Tawfiq Shar'ab, uncle of victim, aged 54
Yesterday [Saturday, 16 November], around 6:30 A.M., my niece Samar Shar'ab, 21, went onto the roof of her house to speak with me. I was standing at the window of my house. Our houses are next to each other, and I could see her from my window. We spoke for about five minutes. During our conversation, she said that she could see an Israeli tank and jeep on the Jerusalem road, about one hundred meters from us. Nablus was under curfew.
Samar left the roof, and then I saw her talk with one of the neighbors, Muhammad 'Atiyah Mansur. During curfew, neighbors talk with each other from the windows and the roofs. I heard the neighbor telling Samar that the army was liable to seize control of his building and that the soldiers were already at the door. He added jokingly, "Maybe they will join us for our meal breaking the [Ramadan] fast."
Suddenly, I heard shooting nearby and asked Samar where the sound was coming from. She said that the Israeli soldiers were firing, but that she did not know why. She bent over and moved toward the stairs. Muhammad, the neighbor, moved away from the window. I heard a tremendous explosion, which shook all the houses in the area. A mass of smoke arose around the houses.
I heard Ramez, Samar's brother, scream. He called for an ambulance, and I realized that Samar had been injured. I rushed to her house and went onto the roof. It was a horrible sight. Samar had apparently been hit by fragments. Her arm was almost completely severed. One fragment hit the right side of her chest, under her arm, leaving a hole of about ten centimeters in diameter. She was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall. She did not move. When I went to pick her up, she exhaled twice. The wound to her chest was deep and I was sure that her internal organs had been hit. I knew she was dead. I tried to resuscitate her by pressing on her chest, but she did not respond.
A few minutes later, an ambulance arrived from the direction of 'Aqrabba. The ambulance had patients inside, but when we told the driver what happened to Samar, he agreed to take her to al-Itihad Hospital, in Nablus.
After Samar was taken to the hospital, family members gathered in the house. They were badly shaken. Four Israeli soldiers came over and one of them asked what happened. I told him, "You killed my niece Samar." He asked me where she had been wounded. I said that she was wounded in the arm and chest. He seemed very surprised, and did not believe me. I "Didn't you see the ambulance take her away?" He said that he did. I asked, "Didn't you fire a shell?" He said yes. I said that the shell had scattered in all directions and hit Samar. The soldier seemed shaken. He asked, "Didn't you speak with Samar before she was taken to the hospital?" I said no, and that she did not say even one word. Another soldier recorded our conversation. I asked the soldier, "Why are you firing shells between the houses even though nobody is firing at you, and no fighting is going on?" He responded, "We did not intend to kill Samar when we fired the shell." I asked, "How do you know if the shell kills an innocent person or not? You fire shells between buildings and that will surely injure the residents." The soldiers got into the jeep and tank and left.
A short while late, Samar's father called from the hospital and told me that the doctors had pronounced her dead. She was buried the same day.
Tawfiq Muhammad Tawfiq Shar'ab, age 54, single, he works as a manual laborer and is a resident of Nablus. The testimony was taken by 'Ali Daraghmeh, at the witness's home, on 17 November, 2002