Salem Boulos Sweilem, a father of five, dies from fear when bombs fall near his home, writes Ameen Sabbagh from Caritas Jerusalem.
On the 19th of November 2012, in the middle of the roar of Israeli warplanes that are constantly bombing Gaza. Salem, a close neighbour to the Caritas Health Centre in Shate Refugee Camp died.
On that particular day Salem felt very exhausted and frustrated from lack of sleep, so he went to bed to get some rest. That night Israeli warplanes dropped four missiles each weighing more than a ton on and around the Palestine Stadium, which is about 100 metres from the Caritas Health Centre.
Salem woke up in a panic and couldn’t breathe; the whole building was shaking because of the blasts. His family wanted to take him to hospital but unfortunately they couldn’t find any transportation, finally they found a friend who owns a car but it was too late. Salem died on his way to hospital.
The people of Gaza, especially the children are traumatised. Only two days ago a 2 year old died of a heart attack from sheer terror when the Israelis were bombarding Saraya in Gaza where she lives.
Does this child deserve to die like this? Do the hundreds of other children deserve this collective punishment?
We can only pray for these atrocities to stop because the people of Gaza cannot bear it anymore.