Ramallah, April 10, 2014—A four-month-old baby was injured when an Israeli air strike hit meters away from his home in central Gaza.
Mohammad al-Tater from Al-Meghraqa was left “bleeding profusely” after the force of the explosion smashed windows in the house and scattered shrapnel throughout the bedrooms.
The attack came at 1:45 am on April 4 and struck a piece of farmland approximately 100 meters (328 feet) from the house.
Mohammad's father, Tamer al-Tater told DCI-Palestine in a sworn affidavit: “I heard my wife screaming and realized something bad must have happened … I found that my son Mohammad was bleeding profusely from behind his left ear.”
Mohammed was taken to hospital by ambulance where doctors treated him for a cut.
Al-Tater's extended family — his parents and his brothers' families including 31 children — live in apartments in the building. Al-Tater’s brother also sustained a shrapnel wound in the attack.
Al-Tater told DCI-Palestine that his five children have been traumatized by the experience.
“My children who went through this terrifying experience are scared of loud sounds,” said al-Tater. “Last night my daughter woke up screaming and shivering. I am getting ill worrying about them.”
The Israeli army told Agence France-Press in a statement that air strikes on April 4 were in retaliation for rocket attacks from Gaza.
Israel has employed air strikes in Gaza sporadically since its last major military offensive, Operation Pillar of Defense in November 2012, which resulted in the deaths of 33 children.
Since the beginning of 2014, Gaza has seen increasing numbers of air strikes prompting Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to demand in March that Israel “put an end to its military escalation in the besieged Gaza Strip.”
The injury rate among children in Gaza is also steadily increasing, according to DCI-Palestine statistics.
"At least nine children have now been injured as a result of Israeli air strikes since the beginning of 2014, a number that will continue to rise unless Israel ends its campaign of collective punishment," said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, Program Accountability director at DCI-Palestine.
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