Court rules against Gaza doctor who sued over shelling that killed 3 daughters

The Beersheba District Court rules against a compensation lawsuit filed by a Gazan doctor who lost three daughters to IDF shelling during 2009’s Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip, finding that it was terror groups who bore responsibility for the girls’ deaths because they carried out their attacks from within a civilian population and stored weapons in the building where the girls died.

Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish’s daughters and a niece were killed when two tank shells struck his Gaza home in the waning days of Israel’s 2008-9 war with Hamas. The Israeli shelling on January 16, 2009, occurred as Abuelaish, a longtime advocate for coexistence with Israel, was speaking with then-Channel 10 reporter Shlomi Eldar on a live broadcast to Israelis via telephone. He found out his daughters had been killed during the broadcast, with Israeli viewers listening as he cried out into his phone.

For Israelis, the deaths of Bessan, 21, Mayar, 15, and Aya, 14, along with their cousin Noor, put a face to Palestinian suffering during Operation Cast Lead.

Judge Shlomo Friedlander says that IDF shells hit the building in the midst of a battle in the area because figures on the roof of the building were suspected to be acting as lookouts for terror groups and directing fire at IDF forces. In addition, he says, there was evidence that secondary explosions in the building were caused by weapons stored at the site, albeit without Abuelaish’s knowledge.

“It is regrettable that the four children who were not involved in the fighting lost their lives,” Friedlander writes. “However, this is a very unfortunate side effect of the criminal practice of the terrorist organizations of fighting Israel from within a civilian population.”