Jenin – On the way to the cemetery of Jenin refugee camp in the center of Jenin, the car carrying the family of the martyr Mutasim al-Sabbagh, 22, is shrouded in silence, and generous tears fall down his mother's cheeks, a quiet in the vehicle interrupted by the sound of vendors from the street, "Zeina Ramadan for 10 shekels."

The journey of the first day of Ramadan changed for the Sabbagh family, instead of going to the city center with Mutasim to buy breakfast and sweets needs, the family went to visit Mutasim in his grave, and in front of the grave sits Nahida Sabbagh (Mutasim's mother) and spoke to the tombstone, summarizing the events of the past days, and talking about his friends' visit to her yesterday, and sending him invitations, saying, "May God be pleased with you, O Mutasim."

"Everything is missing without you, Moatasem, Ramadan is missing without you, the dining table will be incomplete, and I will not cook the food you loved," she said.

The visit to the cemetery ended, and Mutasim's family returned home, at home nothing indicates the start of the holy month, even the stove fire in the kitchen did not light despite the approaching time of Iftar, and Shaza Al-Sabbagh, sister of the martyr Mutasim, says that "this is the first Ramadan without Mutasim, and because he was martyred before the advent of the month soon, the sadness is still great and the shock of losing him is present; my mother could not prepare any cooking today, so my married sister decided to prepare a meal and prepare it."

Israeli occupation raid on Jenin camp was supported by military helicopters (Al-Jazeera)

Missing and heartbreak

Shaza whispers after she confirmed that her mother was busy in her room, "I intended my cousins to break their fast with us today, hoping that this would relieve my mother, and fill some of the absence of Mutasim today, and I did not tell her, I told her that my sister and my uncle's family will prepare breakfast for us, after I agreed with my sister to cook at her house and bring food here."

Shaza describes her brother Mutasim as joking, the owner of morals and religion, who attends congregational prayers, and says that he became attached to the resistance at the beginning of the incursions into Jenin camp, and despite his work in the city of Nazareth at the beginning of the events in 2022, he was participating in supporting the resistance on his pages on social networking sites, and with the continuation of the Israeli incursions into Jenin camp and the assassination of the resistance, Mutasim left his work in the city of Nazareth and returned to the camp.

She added that "during the month of last Ramadan, Mutasim began to go out repeatedly from the house at night, he used to tell us that he goes out to stay up late with his friends, but the truth is that he used to go out to confront the storming of the occupation army every time," and adds, "He was very secretive, we knew that he was clashing with the occupation army after his martyrdom from his friends, he never told us that, he spent a whole year in confrontation and clash and we do not know."

Mutasim al-Sabbagh, 22, was killed on the seventh of March, during the storming of a special force into the city of Jenin to assassinate the martyr Abdel Fattah Khrushsha, who was holed up in a house inside the camp, after Israel chased him to accuse him of killing two settlers in a shooting attack on their car in the town of Huwara, south of Nablus last February.

Tears that have not dried

Two weeks after his death, his family greeted the first day of Ramadan with much pain; his sister Shaza says that "yesterday was very difficult at home, my mother's tears did not dry, and at Suhoor no one from the family woke up, we did not enchant."

The family used to be awakened by Mutasim for Suhoor, and their participation in eating, and they used to ask his mother daily - during breakfast - about her needs from the market during the days of the holy month. "Mutasim is the big brother among us, and he was the one who used to sweeten Ramadan, and today the dining table is incomplete without him, and if the whole family gathers, the dining table will remain incomplete without him," Shaza said.

She adds that "every afternoon of Ramadan he would stand at the kitchen door and ask my mother about the cooking, about the shortcomings of the trip and about sweets," Shaza describes her and her family's visit to the grave of her martyr brother Mutasim with a strange feeling, the brother who was always with them, today they visit him under the dirt.

Ramadan tasteless

In the house of the martyr Ziad Al-Zarini in the city of Jenin, Zina's Ramadan was absent, which Ziad was hanging with his hand on the walls of his house before entering the Ramadan, and hung in her place pictures of Ziad and posters printed for him after his martyrdom, and Ziad's mother refuses to hang decorations in the house after the martyrdom of her son because of the association of adornment with joy, and says that she is sad, so there is no need for decoration.

Ziad's sister Haneen Al-Zaraini, who is 4 years older than him, recalls her brother's childhood, and speaks in a tender voice about Ziad, a naughty child with great energy, who loves to play and socialize, and is adventurous and mobile.

"Ziad used to receive Ramadan with us, he used to buy decorations, prepare them and hang them with us on the wall of the house and around it, this year my mother refuses to put decorations and says I am sad I will not decorate," she says.

She adds that "this year's Ramadan is sad, missing the joy that accompanied his arrival, he is literally tasteless," and two days before Ramadan Ziad's mother was on a date with a gift from Ziad he gave her - after his martyrdom through his friends - on the occasion of "Mother's Day" which falls on March 21.

Ziad had recommended to his friends to buy a cake for his mother and give it as a gift to her with a Quran, on his behalf in the event of his martyrdom, because he used to buy a cake for his mother on Mother's Day every year.

"It was a heavy gift for my mother, who used to be returned by Ziad and gifted her; it was difficult for her to have anyone act on his behalf, and despite the participation of his friends on this occasion, her sadness was clear and her impact was great, it was a very heavy day on her psyche," Haneen said.

The gift of the martyr Ziad Al-Zaraini to his mother on Mother's Day (right) and the head tie of the martyr Mutasim Al-Sabbagh at his martyrdom (Al-Jazeera)

Ziad's Memories

Like the Sabbagh family, the family of the martyr Al-Zarini chose not to prepare breakfast for the first day of Ramadan, and family relatives volunteered to prepare breakfast for them this day, Haneen says that "my mother preferred to spend fasting hours sleeping, so as not to collide with the memory of Ziad and his absent details on the first day of Ramadan."

Haneen added that "Ziad used to share breakfast with us even if he was on duty at work, as he works in the Palestinian Customs Police, and he is forced to shift at the agency's headquarters sometimes, but he was keen to participate with us even on his shift days, even for 5 minutes at the beginning of the breakfast."

The night before his martyrdom on the seventh of March, Ziad visited his father's house and stayed up with his four sisters and drank tea and joked with Haneen, asking her to change her name on Facebook from Haneen Amin to Haneen Al-Zarini, as he believes that they should call themselves the name of their village, from which they were displaced in 48, which is Zarin to confirm that the return is inevitable, even if it is prolonged.

"Ziad asked me at the time to visit the families of the martyrs, and when I told him that I do not like going to mourning homes, he told me that this is your duty to console the mothers of the martyrs, especially since you work in the Ministry of Culture and do various social events.