Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 24. Juni 2012 / Time Line June 24, 2012
Version 3.006/24/2012
Remembering Mamoun, Killed By An Israeli Missile As He Played
Football
By Rami Almeghari, The Electronic Intifada
Gaza City: “I can never forget his image with blood all over
his little body and both his legs badly injured,” Umm Mamoun
Hassouna told The Electronic Intifada as she sat at a
relative’s house in Gaza City. “I am a preacher [for
women] at a local mosque and used to preach against harming
innocent Israeli children, women or the elderly, and even cutting
down a tree,” she said.
“After I have seen my son killed by an Israeli warplane in
front of my eyes, I wonder what my only son did against Israel [for
them to] kill him,” Umm Mamoun added.
Thirteen-year-old Mamoun Zuhdi al-Dam was killed on Wednesday, 20
June, during an Israeli attack on Gaza amid exchange of fire
between the Israeli army and Palestinian resistance factions that
left eight Palestinians dead.
At approximately 3pm, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at
members of a Palestinian family who were having a picnic behind the
campus of the University College of Applied Sciences in the
southern Gaza City neighborhood of Tal al-Hawa. As a result, Mamoun
al-Dam was killed.
His blind father, Muhammad Zuhdi al-Dam, 67, was wounded by
shrapnel to the head and the neck. Three other children who were in
a nearby field were also wounded, according to theweekly report
from the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights.
“One month ago, I inherited a small piece of land —
about 220 square meters — from my family, and we were all so
happy to own that land as my husband is an elderly retired
man,” Umm Mamoun said. “Since we inherited that land,
Mamoun used to go to it often to enjoy some time
outdoors.”
On the day he was killed, his mother said, Mamoun went to the piece
of land in the Zaytoun neighborhood, just near the Ali Bin Abi
Talib mosque, at about 9am. “I received a phone call from him
later on to inform me that the situation was tense and that Israeli
warplanes were buzzing overhead,” she said. “His father
and I were scared for him and we went to join him.”
Mamoun, his mother said, used to read the Quran, and he led noon
prayers that day on the family’s plot of land. The boy also
prepared some tea for his parents, and then laid down to listen to
news on his mobile phone.
“As he was listening to the newscast that moment, he told us
that an Israeli warplane had fired a missile somewhere else,”
she added.
“Then, Mamoun went to play with a football just close to us
on the same land,” his mother recalled, surrounded by
mourners. “Suddenly, we heard a loud explosion and pillars of
smoke covered the place. I heard Mamoun screaming and saw him
stained with blood, and his legs were badly injured. By then my
relatives, who are our neighbors, came over to help us as his
father was slightly injured too.”
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