Gaza Father: IDF lying in investigation -- Ali Waked

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Dr. Mahmoud Iyad, whose two sons were killed by IDF fire during the daily humanitarian ceasefire during Operation Cast Lead, is furious with the army's vindication of its conduct - 'Are my sons the little mistakes the deputy chief of staff is talking about?'

Link to original: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3705363,00.html

Dr. Mahmoud Iyad, who lost two sons during the IDF operation in Gaza, responded to a report on the army's conduct during the incursion, released Wednesday.

"The deputy IDF chief of staff is lying, with a right that belongs only to those who have power but not justice on their side," Iyad said. "It is the same power that gives the IDF the privilege not to take moral responsibility for the crime it committed."

The report found that no fire had been intentionally aimed at civilians, but that certain "operational errors" had occurred, the direst of which killed 21 members of the al-Daya family.
Dr. Iyad told Ynet that on Friday, January 16, his two sons had called him to say that they were planning on taking advantage of the 4-hour humanitarian pause, employed on certain days during the operation, in order to pick him up from his farm on the outskirts of Khan Younis.
"My children, one of whom was a 27-year old engineer and the other a 21-year old freshman student risked their lives," he said. "It was afternoon, there was no fog or anything to inhibit the soldiers' view. There were no incidents, no fire."

He said they had left the farm in the direction of Khan Younis in a car, when suddenly they heard yelling and the soldiers began to fire upon them. "The soldiers were in a house that was empty and suddenly we heard yelling and fire and a soldier yelling, "Get down, son of a whore."

According to Dr. Iyad, the fire killed his eldest son instantaneously. "My young son bled from 12:30 that day and until Saturday in the early morning, when he was defeated and died. He yelled to me 'Father I'm thirsty, Father I'm thirsty,' and there was nothing I could do. I yelled to the soldiers, but there was nothing I could do. I was wounded too. If this the mistake the Israeli deputy chief is talking about? My children are gone. Maybe for him we were 'a little mistake here and there' but my children's life is over. They were my treasure, and in one moment they were taken."

Iyad described how he and his family listened to the radio to hear when the ceasefire would go into effect. "We were glued to the Israeli station to hear when the daily 'hudna' began. We didn't take the chance with any other place. I told my children to come in the middle of the hudna, so they couldn't say it was at the beginning or the end, so nothing would go wrong. But, it did not good and I stayed with the two bodies in the car for nearly 24 hours."

He dismissed the IDF's conclusions from its investigation. "There was no one there, all the people had evacuated. There was nothing to prevent them from identifying us, and yet they still fired, knowing they were firing at civilians. But unlike the deputy chief of staff, I don't have a press conference and I don't have microphones.

"They were killed through this lie called the Israeli purity of arms, but no one can tell the IDF that it's lying. They shoot, they kill, and they lie."

The IDF Spokesperson's Office said in response: "The IDF does not intend to issue any further responses beyond the inquiries already released. This is an individual case."