sleeping now, you see? He has no house, what can he do?”
GS, old man laying on the rubble
SB OLD MAN: “I ask God for help. They destroyed our houses. We were thrown out in the streets, with no food or water…God, help us…not even water”
(COULD LOSE FOLLOWING SECTION?)
CS sun burning;
Various Gaza covered of smoke;
Various Gaza Bombing;
Scenes of Palestinian civilian resistance, various;
Jabaliya school classroom in the aftermath of the bombing;
Man in hospital signing victory;
Children showing victory sign;
Small children showing the photo of her dead mother;
43:00 NARRATOR: The UN says the Israeli military campaign destroyed more than 50,000 homes and 800 industrial properties. It has requested more than $11m compensation from Israel for damage to UN property in Gaza. Palestinian rights groups say more than 1,400 Palestinians were killed during the January conflict. Thirteen Israelis died.
In July 2009 testimonies about the war were collected from Israeli soldiers by Breaking the Silence, an army veterans organisation. One soldier said “If you see any signs of movement at all, you shoot. These were the rules of engagement”. But Palestinian resistance will continue. The old will die and the young will forget. That is what Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, predicted 60 years ago about Palestinians who were forced from their land. Both young and old are dying on a massive scale in Gaza. But survivors don’t forget.
Various inside Gaza tunnels, underneath Gaza/Egyptian Border; young man with their face covered digging in the sand;
SB young man with his face covered while digging
YOUNG MAN: “This is the cable that we use to push our goods up. This is the cable that we use to push up our goods. It was here all the time…The engine connected to this cable should be down here…In 3 days we will be able to it get it up and take all our goods out…All our goods are on the other side. When we were told to get out of here because they were bombing us, we had to store all the goods in a safe place…Go forward and God will grant you victory…”
CREDITS
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