Days of Palestine, Gaza Strip –The little Palestinian girl from Gaza bought Mother’s Day present, went home but never found her mother or anyone of the nine family members.
As usual, Alaa abu-Zaid, 8, from the southern Gaza city of Rafah went to school with her friends, arrived school, entered her class and then went for the midday break.
During the break, she wanted to buy some sweets and snacks, but she found herself alone heading to the canteen. She turned back to ask for her friends to go with her, but one of them said: “I am saving my pocket money to buy a present for my mom on the Mother’s Day.”
With tears immediately descended from her eye, Alaa recalled the scene when the Israeli occupation fighter jets launched the F16 rocket at her family house, turned it into rubble and turned all the bodies of her family members into pieces.
Immediately, one of her friends took her small bottle of water out of her bag and asked Alaa to wash her face. Then, she gave her a piece of tissue to dry her tears.
Alaa lost her mother and nine siblings in the Israeli attack on her family house. With her mother, she is living in a makeshift house with a small window overlooking at the rubbles of the house. Every day, she stands at the window and recalls memories with her brothers and sisters as well as recalls the warm hugs of her mother.
Insisted to buy a present
“However, I insisted to keep my money in order to by a Mother’s Day present,” Alaa said. “After school, I bought a bundle of flowers and decided to present them to my mom. Instead of going home, I decided to go to visit my mother’s tomb to give my present to my mom.”
Tears burst from her eyes, her father wiped her tears, but uncontrollably she collapsed into tears. Her father completed her story for us. “She went to the cemetery and put the flowers on the tomb of her mom,” he said.
It was a sensitive moment that caused me to break down in tears when the father told me the unexpected act Alaa did when she saw her mother’s tomb. “She bent down and hugged the tomb,” he said, “she broke down in tears and continued weeping for about five minutes.”
“I thought that was all, but she insisted to hug the tombs of her brothers and sisters one by one,” her father said. “It was the most heart breaking moments in my life,” he said, “even more serious than the time when the Israeli jets attacked my house and tore up my family.”
Targeting civilians is forbidden by all international laws and conventions, but the crimes of the Israeli occupation always go unpunished. Therefore, it does not care about targeting civilians and civil facilities because it feels safe and secure regarding the disastrous outcomes.
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