Amidst the shock and terror of the airstrike, Alaa Shaaban Adas – a resident of Al-Shaaf area east of Gaza City – sat among a crowd of mourners, grieving for the loss of his two daughters. “It is unbearable,” he said, his voice heavy with sorrow.
At the stroke of midnight on Tuesday, a father’s worst nightmare came true for one Palestinian family as Israeli warplanes mercilessly claimed the lives of two of their beloved daughters: Dania and Iman.
The sound of the impact jolted him awake, and when he opened his eyes, he was met by the sight of the door of the room crashing down upon his bed. It was then that he realized the magnitude of the event that had taken place. The house was thick with dust, and he couldn’t help but worry about his family’s safety.
When he entered the dark and smoke-filled room, the man’s heart was pounding with fear and anticipation. He saw what he feared the most – Dania and Iman, buried beneath piles of rubble. With the help of some neighbors, they managed to dig them out. Dania’s body had gone limp, but Iman was still alive and was taken to the hospital. Unfortunately, Iman would later succumb to her injuries, joining her sister in death.
As she was approaching the end of her fourth year studying applied accounting, Dania’s excitement was lucid – in a month’s time, she would be walking down the aisle as a bride.
The joyous couple, beaming with happiness, had completed all the necessary preparations for their upcoming nuptials. According to her father, the wedding hall had already been booked and the other details of the wedding were proceeding smoothly. The bride and groom were both elated with the progress that had been made.
Her father fondly recalled the special moment when his daughter Iman shared a dream with him. “Two days ago, we went to the beach, and Iman told me she had a dream that she was wearing a white dress,” he said. “I jokingly suggested that maybe it was her older sister, Dania, who was soon to be married. Little did I know that this dream would come true, but not in a way I was expecting – both Iman and Dania will be wearing white, though not for a wedding, but a shroud.”
For Dania’s fiancé, Muhammad Saad, the sight of her body wrapped in a white shroud, instead of a wedding dress he had envisioned for her, was a heartbreaking one, yet he still managed to find strength to stand by her side and read the Holy Qur’an.
His love for Dania was clear in that moment, a testament to their lasting bond, even in death.
As Muhammad Saad was getting ready to tie the knot with his beloved Dania, tragedy struck in the form of an Israeli occupation missile that took the life of his fiancé, Dania. The joy of the wedding was abruptly replaced with eternal sorrow and grief.
Tags Dania Adas Gaza Gaza Under Attack Israel Occupation Palestine
