ISM activist Richard Purssell testified, "hey began demolishing one house. We gathered around and called out to them and went into the house, so they backed out. During the entire time they knew who we were and what we were doing, because they didn't shoot at us. We stood in their way and shouted. There were about eight of us in an area about 70 square meters. Suddenly, we saw they turned to a house they had started to demolish before, and I saw Rachel standing in the way of the front bulldozer." Human-rights activists and Palestinians say that the demolitions had also been accompanied by gunfire from Israeli snipers. The director of Rafah's hospital, Dr. Ali Moussa said that 240 Palestinians, including 78 children, had been killed since the Al-Aqsa Intifada began in 2001, "Every night there is shooting at houses in which children are sleeping, without any attacks from Palestinians." The United Nations said that 582 Rafah homes were demolished and 721 damaged, with 5,305 people made homeless.