Eighth Day
W
ednesday
, N
ovember
21, 2012
186
husband and his friends were staying inside the
house. I knew he was gone; I knew he was killed.
When my father came to tell me about his
martyrdom, I thanked God. I thank God for granting
me patience, acceptance and honour for being a wife
of a martyr.
15 days later, I discovered I was pregnant.
Since then, I decided to name my new baby after his
martyred father. May he rest in peace.
16. Testimony of Siham Shahwan, 53, Mother of
Two Martyrs Sadi and Ahmed:1
Two days prior to my sons’ death, my son Ahmed
suggested we could out of the house because it was
destroyed in 2008 during the aggression. So most of
the family and I went to my family’s house, my son,
Sadi, went to his aunt’s house, and Ahmed stayed
at home.
On the last day of the aggression, at about
4:00 pm, I called Ahmed, who stayed at home, and
made sure he was fine. At around 4:30 pm, I learned
from the news that my husband, 3 sons, 2 daughters
were all killed! I knew my house was destroyed.
After a while, Duaa, my married daughter,
called me. She was crying bitterly! ‘Hey!’ I said to
her. ‘We’re all fine. We got out from the house. All
of us are fine. The news was wrong!’
“I calmed her dawn, but I was feeling
something strange; something frightening.
“Next morning, I received the news of my
two sons’ martyrdom, Sadi and Ahmed. You know
how it feels when you assure yourself everything is
alright, but later you discover otherwise.
1
An interview with Fayza Shehadah on Sunday,
27/12/2012, at her house in Al-Sikka Street, Jabalia Refugee Camp,
north of the Gaza Strip.
