Thirteen-year-old Bayaan was longing to have his normal life back so that he could play, run, and tease his friends in the large yard in front of his home. Driven by her great fear for the life of her precious son and seeking to protect him from vicious indiscriminate Israeli attack that left no place safe in the whole city of Gaza, the caring mother banned her son from going outside the house. On the morning of January 10, the dutiful son obeyed his mother and settled for standing in his balcony gazing at the quiet empty street that was once full of life. He saw a few neighbors standing on the corner talking together. Then, the loving brother called for his siblings to come and have their breakfast, and in the twinkling of an eye, Bayaan was silenced before he could even finish his sentence. Fragments from a missile fired from an Israeli reconnaissance plane hit the gathering of neighbors on the street, and it also hit thirteen-year-old Bayaan in the head. Bayaan, and a little girl named Baraah Shalhah, were killed.

Bayaan was one academic year behind; he joined his younger brother, Ameer, in the sixth grade in the elementary school. Ameer could not go to his school without his brother and his best friend; he misses Bayaan and asks his mother:”What I am supposed to do without him? How can I live without Bayaan?” These are questions that have no answer. Ameer says bitterly: “I loved Bayaan so much; we played together all the time. I do not know how to live without him.”

It was Mother’s Day when we visited Bayaan’s heartbroken mother, she told us: “I can not believe that my darling son is gone for ever! I am still holding onto his sweet memory. I recall how he saved some money from his allowance last year to buy me a gift on Mother’s Day and he insisted that I pick the gift myself. Alas, these criminals have murdered my child. What is my child’s crime? What did he do to them to deserve such a ruthless death? I hope Allaah will take my revenge for me.”

Still grieving for her son, the stricken mother is still unable to move on with her life. She does not think that she is able to live without her precious son. What hurts her most is how her younger son, Ameer, was so emotionally attached to Bayaan.

She says: “They were in the same class. They used to go to school and come back together every day. Today, Ameer came to me, and asked: “How can I live without Bayaan, Mama?” Poor Ameer, he can not even play anymore without him.”