Mourning the death of 5-year-old Mohammed
In yet another tragic incident in the ongoing recent conflict in Gaza, Mohammed Zeyad Al-Rahel, a 5-year-old child from Al-Zaitoun neighbourhood, was killed when an Israeli tank shell hit his room at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 19th.
Mohammed was registered in World Vision's sponsorship program in May of 2014 and has been receiving psychosocial support in the Child Friendly Spaces (CFS) provided by World Vision.
In the incident, Mohammed’s 18-year-old uncle, the brother of another child registered in our sponsorship programme, was also killed and the rest of his family (father, mother, brother, sister, uncle and grandmother) were critically injured and are still hospitalized.
After the attack, the neighbours rushed to help get Mohammed’s family from underneath the rubble and were terrified by the incident. Afterword, they fled the area and took shelter in UNRWA buildings.
According to others, Mohammed liked to play football and he participated in Dabkeh dancing at the World Vision Child Friendly Spaces. His neighbourhood benefited from a World Vision project to improve its infrastructure in addition to rehabilitating all agricultural land and greenhouses in that area. Mohammed’s father also participated in a job creation program last year.
Mohammed’s death is tragic, especially for his family. His mom expressed her devastation noting how she was looking forward to him starting school in August. Her dream was for her son to grow up and become a doctor. Unfortunately, he didn’t live to fulfil her dreams, or his.
Mohammed is one of more than 120 children that have been killed since the beginning of the assault on Gaza. Civilians are paying the heaviest price in this conflict as they have nowhere to go to escape the heavy shelling.
Read more:
WV President Kevin Jenkins about using children as pawns in conflict
World Vision's statement urging a ceasefire from both sides in the conflict