Like all Gazan children, the 14-year-old Ezz El-Deen had suffered severely during the Israeli vicious onslaught on Gaza. On January 14th, Ezz tended to spend a few days with his uncle’s family whose house was close to his. When the curtain of darkness fell on Gaza Strip, Ezz decided to return home, but his brother and cousin asked him to fetch something for them. On their way back home, an Israeli reconnaissance aircraft had launched one of its ruthless missiles at their small bodies. Few minutes before Al-`Isha' Prayer, the 14-year-old Ezz fell dead while his cousin was severely injured.

The mother said: “It was almost the time of Al-`Isha' Prayer when an ambulance entered our neighborhood. At that moment, I had a feeling that something has happened to my son, Ezz El-Deen, and it was true. My little angel has gone for ever. I shall never see his beautiful face again. One day before his death, I watched my dear son playing with his brothers with his eyes filled with joy. I was afraid that his happiness would vanish very soon.”

Ezz El-Deen was a distinguished second-grade student. His supremacy in school was tangible where he always achieved over 95% throughout his education. Young Ezz has a very sweet voice; he used to join school singing activities and events. As if he knew, Ezz had sung a lot of songs about farewell, death and meeting angels.

Ezz’s name significantly reflected a great deal of his characteristics; it means “self-confident”. Ezz was very skillful in breaking the ice with anybody and would immediately fall in love with that little angel. Even his school headmaster, of whom all the students feared a lot, loved young Ezz. He went to condole his family saying: “Ezz was one of the most distinguished school students.”

Ezz’s brother, Belal, remembered his brother with eyes full of tears: “Ezz was the “yes man”, he never said “no” to anyone.” Ezz’s younger brother said: “The best quality of Ezz’s character was altruism. He used to save his pocket money to give it to his family at the end of the month when they were in a dire need for every penny.” When his father asked him to buy a mineral water bottle, Ezz paid for it from his own money, refusing to take money from his father saying “keep the shekel with you Dad. You need money more than I do.”