“The child who sang of death has now joined those he mourned — his farewell was as noble as his words.”
A young Palestinian child, popular in Gaza for his beautiful voice, which captured the tragedy of Israel’s genocidal war on the enclave, was killed in an airstrike in Nuseirat on Monday.
In a clip shared widely on social media following his death, Hassan Ayyad sang in a heartbreaking voice: “With the warplanes, we tasted the flavor of death, An airstrike from land and sea. They blocked the crossings — people are dying from hunger, Bear witness, world, to what they’ve done — they destroyed homes, While the Arabs sleep peacefully…”
“Oh world, witness: they [Israeli military] demolish homes. The Arabs are in a deep sleep”
A previous video shows slain Palestinian child Hassan Ayyad singing, condemning the silence of Arab countries as Israeli forces continue their assault on Gaza. He was later killed in an… pic.twitter.com/ojPTDl3mDs
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) May 6, 2025
Titled ‘Ishhad Ya ‘Alam – Bear Witness, Oh World’, the song is described as a powerful and emotional ode to the suffering of the Palestinian people under Israel’s onslaught.
Ayyad ‘Joined Those He Mourned’
“Today, his voice was silenced forever …The child who sang of death has now joined those he mourned — his farewell was as noble as his words,” Gaza journalist Mahmoud Bassam wrote on X.
This child in the video is Hassan Ayad.
He sang with a trembling voice:“With the warplanes, we tasted the flavor of death,
An airstrike from land and sea. They blocked the crossings — people are dying from hunger,
Bear witness, world, to what they’ve done — they destroyed… pic.twitter.com/oNwykWKyyJ— Mahmoud Bassam محمود بسام (@Mahmoud_Bassam8) May 5, 2025
Bassam is one of many who took to social media to lament Ayyad’s killing in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. According to Bassam, his death was one of more than 60 Palestinians killed since dawn on Monday.
Proud Father
Activist Khaled Safi wrote that the boy’s father, Alaa Ayyad (Abu Hassan), “always praised his son Hassan, was proud of him, and supported him, considering him his successor in popular zajal.”
علاء عياد (أبو حسن) كان دايم يصدّر ابنه حسن ويفخر فيه ويدعمه على اعتبار إنه خليفته في الزجل الشعبي
والولد ما شاء الله كان موهوب ورغم صغر سنه كان عنده الأداء والقبول
اليوم اغتال الغزاة حسن، وأمسى فؤاد أبيه فارغًا..
عرفتم لماذا بيننا وبين المجرم أنهار من دماء وانتقام وثأر طويل؟ pic.twitter.com/rg9qwtL9Bh— Khaled Safi 🇵🇸 خالد صافي (@KhaledSafi) May 5, 2025
The boy, thank God, was talented, and despite his young age, he had the ability to perform and be accepted. Today the invaders assassinated Hassan, and his father’s heart became empty,” he added.
“Do you know why there are rivers of blood, revenge and long-lasting retaliation between us and the criminal?” Safi asked.
‘The Martyr Hassan’
According to an Al Jazeera Arabic report on his death, the Palestinian film director Rashid Masharawi said: “Hassan Ayyad, the child who dedicated a song to me from Gaza, was martyred today. He sang for the Zero Distance films with his sweet, heartbreaking childlike voice.”
He added that Ayyad “was a victim of an Israeli bombardment on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.”
“We lose our lives daily, Hassan… the clever Hassan, the artist Hassan, the martyr Hassan… you hurt me, Hassan,” Masharawi is further reported to have said.
The moment of collapse of Hassan’s father, who used to perform songs about war and hunger with him, after receiving the news of his son Hassan’s martyrdom. pic.twitter.com/MiyI7OcmON
— Eye on Palestine (@EyeonPalestine) May 5, 2025
The Al Jazeera report also quotes activist Ali Abu Rizq as having said on X: “There is a little child named Hassan Ayyad, who used to bring joy to orphans and the wounded in displacement camps, singing for the homeland, chanting for return, and planting hope despite the intense pain. Israel killed him today in cold blood.”
“They didn’t kill him by mistake, but rather assassinated him premeditatedly because he creates hope, and creating hope is more dangerous than creating a rocket,” he added.
Rising Death Toll
Since Israel’s reneging on the ceasefire on March 18, it has killed and wounded thousands of Palestinians throughout the Gaza Strip through a bloody and ongoing aerial bombardment.
On October 7, 2023, following a Palestinian Resistance operation in southern Israel, the Israeli military launched a genocidal war against the Palestinians, killing over 52,000, wounding more than 118,000, with over 14,000 still missing.
🎙In this new FloodGate podcast episode, Palestine Chronicle’s editor Ramzy Baroud is joined by Dr. Louis Brehony, co-editor of ‘Ghassan Kanafani: Selected Political Writings,’ to delve into the revolutionary Palestinian thinker’s Marxist politics and his significant role in the… pic.twitter.com/bIX4WfsDxh
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) May 5, 2025
Despite habitual condemnation by many countries around the world of the Israeli genocide, little has been done to hold Israel accountable.
Israel is currently under investigation for the crime of genocide by the International Court of Justice, while accused war criminals — including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — are now officially wanted by the International Criminal Court.
The Israeli genocide has been largely defended, supported, and financed by Washington and a few other Western powers.
(PC, AJA)
R.I.P.
All the ZioNazis have done by killing him, is to amplify his voice a thousand times louder. Soon we will finally witness the end of the illegal occupation by the Israeli Nazis, and their utter dissolution. Good riddance.
So much heartbreak, for so long, each hour of the day. Where is humanity? Rest in peace, sweet boy, with the beautiful voice of hope and power.
Agonizing. As an American, with close relatives killed by the Nazis, I am ashamed and disgusted at what the Israelis and the Americans are doing in Palestine.