`Abdur-Rahman Asked his mother to resort to his aunt's home in Dair Al-Balah to escape the indiscriminate shells that hit parts of northern Gaza, without exception. The mother refused to go to that place and she preferred to be near her home.

`Abdur-Rahman was not convinced with his mother's choice to his uncle's house to seek refuge in, so he decided to go alone to his aunt's house. On his way there, `Abdur-Rahman and a Palestinian old man had to crawl on their bellies to escape the shells and the shrapnel that flew everywhere. `Abdur-Rahman survived from the incident and arrived safely at his aunt's house. In the presence of his cousins, `Abdur-Rahman spent only three days, then he left for his family in the north of Gaza. Upon the request of his father, he decided to return home in the peace hours. On his way home, an Israeli reconnaissance aircraft launched a missile and killed him. His body was transported to the hospital to remain there for seven days as an anonymous body. In those difficult times, the family of Al-`Atawnah lived times of horrors searching for its missing son.

`Abdur-Rahman was one child from the eight houses of Ahmed Al-`Atawnah's family, but as his mother said: "He was the cleanest and the most tidy."

"He was the only boy of my children, who arranged all his stuff, even his cupboard and bed. As for his appearance, he is always clean. `Abdur-Rahman prayed for good for all people; as people say "he did not keep good only for himself." He was very generous, and helped everyone asked him for help. I wished that he could be superior in his study to complete the picture. The dream of his life was to get improved in school. He even started to work hard in school to make his dreams come true to be like his colleagues." She added.

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Today, the grandmother misses `Abdur-Rahman a lot; he was the closest grandsons to her heart. She remembers that boy who brought "An-Nammurah candy" to eat it together. His mother says: "He was very close to his aunts and his grandmother. When he returned from school and his aunt asked him to bring something from the grocery, he would go out to get it before he had lunch. During the first days of war, he was the first assistant for everybody."

His mother says: days before his death, his colleagues from the neighborhood dug several graves next to the grave of `Abdur-Rahman and recommended their relatives to be buried next to him if they were died as an expression of their deep love to `Abdur-Rahman, who was the head of the football team in the neighborhood.