Demolition order issued for home of Bedouin girl hurt in Iran attack, later scrapped
News outlet reveals measure targeting home of seriously injured 7-year-old Amina Hassouna of Al-Fura, sparking backlash on social media and reported rescinding of order
Israeli authorities have issued — and subsequently scrapped — a demolition order for the family home of a Bedouin girl injured amid last month’s unprecedented attack from Iran, Hebrew media reported Thursday.
Channel 12 news revealed the order to demolish the home of 7-year-old Amina Hassouna, who is still hospitalized in serious condition after shrapnel from an intercepted Iranian ballistic missile landed in the Bedouin town of Al-Fura in the southern Negev.
The order sparked some uproar on social media.
“It’s time for rather than persecuting people in this country, for everyone to get the right to live in equality, security and a home. This is what we Israelis and Palestinians deserve,” the Standing Together Jewish-Arab coexistence movement said in a post on X.
Like many unrecognized Bedouin villages in the area, Al-Fura lacks bomb shelters that could have kept the girl safe.
Such villages are regularly served with demolition orders as they were built without permits. However, many have existed on the same plots of land for generations, sometimes after being evicted by Israeli authorities from other areas. Securing building permits for Bedouin communities is nearly impossible and their leadership regularly accuses the state of discriminatory practices and neglect.
Iran launched more than 300 drones, rockets and missiles, the vast majority of which were struck down by Israel and its allies, in its first-ever direct attack on Israeli territory on the night of April 13-14.
זוכרים את אמינה אל-חסוני בת ה7 שנפגעה קשה ממתקפת הטילים האיראנים בנגב? הרשויות במדינת ישראל הדביקו היום צו הריסה על הבית שלה בפזורה הבדואית, בזמן שהיא מאושפזת בבית החולים. pic.twitter.com/oi89FFNXJl
— מוחמד מג'אדלה محمد مجادلة (@mmagadli) May 2, 2024
Hassouna was the only serious casualty in the attack, and her condition has since improved.
“I don’t know what happened,” her father Mohamed told Channel 13 on the night she was injured. “We were all asleep. We have no bomb shelter and no protection. We heard sirens and then something hit the house and her mother noticed that she was wounded.”
Eight other people with minor injuries were brought into Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, some of whom, like Hassouna, had been hit by shrapnel. The hospital did not provide further details but confirmed that some of the eight people were hurt in the same incident in which the girl was severely injured.
The Iranian barrage had come in response to a strike in Damascus on April 1, blamed on Israel, that killed seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members, including two generals.
