Rawan's picture held during her funeral

By Adel Zaarab, IOL Gaza Correspondent

GAZA , May 24 (IslamOnline.net) - Rawan, a little Palestinian girl from Rafah, only five, went out to play with her friends. A wide smile brightened her little innocent face. Two bullets fired by an Israeli occupation soldier wiped out that smile instantly and knocked her down drowning in her blood.

"Rawan's head was totally fractured; her smile faded and she failed to move any of her limbs. She was stuck to the ground chilling like a dying bird when the bullets of occupation penetrated her head," Rawan's father, Mohamed Abu Zeid, recalled – through his tears - the last moments of his daughter's life to IslamOnline.net Monday, May 24.

"On Saturday morning, Rawan went to play with other children in Brazil neighborhood in Rafah when an Israeli soldier in a tank shot two bullets that penetrated the back of her head and neck," the distressed father cited the event.

What Did My Daughter Do?

"The neighbors hurried to save Rawan's life. I went out to see my daughter in her blood. She was moved to Abu Youssef al-Naggar hospital, as they thought she might be alive. But she died immediately. Her case was as serious as hopeless," he added with tears flushed out of his eyes.

Rawan's father did not stop praying to Allah to avenge the killers of his daughter, supplicating in sadness, "to Allah I resort."

"What is my daughter's guilt to be killed in cold blood? It is the Israeli terrorism," he charged.

The little girl was born on the same day (May 24) in 1999 and she was an orphan as her mother died when she was two-month old. A neighbor illustrated that the word "Rawan" is the plural of "Rania" in Arabic that means "constantly staring."

"Rawan is a typical name for her, as - despite her young age - she looked forward towards her future that was threatened by the occupation army and the destiny of her people that seek freedom and independence till she was killed by the occupation troops even before seeing her dream come true," he father adds.

Medical reports indicated that Rawan received two direct shots, one in her skull and the other in her neck, leading immediately to her death.

Inhabitants of Brazil neighborhood held a funeral for the little girl where they called for revenge and a halt to the crimes perpetrated against citizens in Rafah, while corpses of other martyrs are still retained as people are unable to bury their martyrs due to the curfew imposed by the occupation on Rafah and its camp.

The latest casualty statistics, obtained on May 22 by IslamOnline.net on the Israeli aggression on Rafah revealed that 58 were killed, 300 wounded, in addition to hundreds of partially or totally demolished houses and 1500 deported families.