Nadima Yousef Said Nasser

Above: Nadima, in her living room. Photograph by Philip Reynaers.

It was Thursday. Suddenly the street was deserted. My mother went to the neighbours’ house, and the shelling started. About 10 families were gathered at the neighbours’ house. A little while later, a woman came in from the Irsan quarter. She shouted, “They’ve killed Hassan’s wife!” She was carrying her children and shouting that it was a massacre. I picked up one of my twin daughters, who was a year old, went to my husband and said, “They say that there’s a massacre.” He replied, “Don’t be silly.” I took one of my daughters and gave him the other one, but the shelling got stronger and we went back to the neighbours´ shelter. The shelter was full of women, men and children; a woman from Tel Al Zaater was crying, saying, “This is what happened at Tel Al Zaater.” A little later, I went out of the shelter, and I saw armed men who were putting the men against the walls. I saw a neighbour; they tore open her stomach. Some woman came out of the house opposite and started waving her scarf around, saying, “We must give ourselves up.” Suddenly I heard my sister shouting, “They’ve cut his throat!” I thought that my parents had been killed. I rushed to see them, carrying my daughter. They killed my sister’s husband in front of me. I went up, I saw them shooting at the men. They killed them all. I fled. My other daughter stayed with her father. The armed men left, taking with them the men from the shelter. My husband was among them. On entering the camp a Lebanese woman came; she had seen my husband holding my daughter. She had seen how my husband had been killed by a Phalangist: with the blow of an axe to his head. My daughter was covered in blood. The man gave her to the Lebanese woman, who came back to the camp and gave her to some relatives of mine. I fled to Gaza hospital. When they entered the hospital, I escaped once again.

Mrs Said Nasser lost her husband, her father-in-law, three of her husband’s nephews and five other relatives.

The above text is an extract from the Complaint lodged in Belgium against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Amos Yaron and other Israelis and Lebanese responsible for the massacre. The full text of the Complaint can be found in the section of this website titled The Case Against The Accused.

[The Sabra & Shatila Massacres]