Gaza boys’ deaths: ‘The light of my life has gone’

Gaza Strip – Families mourned on Tuesday after three teenage boys were killed in an Israeli air strike during a week of tension near the fence with Israel.

Living near the border area, the three boys – Khaled Abu Said, 13, Abdulhamid Abu Daher, 13, and Mohammed Assatri,14 – made their way to set up hunting birds nets on Monday, according to their families.

Mourning her only son among five daughters, Mohammed’s mother Monira Assatri said the 14-year old took a shower, got dressed, and went to see his friends on the evening of his killing.

“Hours later, we heard a bombing followed by lots of noise outside, ambulances sirens and people shouting,” she paused, continuing with tears. “I rushed to Mohammed’s room and he wasn’t there. I said to my daughter that it may that your brother had gone.”

People in the area started to gather near Mohammed’s family house and ask about him, so his father went to the hospital.

“Mohammed and his neighbours used from time to time to go hunting in the lands near our home. As you can see we are living very close to the border area, so our sons go there to play,” Assatri told Al Jazeera.

‘Sound of shelling’

Palestinian news agency Wafa said the Israeli army “reportedly opened fire toward the ambulances and prevented their access” to the scene of the bombing, northeast of Khan Younis.

In a statement, the Israeli military said its aircraft fired on three Palestinians who approached the fence and “were apparently involved in placing an improvised explosive device (IED) adjacent” to it.

The boys’ families denounced the Israeli statement, denying they intended any violence.

Three hours after their deaths in the air strike, Red Crescent staff members received Israeli permission to evacuate their bodies.

“We sleep and wake up to the sound of shelling as we live near the border area. We are always ready night by night that something may happen,” Assatri, 47, said.

“Last week, I was wondering why I suddenly lost my appetite for food. Now I know. The moon of my heart has gone, the light of my life has gone,” she said, again bursting into tears.

“How could Israeli soldiers kill innocent children in that way. Didn’t they see them in their cameras? I call all Arab and international bodies to investigate the killing of our children.”

During 2014 offensive, Israeli military demolished the Assatri‘s family home along with a number of others in the area.

“Only a year ago we had our house reconstructed. Other homes are still under construction,” she said.

A few metres from their house, the mother of Khalid Said described learning about her 13-year-old son’s killing after the bombing began.

Khalid’s father went out to look for his son and met people along the way who informed him his son was among the children killed.

“We have agricultural land out there. Khalid was going there every day,” she told Al Jazeera. “My son’s hobby was breeding sheep and hunting birds. He was always planting in the land.”

Israeli narrative challenged

The family said they were surprised over the allegations their son and friends were planting a bomb.

“How could they get an explosive device? I believe that if they would see one they may could not recognise it. No one here has any military affiliations,” said Said.

“Israeli occupation deliberately killed my son. This is a brutal killing of three kids. What if they shot in the sky or near them? They would instantly run way,” she said in anger.

Aisha Abu Daher, 53, is the mother of Abdulhamid.

“He was my youngest child. He was so dear to my heart,” said the grieving mother.

“He was full of energy and ambition. He was dreaming of a better life for all of us,” she said.

Daher said it was a day like any other. “We were sitting drinking tea and he went to hang out with his friends.”

She urged the international community “to intervene to protect our children from the continued Israeli crimes”.

“My son grew up and died in poverty and demolition. He strived for a good future, but he got killed before witnessing a good day in his life.”

With the killing of the three children, the death toll since Gaza’s Great Return March protest began rose to 218, 19 percent among them are children, according to the spokesperson of the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza.

For the last seven months, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been staging regular demonstrations along the fence with Israel to demand the right to return to their homes, from which they were forcibly expelled in 1948.

They also demand an end to the years-long Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza, which has devastated the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its more than two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.