Israel’s Supreme Court will hear the civil lawsuit filed against the State of Israel by Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish, whose three daughters and a niece were killed in January 2009 when his house in Gaza was struck by Israeli tank fire during Operation Cast Lead. The names of those killed were Abuelaish’s daughters Bessan, 21; Mayar, 15; and Aya, 13; and niece Nour, 17. Abuelaish, who worked as an OB-GYN at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv at the time of the attack and was a peace activist, moved with his five remaining children to Canada after the attack, where he works as a professor of global health at the University of Toronto.
The hearing, which had been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, is scheduled for November 15 at 11 am. Albuelaish and his adult children are planning to be in attendance.
A lawsuit filed by Albuelaish against the state in Beersheba District Court in December 2010 was rejected in December 2018, in a decision noting that the responsibility for the girls’ deaths lies with Palestinian terror groups that were storing weapons in the residential building, making it a target for Israel.
“Since this tragedy, I have been trying with all civilized, peaceful, legal, and ethical means to bring my daughters justice,” Abuelaish said in a statement. “Sadly, and painfully, the answer to my call has been denial, evasion, and fake excuses. This has compounded the pain and suffering my family and I have endured and is killing my daughters again and again.”
Abuelaish, who published the book “I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor’s Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity,” told Haaretz that he will donate any money he receives in a judgment or a settlement to the Daughters for Life Foundation that he established in memory of his daughters. The foundation, which provides educational scholarships, is dedicated to empowering young women in the Middle East.