Mother's Account of Losing Daughter and Son

“I heard the missile whistling overhead, followed by the sound of shrapnel scattering, as concrete blocks flew into the kitchen. I felt my hair burning and pain in my neck, as well as burns on my left shoulder. Amid the explosion and the scattering debris, dust filled the kitchen and got into my eyes, and I could barely see.

I rushed out of the kitchen, feeling my way towards the apartment door, calling out for someone to come and help me and my daughter, as I did not yet know what had happened to her.”

“Before I entered the operating room, my husband came to me, and his face was covered with tear marks. I asked him about Haya, and he said, ‘Haya is fine. Just take care of yourself.’ I told him that I knew she had been killed and asked him to bring her to me before the burial so I could bid farewell to her, but he remained silent and did not answer.”

“I worry about my detained son, Montaser, wondering how he sleeps and what he eats.”

“You longed for martyrdom, and you have attained it. You have left me alone. You missed your sister Haya; now you will be with her, my beloved son. Until we meet again in Heaven, Inshallah.”

“Sadness still consumes me, but I keep telling myself that martyrs are living a better life than ours. Yet I remain worried about my son Montaser: Does he sleep? What does he eat? It is difficult for me to return to a normal life. The war has taken from us the most beautiful things we had and left my soul aching with wounds that the passage of time will never heal.”

Source: PCHR · https://pchrgaza.org/solafah-abu-kweik-a-mothers-double-loss-losing-her-daughter-without-farewell-and-her-son-while-helping-the-injured/