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Hadeel Haroun Abu Al-Qara, a first-year medical student in Gaza, did not expect that the call of the street mandarin seller would be the last call she would hear in her life, accompanied by her cousin, the child Imad Al-Din Hazem Abu Al-Qara, 3 years old, after they were executed by an Israeli sniper. near their house.

Last December 27 was an unfortunate day for this family, as Hadeel, Imad al-Din, and their sister Aya, who miraculously escaped certain murder, were shot by the Israeli army, turning a simple joy of buying mandarin fruit into an unforgettable tragedy.

At the Abu Iskandar intersection in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, there were rare moments of calm, in light of the Israeli war on Gaza, when a street vendor began calling the residents of the neighborhood to inform them of the availability of mandarin fruit, which Imad preferred, as Fadwa Al-Daour, the mother of the martyred child, points out.

A picture of the martyr Imad al-Din Hazem Abu al-Qara’, 3 years old (Al-Jazeera)

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Fadwa said that her son joined Aya and Hadeel when he heard them going to buy mandarins, and she was not aware of his departure because she was taking care of her sick sister.

Fadwa added, crying profusely: “Hadeel was killed while my son was sleeping in her hands... My son, who was seeking mandarins and was eager to eat them, was killed. My son was executed by their bullets.”

The child, Aya Muhammad Abu al-Qara’, the cousin of the two victims, told Al Jazeera the story of her miraculously surviving the bullets that killed Hadeel and Imad al-Din: “When the tanks arrived in our area, the three of us hid in our neighbors’ house, and we were told that the road was safe now. Hadeel gave me a bag of mandarins after... We bought it for him, and she carried Imad in her hands and the three of us fled home.”

She added: "When the shooting came back at us again, Hadeel and Imad fell and were injured. Imad was still alive. Our neighbors tried to extend a piece of wood to save him, but they were shot again, until Imad was martyred. He was looking at us and screaming in our name before he was martyred." ".

The two martyrs were buried in a mass grave near the house, which was a former football field.

A picture of the martyr Hadeel Haroun Abu Al-Qaraa, a first-year student at the College of Medicine in Gaza (Al-Jazeera)

For his part, Haroun Abu Al-Qara’, Hadeel’s father, expressed his regret for the circumstances that prevented him from bidding his daughter a final farewell. He said: “We could not even take a last look at them or kiss them farewell due to the intensity of the shooting,” explaining that the neighbors took the bodies of Imad and Hadeel. They prayed over them and buried them, in the presence of the occupation forces.

The grieving father added: "The targeting of Imad and Hadeel was deliberate for the purpose of killing, nothing more. They were targeted for execution."

Since last October 7, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza, which, as of Tuesday, resulted in the death of 28,473 Palestinians and the injury of 68,146 others, most of them children and women. This war also caused massive destruction of infrastructure, leaving an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe,” according to Palestinian and international reports.

Source: Al Jazeera