ACCORDING to those who knew him, Muhammad Harara, 27, was a gentle soul with a slow waddling gait because of congenitally dislocated hips. Unable to find work, he lived with his brother's family and was a favourite uncle. But according to the Israeli military, he was a "Hamas military wing operative", who was preparing to fire an anti-tank missile at Israeli tanks from the roof of his relatives' home. What is certain is that an Israeli tank fired on Harara about 6am on Friday, blowing him apart and killing his sister-in-law and two of her children.The shell left a gaping hole where there had been two narrow windows in the stairwell. By the end of the day, the only evidence of Harara's presence was a slash of darkening blood and human remains on the wall. Harara's brother, Jaber, looking dazed as neighbours gathered to mourn in the alley beside his home, insisted that there were no weapons in the house and that no one in the family belonged to any armed group. "I used to work in Israel," he said. "The Israelis would never have given me permission to work there if anyone in the family had such links."
He said his brother had gone to the roof with one of his nephews to see if they could spot Israeli tanks, which were rumoured to be on the move. But like most accounts from this part of the world, it was not that simple. Another relative, who asked not to be named, said later that while Muhammad Harara was not a Hamas member, his nephew, also on the roof that morning and also named Muhammad Harara, was a member of Hamas' military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades.