Military Poice to investigate tear gas shooting that severely injured boy

On Friday, 1 August 2008, after we finished the afternoon prayers, I went to the wedding of a relative of mine, Iyad Ahmad a-Ramhi. It was held at the Sondus Hall, which is located behind the gas station on the main road of Jalazun Refugee Camp. I was with my family in the hall and every now and then went outside to play with the other kids.

Around 6:30 P.M., while we were playing, we heard the sound of live ammunition and rubber bullets being fired west from us. It sounded far away, and none of us paid much attention to it. I heard people say, “There are Jews here, the army is in the camp.”

Around 7:30, I saw about ten army patrol vehicles leave the camp and head toward the Beit El road. They passed by the hall. I was standing in front of the gas station when I saw them stop in the middle of the road, about 30-40 meters from the station. About twelve soldiers spread out and began to fire rubber bullets at some children who were throwing stones at them from the alleyways in the camp. I hid in a corner of the gas station. After about two minutes, I looked in the direction of the soldiers and saw a soldier next to the wall of the UNRWA offices, about 30-40 meters from me. He was in a sniper’s position and had his rifle aimed at me. He was wearing a helmet, was dark-skinned, short, and had an average build. There were two children next to me: Amjad a-Ramhi, 13, and Mustafa Nakhliyyeh, 12. The three of us hadn’t thrown any stones, and the kids who were throwing them were far away from us.

Suddenly, a stun grenade hit me in the face. No, it was a tear-gas grenade. I felt something fly into my mouth and out again, it shook my whole body. I lost consciousness and fell down. I woke up a bit later. Some young men had come out of the wedding to care for me and they were standing around me. They picked me up and took me into the hall. My uncle, Zuhier ‘Ali, who was in the hall, works as a medic at a hospital in Ramallah. He bandaged my mouth to stop the bleeding and then they rushed me to the government hospital in Ramallah.

I got to the hospital at 8:00. I received first-aid and about half an hour later, I was taken to a-Sheikh Za’id Hospital for further treatment. At 9:30, I entered the operating room. A plastic surgeon operated on me for about three hours. My father told me that I received stitches to my upper lip, to my upper and lower jaws, and to my nose. He also said that some parts of my jaw bone are missing and that I lost twelve molars. Also, my tongue was injured on all sides.

I stayed in the hospital for three days. My father says I will have to undergo treatment for three years. I’ll get temporary molar implants and after my jaws develop, when I am 15 years old, I’ll get jawbone implants. Then they’ll give me [permanent] implants to replace the teeth that I lost.

Yazan Yusef 'Abd a-Rahman Safi, 13, is an eighth-grade student and a resident of Jalazun Refugee Camp in Ramallah District. His testimony was given to Iyad Haddad on 10 August 2008 near the site of the incident.