Vivid reminders of the war, Gaza

Vivid reminders of the war, Gaza

STORIES NEED JUSTICE

COURT IS THE ONLY WAY TO JUSTICE

FROM MISSION ANNEXES TO GAZA

Name of Victim: Ahmed Fawaz Saleh

Age: 5 years old

Sex: Male

Date of Injury or Death: January 17, 2009

Place of Injury or Death: His house, In Jabalia, north of Gaza

Cause Injury or Death: Israeli missile pounding his house at the Barn Roundabout

Details of the last hours:

In Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip, loud laughs and a lot of play noise came from a small house. Their mother looked at the faces of her four innocent children, the oldest was 8 years old. While trying to find a way to save them from the ongoing war everywhere on Gaza. She thought her sister's house, which was not far from hers, might be a safer place for her children, the pupils of her eyes. She actually took the first step to carry out her decision. She packed their clothes but no sooner had they stepped out of their room than the Israeli tanks centered on Al-Kashef hill in Gaza pounded their room andkilled two of her children. In a few minutes, the scene was the most excruciating one for the mother. Thesituation for the bereft mother was indescribable. She could hardly speak about her catastrophe after her son Ahmed, 5 years, and Fawzia, her only daughter, were killed. The other two children were under treatmentalong with their father. The aunt described the scene “my sister had exerted all her efforts to resist the plumes of smoke to find her little four children, but finally she collapsed in front of their torn bodies” With grief the mother remembers Ahmed, the youngest of the three sons, “He was quiet and obedient. He conceded to my instructions immediately. When I asked him to keep quiet or to stop playing with his sister Fawzia, he immediately complied” Like all Gazan children, Ahmed was afraid of everything the occupationforces did. He used to stick to his mother and pull at her dress's tail in fear of her leaving him alone.“Whenever he heard the sound of missiles and rockets, Ahmed cried a lot out of fear, grabbed his sister,Fawzia, and ran to me.” the mother says.

His Dreams:

Going to kindergarten was Ahmed's dream, “I will go to the kindergarten Mum with my cousin Abdullah…I will spend all my pocket money and bring you and Fawzia sweets every day.” The mother says “his dream will never come true…All alone I keep dreaming of them day after day…see them in my dreams play and laugh, but in fact they have gone leaving me all alone; and they will never come back again.”

Name of Victim: Maryam Nizar Rayan

Age:10 years old

Sex: Female

Date of Injury or Death: January 1 2009

Place of Injury or Death: Her house, In Jablia Camp, North Gaza Strip

Cause Injury or Death: Israeli F16 missile pounded her house

Details of the last hours:

Under a blue sky, Maryam Nizar Rayyan, 10 years old, played with her eleven brothers and sisters on the roof of their house, in the company of her father and his four wives. On the 4th day of the Israeli assault on Gaza, at the sky, but never expected that those planes came to put an end to her childhood as well as to the lives of many members of her family who were at home at that time. innocent Maryam heard the sound of the Israeli F16 planes and looked

On the 1st day of the New Year 2009, at 02:00 pm, Israeli F16 planes targeted the Rayyans's house with three missiles. The whole house was ruined and collapsed on the heads of its residents. Maryam was killed along with13 members of her family; the father and his four wives in addition to 7 of her sisters and brothers. No one of the family had survived but 3 brothers who were not at the house then. Maryyam and the other family bodies were picked up from under the rubble. Dr. Mu`awiya Hassanein (the manager of ambulance and emergency in Gaza) says, “Most of the bodies of the Rayyans were found distorted, which indicates how much violent the bomb was.”

More than 10 thousands mourners attended the funeral of the Rayyans the following day.” Maryam was loved a lot by her father who asked her mother to sew a beautiful dress especially for her. Maryam was over the moon with her new dress; she wore it every time she went to play outside her home. Amid all the girls of the district, Maryam attracted the attention of everybody by her innocence and beauty in that dress.

Her Dreams

Belal, Maryam’s Brother, remembers “Maryam was very polite; she called my wife as aunt and addressed the old with titles. She was very hard worker who taught her class mates some subjects, especially English, uponthe request of her teachers. Maryam spoke a lot with everybody, but I loved her talking about the big dream ofgaining her postgraduate studies she was the only one of the Rayyans' who wished to study medicine.”

Belal adds “Maryam, the promising pupil of the fourth grade, dreamt of a better tomorrow and future andeagerly awaited the moment she can go back to her school and kept saying “when I come back to school, I willdo this and that”. Yet, the occupation forces deprived her of her dream and from a peaceful life like all otherchildren across the world.”

Mona, Belal’s daughter, misses Maryam a lot; she talks to her mother about Maryam “May Allah rest her soul; she was so kind and patiently taught her friends. Maryam observed all prayers in the mosque of her district.

After Al-Asr (Afternoon prayer) she used to memorize the Noble Quran with her friends.”When the assault on Gaza came to an end, Mona went to the school for the first time after the death of Maryam and all her uncles. Standing before the pupils in the class, Maryam’s teacher could not control her tears and mourned her most promising pupil, Maryam.

there are plenty of such stories here in Gaza that needed your focus and needed justice as well.