In the midst of the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a heart-wrenching tragedy unfolded in the town of Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip, as Yusuf Musa, a young boy, met a tragic fate under the devastating impact of Israeli airstrikes.
Yusuf’s last request to his mother, Rawan, was simple: “Mom, we want to have dinner.” His mother hurried to fulfill this request before Israeli rockets struck their home. Tragically, it was the last meal she would share with her beloved son.
Yusuf’s aunt, Raghad Saleh, who resides in Egypt, recounted the painful events surrounding her nephew’s untimely death. She explained that Yusuf’s father, a doctor at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, had been diligently tending to the injured, leaving him separated from his family during these tumultuous times in Gaza.
As Yusuf’s mother prepared dinner, their neighborhood became a target of heavy shelling. Israeli missiles pierced their home, resulting in the devastating loss of Yusuf’s life.
Raghad described the harrowing scene, “My sister’s house has four floors. My sister, her husband, and their children live on the third floor. The Israeli missile penetrated the fourth floor, where my sister’s husband’s brother lives, and it also penetrated the third floor, where my sister’s home is located, causing a powerful explosion.”
The debris from the fourth floor collapsed onto Yusuf. His mother managed to find one of her sons, but the search for little Yusuf proved to be a desperate and heartbreaking endeavor.
With the assistance of civil defense teams, Yusuf was eventually located beneath the rubble. He was rushed to Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis city.
A heart-wrenching video capturing the mother’s desperate search for her son at the hospital went viral, with the mother describing her son as having “curly and sweet” hair. Despite her tireless efforts, she couldn’t find Yusuf.
Yusuf’s mother and father, who was caring for patients at the time, scoured the hospital’s floors, searching among the wounded. It was Yusuf’s father who identified his son among the victims, displaying remarkable composure in stark contrast to his wife and other son, who were overwhelmed by grief.
Yusuf’s grandmother, Hajja Aida Abdel Aziz, shared that Yusuf’s mother was initially discouraged from seeing her son’s disfigured body. The hospital staff wanted her to remember him as the sweet, curly-haired boy that she cherished.
Hajja Aida recounted how Yusuf’s little brother clung to his father, inconsolable, as he had never experienced Yusuf’s absence. The family continues to grapple with the painful reality of his eternal absence.
In the midst of their sorrow, Yusuf’s father, a dedicated doctor, remains committed to his work at Nasser Hospital, diligently treating the wounded and injured. He remarked, “My duty now is not to mourn my child but to provide treatment to the wounded and injured, working to treat them in the difficult circumstances that Gaza is going through.”
The Ministry of Health reported that, since the start of the Israeli aggression on Gaza, over 3,500 children have lost their lives, with more than 950 children still buried under the rubble of destroyed homes.
