When the sun has set on the 13th of January, 2009, it took `Isa Abu `Idah to his final end. The boy was sitting at the door of his house waiting for the Maghrib Salah. At that moment a wagon full of animal fodder passed by him. Few minutes have passed then the Israeli warplanes launched their missiles at the wagon and the shrapnel of the missiles were all over the place.

The shrapnel hit `Isa in different spots of his body; a splinter settled in his head, chest, arms, legs, stomach, and in his back. The boy fell on the ground but his heart was still beating. Afterwards, he was transferred to the hospital and stayed there for two days struggling for his life but he could not. Then he closed his eyes for good, declaring his death on the fifth of January, leaving sorrow and pain in the hearts of his family.

His mother wept to the extent that the tears did not leave her eyes and cheeks. Moments before his martyrdom, he spoke few words with his mother: "Do not go out my son." He replied: "With Allah's Willing, I will not stay for long." However, he stayed for a long time and will last there forever. After she had dried her flowing tears, she said: "When I saw him for the last time, his face was bright with a smile that I have never seen and his eyes were glittering, so his face looked like a full moon."

The seventeen-years-old `Isa was preparing himself to take the first term tests — the first secondary grade — which he left for two years because he was busy helping his father in planting and ploughing the land. No one forced him to go back as no one forced him to leave school; he chose it himself. He came back to school with a dream that settled in his heart and ambition that controlled his mind which was to finish high school then college. His mother said: "After his return to school, he took serious procedures for that stage. He doubled the hours of his study and seemed to be more dedicated to his school homework. He supplicated Allah many times to make him succeed and grant him knowledge in order to benefit his religion, himself, and his family. His sister's husband, who was in the UAE, promised to give him a mobile if he succeeded in his study, but `Isa left without completing his study."

When you ask about `Isa in the neighborhood, the eyes of the questioned will shed tears for him because of his good reputation, good manners, and noble qualities. He was characterized by his manners and good behaviors, and was loved by everyone because he never turned down a questioner for help. Even the women of his neighborhood miss him. One of them remembered that she sent him to the grocery to buy her some stuff that were run out during the war. He went there fast, brought what she needed then left. Hours later, he came back at night —under the severe bombard— knocked at the door, and gave her half a shekel, the remnant of the money that he used to buy her stuff. He came apologizing for he had forgotten to pay it back because he was busy meeting the needs of an old man in the alley. She says: "He was very honest and did not care for the bombard or the shells, but he only cared for rendering trusts back. May Allah bestow mercy on his soul."