Gaza boy recounts house of death

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) - "Abu Salah died, his wife died. Abu Tawfiq died, his son died, his wife also died. Mohammed Ibrahim died, and his mother died. Ishaq died and Nasar died. The wife of Nael Samouni died. Many people died.

"There were maybe more than 25 people killed," said Ahmed Ibrahim Samouni, a 13-year-old Palestinian boy who was wounded in the leg and chest but survived the alleged Israeli shelling of a house in north Gaza on Monday, Jan 5.

A report by the U.N. Office for the Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said at least 30 people were killed in the incident. Most were members of Samouni's family.

OCHA deputy chief Allegre Pacheco quoted witnesses in the Zeitun district as saying Israeli troops had ordered about 100 civilians to get into the house and stay there, out of their way. But the following day the house was hit by Israeli shells.

"There are no bomb shelters in Gaza," she said.

An Israeli army spokesman on Friday denied the allegation.

"The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) did not mass people into any specific building," Jacob Dallal told Reuters. "Furthermore, we checked with regard to IDF fire on the 5th. The IDF did not target any building in or near Zeitun on the 5th."

Lying in hospital in Gaza, the Palestinian boy told how his family were ordered into a house that was hit a day later.