Father killed, mother abducted and tortured: Gaza boy recounts Israeli raid
In the early hours of 19 May, 13-year-old Mohammad Ahmad Kamel Sarhan's world was turned upside down.
'I was asleep at 6am when I suddenly heard the sound of an explosion,' the boy told Middle East Eye.
Israeli soldiers had stormed the home of Sarhan and his family in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, as part of a special operation aimed at capturing the teenager's father, a senior leader of the Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees.
Sarhan had been sleeping next to his mother, father and his four siblings Yusuf, 2, Jude, 9, Mahmoud, 10, and Wael, 11.
"We all live together - me, my parents, and my siblings - in a single room with a kitchen and a bathroom, all built atop the rubble of our destroyed home," he explained.
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His father was in the bathroom when the violent raid started that day.
The teenager said a military-trained dog attacked him and attempted to bite his mother, but he held it away from her.
"Then we were surrounded by the sounds of explosions and gunfire."
More soldiers flooded the room where the family had sought refuge, as troops fired at the ceiling and near their feet.
"After that, they beat me and my brothers. They slammed my mother's head against the wall in front of us, then tied her up - and tied me up as well," he recalled.
The Israeli troops surrounded his mother, refusing to let her wear her headscarf, as they shackled her hands and led her towards a bus.
'I heard her voice - she was screaming from the torture'
- Mohammad Ahmad Kamel Sarhan, Palestinian child
"Along the way, they kept slamming her head into the wall. They tied me up too, and beat me severely. As they dragged me out, one of them grabbed my head and said: 'Look what we did to your father.'"
Sarhan saw his father lying in a pool of his own blood, with his body full of bullets. The troops had also taken the senior leader's weapon.
"He was stretched out against the wall. My siblings were frozen in place. My brother Wael fainted before I left the house."
The al-Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades later confirmed Sarhan's death in a statement, saying: 'Commander Ahmed Kamel Sarhan, the brigades' special operations officer, was martyred after engaging in a heroic clash against the Zionist special forces.'
Kidnapping and torture
The 13-year-old recalls being led towards two new Mercedes buses, both packed with Israeli soldiers.
He was placed in one, while his mother was taken into the other.
Soldiers questioned him about his family's living arrangements. 'They told me, 'You're the one who goes out to buy things for the house. Why you, and not your father?' I asked, 'Why did you take me?' They said, 'Because you're the one who shops for the house.''
Israel orders expulsion of Palestinians from Khan Younis ahead of 'unprecedented attack' Read More »
Sarhan and his mother were abducted and taken to a remote area within the Gaza Strip, used by the Israeli army as a military base. Once there, they were separated and placed in different rooms.
'I could hear nothing but the sounds of tanks, military vehicles, and gunfire. I heard her voice - she was screaming from the torture,' the sobbing boy said.
Three soldiers who spoke in the local Palestinian dialect continued interrogating him about his purchases for the family.
"I remained blindfolded until sunset. Then they put me in a tank and dropped me at an intersection near Street 2, telling me to walk 400 metres," Sarhan said.
The young boy walked till he reached the Salah al-Din Street, southern Gaza, where he was reunited with his uncle Issam, who had been contacted by the army.
"They didn't let me talk. They hit me hard and repeatedly. One soldier pointed his gun at my chest and told me he would shoot me. He then struck me on the head with the back of the weapon."
The whereabouts of Sarhan's mother remain unknown.
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