Bilal who was nicknamed “The lane lion” rushed to help the family of his companion martyr Emad Abu Askar by getting their luggage from under the rubble in wake of the bombardment of their house by Israeli F16 craft. Bilal (17) had completed the mission. He retired home to take a shower and remove the dust of rubble off his body. On his way out his sister, Fatima stopped him to tell him how elegant he looked. She said to him, “Your face looks like the moon, why are you so handsome today?” His mother said, “He looked like a bride-groom; extremely handsome because it was his last moments with us.” 
Bilal headed to a nearby place; namely, the western wall of Al Fakhoura School. That was on January 6. The day the Jabalia Refugee Camp was subjected to the most abominable massacres committed by the occupation forces against the inhabitants of that camp during the Gaza war in 2009. The occupation warplanes bombarded tens of citizens who were assembled inside the UN Fakhoura School. Tens fell martyr including Bilal. In wake of the incident Bilal’s elder brother hurried to “Kamal Udwan” Hospital in the North of Gaza Strip. His aim was to be with his injured brother, Omar. When he scanned the faces of the Fakhoura School’s martyrs, he was shocked to see his brother Bilal lying among them. He was dumbfounded by the appalling scene.

His mother (nicknamed, Um Ziad) says, “I had not seen him when he was martyred but our neighbor who loved him like one of her sons, whose name is Um Al Harbawi, said she had seen him and helped him recite the testimony. He said Praise be to Allah who granted us the honor of martyrdom.”

The bereft mother added,” Every time he saw me hold the broom, he took it from me, asked me to rest, and he did the sweeping himself. He kept on relieving me of a lot of the housework; particularly because his father was invalid. His father sympathized a lot with him for the burden of his taking care of him.”

Bilal was a senior secondary school student. He paid much attention to this last year of schooling as it is the most important year in the life of any Youngman. He also received much attention from his teachers so that his teacher of mathematics refused to provide private tuition to his colleagues unless Bilal was with them. His mother also said that he diligently studied his lessons. However, he often expressed his hope to be granted martyrdom. He prayed God to help him be the first martyr of the Ubaid family. So it had been.”

His neighbor, Um Mohammed, days she has lost a person highly dear to her heart. The lane’s little ones also have lost a great companion who was the best to dandle and humor them. Even the fruit vendor stationed close to Bilal’s house has lost that youngman who used to help him with the sales and purchases just for help. His brother Abdullah goes frequently to Bilal’s tomb because he sees him in his dreams longingly hugging him. So, he blamed himself for not visiting his tomb once.

Bilal was not an ordinary child. He was ideal in his moral commitment. He used to fast every Monday and Thursday. Like older people, he strictly observed reciting the morning and evening invocations; not to mention, his greatest commitment to perform the day’s five prayers in mosque. “Everybody in the neighborhood has lost this decent youngman.” says his mother.

His brother’s son, Hamza says, “I loved Bilal so much as he used to let me ride his bicycle with him and he also taught me how to swim.”

Bilal has gone, but a lot of his memories are still there and his family survived to experience moments of bountiful love and hearts bleeding with pain and grief.