By Abdallah Aljamal – Gaza

Professor Awni Abu Awn and his children lived in their house, amid the rubble, for two months, before another bomb was dropped.  

Last January, the central region of the Gaza Strip was subjected to heavy bombardment, in parallel with an Israeli invasion by land.

The majority of residential buildings in the Maghazi, Bureij, and Nuseirat refugee camps were destroyed. 

A Palestinian family in Maghazi decided to remain in the only room that stood amid the rubble following an Israeli strike. 

Professor Awni Abu Awn and his children lived there for two months, before another bomb was dropped.  

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On March 30, however, Israel dropped a barrel bomb on what remained of his house, killing him, along with his daughter Dana, 17, his son Abdulwahab, 27, and his little son Imran, who was only nine.

The Palestine Chronicle spoke to Professor Abu Awn’s daughter, Umm Abdulrahman.

“My father and my siblings were all sleeping in a room without walls, but they insisted on staying in their home because they said there was no safe place in Gaza,” Umm Abdulrahman told The Palestine Chronicle.

“My brother Imran was my father’s favorite and the youngest in our family,” the woman said.

“He never left my father, they had a very special relationship. Throughout this war, Imran became even more attached to our father. The bombing was intense, and the sound of shelling was terrifying,” Umm Abdulrahman explained. 

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Death Surrounded My Family

“Therefore Imran clung to my father, making sure to sleep in his arms every night. And this is how he was killed, while still hugging my father”, she said, in tears. 

Umm Abdulrahman’s survived because she was not in the house. 

“My mother suffers from diabetes and had gangrene in her foot a few years ago, leading to the amputation of part of her foot. She uses a wheelchair and could not climb to the upper floor of our house,” Umm Abdulrahman told us. 

Therefore, the woman was sleeping at a friend’s house, along with her daughter Zemzem, 20, who was also injured and lost her husband in this war.

“My father did not commit any crime,” Umm Abdulrahman said. 

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“He just wanted to remain atop the rubble of our destroyed house, taking care of his family. The occupation didn’t like that, so they bombed our house, killing him and my siblings.”

Umm Abdulrahman lost many members of her family in this war, including her husband, who was killed by Israeli shelling on Al-Bureij camp last October. 

“Now I am left with the responsibility of taking care of five orphans. Death surrounded my family throughout this war, and left us with nothing but pain and sorrow”.

(The Palestine Chronicle)

– Abdallah Aljamal is a Gaza-based journalist. He is a correspondent for The Palestine Chronicle in the Gaza Strip. His email is abdallahaljamal1987@gmail.com