Yet another family’s story has ended in Gaza.
An Israeli plane killed the dreams of Syed Al-Eqad’s family, claiming the souls of his wife and all of his children, leaving him heartbroken, and in a body of pain and grief.
At 7:43 on the morning of the 16th of October, the planes bombed the home of the Zaqmat family without prior notice in the city of Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip. Medical crews pulled more than 15 martyrs - among them were children and women, and the man’s wife and children. He came out injured not knowing what really happened.
The family had escaped from their home in the city center a few days prior, cautious of the heavy bombing. Death was waiting for them in the form of a missile weighing more than half a ton. What was left of their relatives’ home they sought refuge in was a pile of rocks in a hole no less than three meters deep.
The dreams of a happy family were ended, their memories gone, and the details of the family unheeded. And still, the voice of Anas, the family's little boy, who has a voice like a curlew, still echoes faintly in the ears of relatives and crowds of loved ones.
Next to their mother, Randa, they buried Mohammed, Anas, Duaa, Maryam, and Noor.
Alaa remained trapped under the rubble, and was pulled hours later, fighting death for her life. The same way Alaa battled death in the intensive burn unit, her father battles loneliness ahead of a surgery on his physical body; he doesn’t believe the deep wound of his heart will ever heal.
Six souls departed this world in a moment of bloodshed, casualties of a spiteful Israeli pilot backed by a failed prime minister, and an army that is only strong when it comes to isolating civilians.
The occupation carried out massacres against more than 350 families, most of which were erased from the Palestinian civil registry, and the death toll exceeded 3,500 martyrs, including more than 1000 children.
