Mohammed Sultan, 18 year old boy, Tufa neighborhood, Khan Younis refugee camp, March:
"I tried to open the gas bomb so that I could throw it back at the Israelis. So I opened it and nothing happened - and then it started to blow in our faces. Some of the guys fled and some stayed. It didn't seem to have any smell and then it smelled like mint - you smell mint."

"When I first had the canister the black smoke came out and the guys said, "what is this - it has no smell. It doesn't smell at all." Then, after a while it had the smell of mint. Mint, mint, mint, and the guys said, "it's harmless - this gas is nothing." We thought it was like the first gas that makes your eyes water, and so we started shouting to the Jews: "Throw more! Throw more!" So they started throwing more canisters. And then the jeep left and I had the canister in my pocket and I started playing with it - the guys were around - and it started spurting more and more smoke into my face - I got up and went home and lost consciousness."

Nasser hospital gas patient, man with skin blotches:
"The house was hit. We thought it was a fire – we tried to put it out. But it wasn’t a fire. At first there was white smoke - then many other colors. Like a rainbow. And the smell was good. You want to breathe more. You feel good when you inhale it."

Adult man, interview at Khan Younis refugee camp:
"I was going to the Mosque to pray on Sunday evening prayers. Then near the mosque the guys said there's a house fire - and we headed over to the house near the mosque - there was thick black smoke coming out."

Ahmed, 17 year-old boy, Amal Hospital:
"This gas – you can’t extinguish the canisters with water or a blanket or anything...the gas is sweet smelling. I mean, the gas doesn’t make you want to run away, or think it might be bad for you. You feel as if they are spraying a smoke in the air."

Man, mid-30s, al Bahar street, Tufa neighborhood, Khan Younis refugee camp, early March:
"I looked up and I saw black smoke coming out of the house. I thought there was a fire – I was surprised that there was no fire. There was a canister with black smoke coming out of it. I smelled something like mint."

Ibrahim, 14 year-old boy:
"The kids said 'The house is burning.'"

Interview with teenage girl:
"First of all the smoke was white, then yellow, then black. Its taste was like sugar - the smell was sweet. It was not unpleasant to smell."

Interview with mother, Tufa neighborhood, Khan Younis refugee camp, February:
"There was an exchange of fire – all my kids went out to have a look. And they went to help in a house that caught fire up the street The younger kids came back inside There was an exchange of gunfire and we were watching from the window that faces the tall building. What happened was a canister landed in our courtyard -- and smoke was coming out of it – I closed the door to the room where we were And smoke came in from underneath the door and the room filled up with poisonous gas. So me and my children started calling for help I was shouting “help me! help me!”

After that I couldn’t shout at all – I couldn’t make a sound.The people tried to come into the window – but they were unable to break the bars. They kept trying to extinguish the gas canister, but they couldn’t because of the smoke – they would come close and then retreat after 10 minutes I couldn’t even see my children through the black gas. Nobody could save us. Finally they put out the gas canister. We were suffocating – we couldn’t make any sounds – I didn’t even know if my children were alive or dead because of all the black smoke.

16 year-old girl:
"They were throwing gas, and we didn’t think it was poisonous We thought it was smoke."

Man in Tufa neighborhood:
"..and somebody said there was a fire in the camp – so we headed over to put it out. When we got there – we were surprised that it wasn’t a fire – but a thick smoke of several colors."

Man in Khan Younis refugee camp:
"The guys said there’s a house fire – and we headed over to the house near the mosque – there was thick black smoke coming out."

Interview with ambulance driver, Nasser Hospital, Khan Younis:
Question: Could you describe the gas?
"What I saw was a long gas canister with like fins on the end and like a tube for a body. It goes up high ad then comes straight down. Just like a flare would. When it comes down the gas explodes and billows out. The gas is dark not like the usual teargas. It doesn’t make you tear up or irritate your mucus membranes. And it has a sweet taste, a good taste."(1)