Hisham al-Ashhab, uncle of Sari al-Ashhab
I live with my family in a house near Wadi al-Hariyeh street which connects between the northern and southern parts of the city. The neighborhood is called Khilat al-Ashhab. My brother, Muhamd Taysir al-Ashhab and his family also live in the neighborhood. Muhamad has six children, among them Sari, aged 12. I'm a taxi driver, and my brother is a truck driver.
On Tuesday, July 7, 2002, in the late morning hours we received confusing news about the curfew that had been imposed a few days earlier. At around noon, I was sitting with my family in front of my house at the edge of the street. Some people, including children were walking about on the street. Suddenly, six or seven military jeeps passed by on the street. They came from the south. The soldiers didn't say anything about the people being out on the street, which encouraged us to stay out and the children to go out and play.
I went with some relatives to a nearby mosque to pray. At 1:30 PM, we went back to sit at the edge of the street. Some of the children were still playing on the street, among them my son, 'Abd al-Karim, aged 11, my nephew Sari, and 14-year-old Mustafa al-Ashhab.
At 1:30, as we were sitting outside drinking coffee, a Border Police jeep came from the south. It drove slowly with the back door open. One of the Border Police officers in the jeep was holding his weapon outside, through the jeep door. The officers in the jeep announced there was curfew once. The jeep was about 15 meters away from us. We were surprised, and before we managed to get inside, an officer in the jeep threw a tear gas grenade at us. It exploded near our feet, and the gas spread everywhere. I felt like I was choking and my eyes were burning. We all got confused and went into my house, which is the nearest to where we were sitting.
When the tear gas was fired, my nephew, Sari, was standing by a taxi which was parked on the street. He was brought into my house bleeding from his nose. I found out that the tear gas grenade first hit the taxi and then him. We first thought he was slightly injured, but when the bleeding didn't stop, we decided to take him to hospital. We got on a taxi that took us to Al-Ahali hospital. No one stopped us on the way there, and I noticed some people walking about.
At the hospital, we found out that Sari's injury was severe. The doctors apologized that they couldn't treat him, because they lacked the necessary equipment. They recommended we go to a different hospital. We went to Al-Mizzan hospital where Sari went into surgery for an hour. It turned out the grenade caused fractures in his lower jaw. The doctors at Al-Mizzan recommended we take the child to the Rafidia hospital in Nablus within 24 hours. We couldn't do so because of the curfew and the closure. Finally, after coordination with the Red Crescent, Sari was taken to Jordan for further treatment. He was taken at 4:00 PM, after spending the night in Al-Mizzan hospital. I later found out that he had arrived in Al-Istiklal hospital in 'Aman where he had two operations. His father went to Jordan with him.
Hisham Rateb Muhamad al-Ashhab, born in 1959, is married and the father of five. He works as a taxi driver and lives in Khilat al-Ashhab neighborhood, Hebron. The testimony was given to Musa Abu Hashhash, at the witness' home on July 21, 2002.