At the end of the daily fast, breaking the fast with the whole family in a religious ritual and joyful atmosphere is the typical image of the month of Ramadan. But for Gazans, this year’s picture of Ramadan is very different. Instead of the memory of Iftar in the family mood, their fate now seems to be the burden of their lost relatives and their memories. The holy month of Ramadan began in Gaza on Monday amid bloodshed. However, most Gazans cannot overcome the deep grief of losing parents, brothers and families in the war. Ibrahim Hassuna is one of them. On the first day of Ramadan, standing next to his mother’s grave, he was deeply moved by grief after listening to her voicemail. The British news agency Reuters published a report about him on Tuesday (March 12).
According to the report, Ibrahim Hassuna came to visit the graves of loved ones at a cemetery in Gaza on the first day of Ramadan. His entire family was killed in an Israeli military strike on Palestinian territory. His mother sent him a voicemail before she died. She was seen expressing concern for the child in the mail. Hassuna heard that message over and over again.
Her mother’s voicemail to Hassuna was a simple message. In the mail, she expressed concern about her son and asked where he was: ‘Ibrahim my love, I want to find you. I have been calling you since yesterday. But you didn’t answer. What’s the problem?’
A picture on Hassuna’s phone shows her and her mother smiling. Their heads were tied together. In the picture, Hassuna’s mother is seen wearing a blue dress and a beige head scarf.
Hearing her mother’s voice on the phone was a sour-sweet experience for Hassuna. Hassuna was reminiscing about how her mother used to worry about her and constantly annoy her. As she knelt by her mother’s grave and cried, she said, ‘If I go away even for an hour, two or three hours, she will start calling. Although I am 30 years old.’
His mother was known as Umm Karam. Which means Karam’s mother. Karam is Hassuna’s elder brother.
Hassuna was also saying, ‘No one will ask about me anymore. No one will comfort me anymore. No one will look for me. No one will worry about Ibrahim the way my mother worried about me.’
Standing in the graveyard, Hassuna raised both hands and prayed. At the time, he was holding a tasbeeh which had beads of black, white, red and green colors similar to the Palestinian flag.
Hassuna said, ‘The grave next to it is my father’s. The grave behind me is that of my brother Mohammad. And next to us is that this grave belongs to Karam and his family.’
#son #cries #mothers #grave #Gaza