Mohammad Arafat sent me this story about Gaza and what happened to his friend. He wishes me to share it.

“A call from Gaza
Gaza strip locates in the east of Mediterranean Sea. It has a very important and helpful location between Africa and Asia. The traders of Asia and Africa used to cross it towards the two continents. That importance attracts the imperialism and the colonialism includes Israel. Israel occupation has occupied this city and the whole Palestine in 1948. This occupation made many and many horrible massacres inside Palestine. It tried to exploit and subordinate its people, but the brave Palestinian people refused hardly. They resisted that army and forced it to withdraw from Gaza firstly and we all hope from the whole Palestine also Inshallah.
The Palestinian resistance made Israeli occupation escape from Gaza. However this occupation went out from Gaza, it is still controls its people by invading and besieging it and by cutting the power and water. It controls their food and the cooking gas. Finally these armies invaded Gaza strip on December of 2008. On 27th of December2008, the F16 warplanes raided a lot of tons of missiles over Gaza. The first number of martyrs from the innocent policemen was about 400 martyred and hundreds of injured. In this short essay, I will talk about a very sad tragic story about my friend Musab who injured during 2008 war in Gaza strip.
Musab is a young man from Gaza strip. He lives in a normal family with his parents and seven brothers and sisters. He is a successful young student in his life and his studying. He had the determination to take the secondary stage then to join the university to become a student of English.
The schools in Gaza have reached the final exams of the first semester. On the 27th of December2008, Musab went to school with his friends actively to have the first exam which was the Arabic one. When Musab and the friends have arrived the school, they shook other friends` hands and began to prepare for the exam. They were so ready for the exams, but they did not know that they were ready for a big raid on Gaza strip. After they had prepared for the exam, they all went to listen to the Palestinian anthem in their school. While they were listening, many warplanes over Gaza began to raid and shell. They raided many times and killed many of innocent people, so all the students inside the school began to scream and cry. They thought firstly that these voices were only from a thunder or something natural, but finally they realized that it is a new war and it was just the beginning. The teachers in the school asked students to go home and stay there safely. Musab went to his home on foot because there were no cars or buses. The streets were empty completely.
While he was walking in the street, he found a lot of people were running, screaming and crying. There were many children who were crying while they were going back to homes. All the students in schools were thinking of their families. All of them thought that they had to have a martyred from their families. The parents began to go out their homes and look for their children in streets. The mothers were crying and screaming for their children or even for their husbands who killed in the failed raids. The people began to contact their relatives to assure that they are in safe and sound. Gaza`s scene in that time was exactly like what was going on in the WWII and I.
Musab arrived home sadly and was about to cry. He found his family in home was watching T.V on what has happened. Musab has a paralyzed brother who has a brain defect. His brother was so afraid of the big bombs and the scenes of the parts of the martyrs. He also stopped eating and drinking. He was shocked of what he did see and listened.
While the family were sitting with each and thinking of what happened with the city and their brother, a very huge bomb shook their home like an earthquake. It was too horrible scene. Accidently, the power went off and all the family began to grope in the darkness. The family stayed in the home for the first ten days of the war with bombs, raids and missiles. They thought that the war would end soon, but that was wrong. It was just the beginning of the massacre.
Tonight on the tenth day of the war, the occupation started to prepare the armies soldiers, tankers, bulldozers and heavy weapons in order to invade the steady besieged Gaza. The Apatchi warplanes started to throw many rocket lights over the empty areas in order to explore the areas. All the families could not sleep especially in that night. In the morning of the eleventh day of the war, the Israeli soldiers began to invade Gaza and force the people who live near the borders to go out their homes. Many armies have dominated the homes which locate on hills in order to cover the city. Many families have immigrated to the UNRWA schools include Musab`s family.
The innocent families thought that the occupation would not destroy the UNRWA schools because it respects the international agreements. While Musab`s family was going to a school to stay in temporarily, they saw a very big missile fired from a reconnaissance drone towards a group of families in an UNRWA school. That missile killed about ten innocent people from the children and women, so the ambulance came to transfer corpses to the hospital. Suddenly, another shell has thrown from the same drone towards the ambulance and killed the three first-aid men and destroyed their ambulance. The area was full of bodies` parts from the poor people who have killed by the Israeli drone. Musab and his family saw some feet and hands were hanged on a tree and a head was far away from his owner.
The family arrived at the school, but it was full of immigrant families and they did not find an empty place to stay in. They went to another and another, but alas no empty schools for them. So the family decided to go to their Aunt`s house to stay in because it is safer than the other as they thought. After they had arrived it, they put their stuff in a small room where they slept with each other.
In the morning, Musab and his little brother went to their home to feed the hungry chickens and the hens while the short truce which has ratified by the occupation. When they arrived home, they found it fired from the missiles and all the tame birds and animals were killed, so he went back to his Aunt home in a sad mood patiently.
When he arrived at his Aunt home, his mother asked him to go to buy something to feed his little hungry brothers who have not eaten for a long time. He went out the home and he found a group of people were looking at something, so he went to see what was going on. He found them looking at two garbage collectors who have killed by a drone over the city while they were doing their duty. Accidently, a very big missile has thrown towards the group of people and killed five of them and injured many include Musab. He felt with dizziness. He got two fragments, one in his neck and the other in his chest. He found an empty ambulance, so he got in it and waited for the first-aid men. When they came, they were carrying a half of man and some parts of his body, so Musab was so afraid of the horrible scene and suddenly he passed out.
The ambulance arrived at the hospital which was so crowded of martyred and injured people. Musab did not enter the hospital quickly because the doctors could not cover the numbers of the martyred and injured people. He finally entered the hospital after he has bled his blood. The doctors did not know what to do with his condition. They expected that he will die of the bleeding, but Allah has blessed him and the doctors made the operation and it succeeded.
His family did not know what happened to their son. They thought that he was killed like the others, so they went to the hospital to look for his corpse. When they entered the hospital, they went to martyred room. They found a young man who looks like Musab exactly, so the father contacted the mother and the rest of family to tell them that Musab has martyred. The father left Musab corpse and went home to prepare the funeral and left his seconed son there. While Musab`s brother was in the martyred room, two women came to it crying and screaming. They came to the corpse. The son told them that the corpse refers to his brother, but they showed him the ID of the young man who was in that room. The brother shocked and went out. After he had got up, he contacted his father and told him what happened. The father came to the hospital quickly and they began to look for the corpse newly. Finally they entered a wrong room of injured men and suddenly they found Musab lying in a bed in safe and sound.
Musab`s fragments stayed in his body for eight months. He lived with them for eight months. This determined young man entered the secondary stage and got high marks. His determination led him to join the English department in the university.
THAT IS THE DETERMENATION OF PALESTINIAN PEOPLE!!!!”
Done by Mohammad Arafat