At
dawn Thursday, September 25, a column of 35 Israeli armored vehicles,
including tanks, pushed into the Al-Bureij refugee camp in the central
Gaza Strip, backed up by a helicopter gunship.
"It
was 3 am, we were all asleep and the house was quiet. Suddenly, I was
awakened by the sounds of Israeli Apachi helicopters firing
intensively and I knew our neighborhood was the target of a new
raid," Lina's father, Hassan, recalled the horrible moments.
"Minutes
later, the sound of firing grew louder and became deafening. Suddenly,
I saw Lina jumping out of her bed and running towards me with the
deepest look of horror I have ever seen engraved of her little face.
She threw herself in my open arms and started screaming hysterically.
"I
felt her tiny body shaking and all my attempts to calm her down bore
no fruit with the continuous firing outside. Gradually, her body
temperature started falling, she stopped screaming and her face became
as pale as that of a corpse," he added, through his wet face.
It
was obvious Hassan himself was on the verge of collapse as he recalled
the terrible experience of a father holding his dying child while
completely helpless to save his dearest. One may wonder what else
could be crueler to a father, any father.
After
some words of comfort, Hassan could pull himself together to continue.
"I
tried to rush out of the house to take her to the hospital but that
was impossible with the sounds of tank shells and continuous
explosions outside. Three hours later, the occupation forces withdrew.
I rushed to the hospital, carrying Lina who was then as quiet as dead.
"I
reached al-Aqsa hospital where the medical staff did their utmost to
save her but to no avail. My little angel was killed by the fright her
little heart could not handle," he concluded.
Sparrow
In Paradise
At
first, I was hesitant to try to speak with Lina's mother who has not
yet stopped crying over the loss of her daughter whom she described as
"the family angel".
"Praise
be to Allah, my daughter is now in Paradise just like a little
sparrow, God Willing," she said.
"Lina
was our smile and our joy. She used to fill our gatherings with a
cheerful atmosphere with her endless innocence and childish humor.
"Before
going to bed, she would always kiss us good night and I loved watching
her going to bed with her ever smiling face. I always wondered about
the sweet dreams she ought to be seeing in her sleep," she added.
Lina
was the fourth among her siblings. The oldest (Hamouda) is 5 and the
youngest (Asmaa) is one.
