Due to the Israeli offensive and the sever blockade imposed on the densely-populated Gaza Strip, Gaza children were forcibly confined to their houses. One of these children was Habib Kahloot. Habib’s mother never let him go out because she did not want to be worried about him.

Feeling bored, Habib nagged to catch up with his brother, Mohammed, who went to stroll into streets. Mohammed pitied his little brother and asked his mother to allow him take him for a walk around the house and the mother finally accepted.

Few minutes later, the father was going to have their bread baked at a bakery in Al-Alamy district. Habib cried a lot to join them to the bakery. Not wanting to break his heart, Habib father let him go along. It was the Israeli war that broke his little heart. On their way back from the bakery, an Israeli aircraft shelled the car which Habib, his father, and his two brothers; Mohammed and Twfiq, were in. They were killed at once and the fragments of their bodies scattered everywhere and some of them were burnt down as the shelling set their car on fire.

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Habib fulfilled his name, which means “the loved one”. Mohammed’s slight mental retard endeared him to all his family members, but most of all, by his mother, who understood that he needed extra love and care more than any of his five siblings. Although of his health problems, Habib was clever, sensible and sensitive.

His mother tried to enroll him at any private school, state school, or one of the schools of the UNRWA (United Nations Refugees and Works Agency) but in vain. She wished that he would learn as much knowledge as he could and be taught proper social behaviors, but all of those schools would not accept him because of his special needs.

As for special education schools, they found that he was far more intelligent than their other students so if they let him join their school, that would be a step backwards for him. In the end, his mother and his brother Mohammed gave him home schooling.

Habib grew so attached to Mohammed, who would look after him all the time; he would sleep next to Mohammed and follow him everywhere. His mother’s tears fall down her cheeks as she described how he loved his brother Mohammed. “I would wake up in the middle of the night and he is not there in his bed. I’d panic and look for him to find him sleeping next to Mohammed,” said the mother.

“Noting how attached Habib was to him, Mohammed used to say, ‘It seems Habib will be there with me when I die’,” related the mother, “and that’s what happened and I stand alone now without my husband and three children.”