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Many Palestinians were buried under the debris of buildings bombed out by Israel. (Reuters) |
GAZA CITY — It's his son's funeral. That's what Fayez Al-Sayed was told.
But the Gazan father, still in shock, just can not come to terms with that.
"I never saw any remains," cried the grief-stricken father.
His son, Shadi, was reportedly killed during the first day of Israeli strikes on the besieged Gaza Strip, the world's most densely populated areas.
The onslaught, which entered its eighth day on Saturday, January 3, includes more than 750 strikes, killing more than 435 Palestinians, including at least 75 children and 21 women.
The offensive -- one of Israel's deadliest ever against Gaza -- has wounded more than 2,285 people.
Strikes by warplanes and naval vessels have flattened government buildings, homes, schools, hospitals and mosques, leaving many trapped under debris or blown into pieces.
"They say the airstrike has left his work place in ruins. But they never found the body," said Al-Sayed, still waits for something to confirm the loss of his son, something to bury instead of the empty coffin he just laid to the ground.
"I just want to see any piece of skin or shard of bone. I need to see with my own eyes that my son is gone.
"It is hard enough to attend your own son's funeral. But it is just unbearable to accept that your son is dead when there is no trace of his body."
Adel Atea, who is still looking for anything of his brother in bombed-out buildings, is filled with pain and anger.
"Israel is even denying us the right to mourn our dead.
"It's just not fair to lose our loved ones this way."
Empty Coffins
The Abdel-`Al's family is going through the same ordeal.
Their son Aamer was reportedly killed in an Israeli strike.
People told the sorrowful parents that their son's ID was found in his work building, which has become no more than a big pile of rubbles.
"Is he dead? Where is his body?" Aamer's weeping mother asks.
She refuses to hold a funeral until she has something to bury.
"Who knows, may be he is still alive out there."
The family of Mohamed Salim has no such hope.
They received a small pile of skin and bones, which they were told, was all that remained of their son.
Though what was left of their son was not big, the family held a funeral and carried a nearly-empty coffin to the grave.
The same happened with the Amgad Hamid's family.
They received some separate parts of their son's body, which was crushed by tons of debris of another building bombed out by Israel.
"That's all what's left of him," said the mourning mother.
"This is brutal. My son, the apple of my eyes, is gone and I could not even bid him farewell. I could not kiss him goodbye."
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