Sumaya Abu Ajwa had woken up for the Fajr prayer together with her two foster daughters, 16-year-old Nuseiba and 14-year-old Retaj, and their mom.
She and the ladies’ mom had been off to at least one aspect when the missiles struck, certainly one of them passing between the 2 ladies, Abu Ajwa informed Al Jazeera.
“Out of the blue, mud and hearth unfold in every single place, prefer it was Judgement Day. I began wanting frantically for the ladies,” she says tearfully, sitting on a mattress as a result of she has problem strolling.
“I discovered the youthful lady [Retaj] and held her in my arms. Her blood was pouring onto my garments, however I might sense that she was nonetheless respiration,” Abu Ajwa stated, including that she screamed for assist, for anybody to return and save Retaj, however the scene was so chaotic no one was capable of assist.
Quickly after, Retaj succumbed to her wounds.
The seek for Retaj’s massive sister Nuseiba took longer.
“I went again into the flaming prayer room again and again, on the lookout for her, I could not see her anyplace. Then somebody informed me that she was below the rubble so I went to look the place they stated.
“Once I reached her,” Abu Ajwa breaks down, “I discovered her and her physique had been torn in two.”
Weeping bitterly, she stated she and the ladies’ mom had accomplished the whole lot they may, by way of a number of displacements, to maintain the 4 of them collectively.
Abu Ajwa had mentioned leaving al-Tabin with the ladies, however Nuseiba had been reluctant to go away, she stated, as a result of she was attending Quran courses there and was happy with her progress in memorising the holy e book.
“She informed us that if we wished to go away that was advantageous, she would keep behind within the college. I informed her that I had stayed with them all through the struggle and would not go away them now, we might both make it collectively or die collectively, however now they’ve gone on forward and left us. They died earlier than us.”
The ladies solely had one want, she added – for the struggle to finish as a result of they “have been scared so many instances, displaced so many instances, they had been so exhausted and had gone hungry so many instances”.
The ladies have a 14-year-old brother, Abu Ajwa stated, who had been taken from them when the Israeli military raided al-Shifa Hospital the place they had been sheltering on the time.
“The Israelis despatched him north on his personal. We had been very unhappy then however, who is aware of, this will have saved him, he is the one hope now we have left.
“Who will name me Mama Sumaya now? I crave these phrases a lot,” Abu Ajwa sobs.
