Al-`Atatrah territory that was next to Bayt Lahya village lived the atmosphere of fear and horror because it was the first territory that the Israeli army invaded during his war on Gaza Strip. The atmosphere of horror prevented the family of Yahya Abu Halimah to leave the house for some days.

However, the youngest son of Yahya (the seventeen years old Lu’ay) refused that reality. So, he made a loaf of thyme and went out to eat it without waiting for lunch that his mother was making on the cook since the early morning.

In the alley of his house, he found a group of his friends who refused fear as well. There, Lu’ay leaned his body against the wall and they started to chat and laugh. However, few moments had passed and an Israeli shell hit Lu’ay directly, tearing out his entire body, but his smile did not leave him even during his death. He seemed like a living person, moving his lips and saying goodbye for those who were around him.

The friends of Lu’ay who witnessed the accident were hit and each one of them lost one of his organs. They said that the shell fell in the chest on Lu’ay causing his entire body to be torn into pieces.

Three hours after the burial of Lu’ay, his family had to leave the house leaving his blood on the wall to bear witness the pain he suffered. His mother still remembers the details of those horrible times, she said: “I feared for them and used to sit behind the door to prevent any of them to leave, but Lu’ay did not obey the order and insisted on going out to feed the birds and to chat with his friends.”

Lu’ay used to come back from school at the time of the Zhuhr Prayer. He used put down his bag and go out to play with his neighbors and relatives. Although he was so spoiled but he helped his father in the field that was their source of living, therefore, he gained the love of everyone in the house. In the last night of his life, Lu’ay kept moving from a bed to another, even the beds of his married siblings and played with them as if her was seeing them off.

Lu’ay left a memory in each corner of the house, even in the courtyard, he left his birds looking for him. As we started to speak to his mother, a white pigeon drew near. The mother said: this is the pigeon that Lu’ay went out to feed before his martyrdom.