The occupation forces had not allowed Adam Maamoun Al Kurdi to put out the candles of his third year for his birthday on January six but they put out all the candles of his age instead. With a missile that was launched by a reconnaissance craft and hit his house in Jabalia, north of Gaza strip, they absented him from life and the world. Adam could not cut his birthday cake. The missile shrapnel cut his little body into pieces. One shrapnel penetrated his head and he immediately fell martyr.

The details are there in his father’s yearning and longing talk, “Adam clung to my arm, he was asleep when the first missile went through my brother’s house. He woke up terrified by the sound of the explosion.. My sister’s son was close and he took Adam from me. I was about to lift his sister Salma, but a flying shrapnel that flew off the missile went through his head while we were passing through the house door. He fell martyr in no time.”

The occupation forces were not satisfied yet with the death they inflicted on Al Kurdi family. They continued shelling the citizens’ houses which they were turned into rubble and smoke. Adam’s father asserts that the area was absolutely irresistible. The Israelis targeted it haphazardly, particularly, its children.

Adam was the first son to his father whom he waited 5 years to get. He went through some strenuous therapeutic procedures which resulted in having his twin “Adam and Salma) through artificial insemination. As Adam was the first boy, he receive much affection and care from his parents. They were dreaming of seeing him grow up, but in this way he was so harshly scathed on his third birthday. The day that had been the happiest in their life turned out to be the saddest and most painful ever.

Although Adam was only three, he was too mischievous, playing and pranking all the time. It seemed as if he had realized that his life would be too short, so he wanted to exploit each moment to play and enjoy himself. His father worried so much about him that he used to lock the front door to stop him from going into the street. However, this had made Adam more frivolous. His father complained about him to his uncle. His father said, “One day, my uncle told me that Adam used to climb the house fence which is five and a half meter high, to jump into the street to play. He asked me to be careful lest he should hurt himself later on. I had not believed my uncle because Adam was small sized and it was almost impossible for him to jump over the fence. One day, I returned home earlier than usual, and saw him in the street. I asked him how he got out of the house, but he did not answer. He was trembling with fear, yet had not told me the truth until I promised not to beat him. I also promise I’d give him money f he told me the truth. He showed my how he climbed the fence. I only asked him not to do that again.”

Adam’s mother had waiting many years till Allah granted her the boy. Once he came to life, she paid much attention to him. She flooded him with the love and kindness that had been stifled in her for years. She used to buy him beautiful clothes from the neighboring Arab countries where his father frequented to do business. Now she smells him in his clothes, and dreams of having him back to brighten her life with his innocent smile, but ……….

His three years of life had not enabled him to speak about his dreams that had been nipped before they were born. His parented wished he had grown up to be a young man and graduate from university. They wished he could have a family with his own and give them grandchildren whom they would love and care for, but Adam had gone so fast.