THE MIDDLE EAST: Asma and Ahmed were tending to pigeons and some washing when they were shot dead on their rooftop last week. Nuala Haughey was one of only a few journalists who got past Israeli lines in Rafah to find out more about the incident
The family still hasn't cleaned away the bloodstains.
There they are, two thick dried pools of blood and brain matter which poured from the heads of Asma Al Mughair (16) and her brother, Ahmed (13), when they were shot within moments of each other on the roof of their home in Rafah's Tel Sultan neighbourhood, in southern Gaza, at around 11.30 a.m. last Tuesday.
Their family insists the children were killed by Israeli snipers from a nearby rooftop in the district which they had occupied hours earlier. The Israeli army says it is investigating the claim and is not aware of any firing in the area at the time.
According to Asma's brother, Ali (26), she was at the clothes line taking in a small vest and some other garments belonging to her nine-month-old nephew when a bullet struck her in the rear right side of her head. He points to the corner of the wall-lined rooftop where he said she fell, the spot marked by a thick, dark-red stain.
Ahmed had been feeding the family pigeons nearby when he heard the shot that killed his sister, says his father, Mohammed. He dashed down the stairs of the three-storey house to shout for help and then made his way back up the stairwell. It was here that a single bullet struck him in the front of the head, he adds.
A second dried pool of blood is visible on the top step of the stairwell leading to the rooftop. "We were on the ground floor and we heard a loud scream from Ahmed," explains Mohammed. "There was one scream and then it stopped. In less than one minute I was here and I found him. He was still alive. I saw his chest moving."
Ali also rushed to the scene and picked up Ahmed's body. "When I was pulling my brother's body the shots were hitting the wall above my head. My mother was behind me screaming and crying to see her son dead," he says.
Ali says he then crawled on his belly along the walled-off rooftop and slowly dragged Asma's body inside, leaving behind a smear mark that is also still visible on the concrete floor.
The family had not warned the children not to go on the roof that morning, says Ali. While there had been shooting in the area generally, they had not known that there were snipers around.
The incident occurred on the first day of the Israeli army siege of the Tel Sultan neighbourhood of Rafah, which was placed under strict curfew until around noon on Friday.
This invasion was the Israeli army's opening manoeuvre in its ongoing operation in parts of Rafah town and its adjacent refugee camp.
The army says Operation Rainbow is aimed at neutralising Palestinian militants and destroying tunnels used to smuggle weapons from Egypt. Some 41 Palestinians have been killed during the operation, including up to 20 aged 18 or younger.
As the neighbourhood was under strict curfew and surrounded by Israeli armoured tanks during the week, journalists were not able to examine the scene of the incident or speak to the family.
However, by Saturday morning the curfew was eased within the neighbourhood and the family was able to tell its story for the first time to two small groups of journalists who had picked their way past the Israeli positions still guarding its perimeter.
Ali points from the rooftop of his home to a tall white house some 100 metres away. He claims the sniper or snipers shot his siblings from the roof of this building, which belongs to the Abu Jalala family.
At four storeys, the Abu Jalala home is the highest house in the immediate neighbourhood and also the handsomest. Built by remittances from family members abroad, its red tiled roof and white plastered exterior are in sharp contrast with the surrounding unplastered breezeblock houses.
A visit to the Abu Jalala house reveals several small holes punched through the walls of its upper storeys, the kind frequently created by snipers.
Some half-eaten Israeli army rations lie near several of these holes, including sliced white bread wrapped in plastic and empty containers of sweetcorn, tuna and chocolate spread, all with Hebrew writing on the packaging.
On the rooftop, the loophole which Ali has pointed to as the source of the firing affords a clear view with the naked eye over the Al Mughairs' rooftop, the family's bullet-torn washing still dangling from the clothes line.
To the right of the loophole are some spent bullet shells and an empty cardboard box, printed with Hebrew writing, which reads: "20 rounds 7.62mm ammunition for snipers".
Mr Mohammed Abu Jalala says Israeli forces had occupied the house at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 1½ hours before Asma and Ahmed were killed. The troops left at 2 a.m. on Wednesday, he says.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said the incident was still under investigation. "After checking the whole incident we don't know about any fire that was opened at the area where they were," she added.
An army source said there was a possibility that the children were killed by an "explosive device".
However, Dr Ahmed Abu Noqaira, the deputy head of Rafah's Abu Yousef Al-Najar hospital, said he had examined the children's bodies and concluded that each had died from a single gunshot to the head. There were no other signs of trauma, he added.
The rooftop area shows no signs of an explosion. Two large metal satellite dishes between the pigeon shed and the clothes line had no shrapnel damage or scorching. One of the dishes contained three bullet holes.
The immediate family were unable to attend the children's funeral, held last Friday, as they still could not leave their neighbourhood.
Instead, their children were buried by other relatives. All they have of their two loved ones now are old family photographs and a rectangular shard of Ahmed's skull, which they have wrapped in white and pink tissues.