Military fires missile at building, killing two sixth-floor occupants
Testimonies of Mu’az Subuh and Baraa Subuh
Muhammad Ibrahim Muhammad Aman, 51
and three of his daughters:
Walaa Muhammad Ibrahim Aman (six months pregnant), 24
Warda Muhammad Ibrahim Aman, 22
Hadil Muhammad Ibrahim Aman, 18
Before our apartment was bombed, I lived on the first floor of the building with my husband, Muhammad Aman, and four of our children: Yusef, 15, Hadil 18, Warda, 22, and Ibrahim, 30. My husband worked as a driver. He would drive people to UNRWA to get food supplies and then back home.
When the war began, we started hearing airstrikes all the time. My children hardly slept at night. We followed the events constantly. My husband and I fell asleep late each night, exhausted, and woke up before dawn. We were constantly stressed by what was going on and by sound of the lengthy bombings, which was horrifying. We were constantly afraid. The situation was really dire. A lot of people were killed. Many were wounded, and homes and buildings were destroyed.
Before the strikes started, my daughter Samar got into a fight with her husband and came to live with us. My daughter Walaa came to us with her husband after the strikes started. They left their home in the a-Salatin neighborhood of Beit Lahiya because it was constantly being bombarded. Many residents there left their homes.
On 13 May 2021, at around 11:00 P.M., I woke up suddenly in complete darkness. There was debris, dust and smoke all around me. I couldn’t see anything. I had terrible pain all over my body, and it felt like things were piercing it. I also felt burns on my body and face. The pain was so strong, I screamed. Suddenly, one of my daughters came, I don’t know which one, and pulled me out. Just then, I heard another missile and lost sight of her. The place filled with smoke and dust.
Then the paramedics came. I asked them to look for my daughters. They told me they’d take care of me first and then look for them. I lost consciousness and woke up the next morning at the ICU in a-Shifaa Hospital in Gaza City. I asked my relatives about my children, and they said they were alright. A few days later, the doctors moved me to the orthopedic department, where I was told my husband Muhammad had been killed. I went into shock and cried.
A few minutes later, I was told that three of my daughters had also been killed – Hadil, Warda and Walaa. I went into shock. They were my hope, my whole life, especially Hadil, who was the most spoiled and was very attached to me. It was a shock for me. I never thought anything like that would happen to me. I don’t know how to go on living.
After 14 days at a-Shifaa Hospital, I was transferred to the burn unit at al-’Awda Hospital because I had burns on my face and hands and shrapnel all over my body. I have burns on my head and a fractured left leg. They put a metal plate in. I’m still suffering. I’m in a great deal of pain, and I’m receiving treatment that’s expected to take months.
I woke up suddenly in complete darkness. There was debris, dust and smoke all around me. I couldn’t see anything. I had terrible pain all over my body, and it felt like things were piercing it. I also felt burns on my body and face.The pain was so strong, I screamed.
On Thursday, 13 May 2021, I woke up in the middle of the night and found myself in the passageway between our building and the building next door, which belongs to the al-’Alul family. There was rubble underneath me and on top of me and a blanket over my head. I was very scared and started shouting, “Help! Help! Get me out!” No one answered me. Suddenly I heard an explosion in our apartment, and I also heard people screaming and crying and calling for the neighbors and paramedics to help.
It terrified me, because I heard the screaming of people who were trapped under the rubble with no one to save them or help them get out. I was scared I’d stay under the rubble and no one would come help me, that I’d die under the rubble before the paramedics got to me.
But a few minutes later, civilian rescue teams came, and someone took the debris off me. I heard him say, “Martyr, martyr.” He meant me, but then he discovered I was alive. I leaned on him and we started walking. I could barely walk, because I was injured all over my body. I felt like my left leg was broken. I couldn’t step on it. Then the civilian rescue man had to let me go, and I carried on by myself. I crawled on the ground. I saw a little girl, our neighbor from the Abu Jarad family. She was lying on the ground. She grabbed onto my right leg, and the two of us crawled together to get away from the rubble that filled the street. I had a hard time crawling on the piles of debris. They injured me.
At some point, paramedics showed up and took me to an ambulance. I was taken to the Kamal ‘Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, and from there transferred to the Indonesian Hospital in Jabalya Refugee Camp, where I had surgery on my leg. They took shrapnel out of various parts of my body and put a metal plate in my lower left leg.
Then, some relatives came to the hospital. They told me my father had been killed and so had three of my sisters. I went into shock. I never imagined I’d hear such a thing. This loss has caused me terrible pain.
The fastest way to change yourself is to hang out with people who are already the way you want to be.
Testimonies of Mu’az Subuh and Baraa Subuh
Testimony of ‘Abd al-Karim Barakah
Testimony of Ziad Hiles
Testimony of ‘Imad Jneid
Testimony of Sa’id Abu ‘Aasi
Testimony of Muhammad al-Hittu and Mu’awiyah al-Wahidi
Testimony of Ibrahim Abu Sa’adah
Testimony of ‘Atiyyah al-‘Amur
Testimony of Ibrahim Abu Sakran
Testimony of Muhammad al-Khatib
Testimonies of Naser Abu Fares and Isma’il ‘Ayash
Testimony of ‘Iz a-Din a-Rantisi
Testimony of Muna Aman and Yusef Aman
Testimonies of Taher al-Madhun and Hatem a-Tanani
Testimonies of Muhammad al-‘Attar and Manar al-‘Attar
Testimony of Ahmad Khaled
Testimony of Muhammad al-Far’awi
Testimony of Ibrahim Salamah
Testimonies of Mahmoud al-‘Ar’ir and Lubna Bhar
Testimony of ‘Azzam al-Kolak
Testimony of Riyad Ishkuntana
Testimony of Rami al-Ifrangi
Testimony of Buthaynah Na’im al-Qumo’
Testimony of Amal al-Masalhah
Testimony of Muhammad Abu Dayer
Testimonies of Sa’ed, Sa’id, and Dunia ‘Asaliyah