One day separates the testimony given by the child Nafeth Ahmed Zaki Abu Hamada to the PCHR’s team. He stated part of his daily suffering with displacement and hunger and expressed longing for his parents and child siblings, who had been killed by the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) a year earlier in northern Gaza. Nafeth was killed in an Israeli airstrike while with his grandmother, trying to get a bag of flour in southern Khan Younis.
Nafeth (10) found himself orphaned after one month of Israel’s genocidal campaign against Gaza, losing his parents and two siblings. Left with his two remaining siblings and elderly grandparents, they were forced to flee to southern Gaza due to heavy bombardment in the north. However, bombardment, hunger, and disease haunted them from one place to the other until an Israeli airstrike claimed Nafeth’s life, uniting him with his parents and siblings and leaving a deep scar for the surviving family living in fear of uncertainty.
The following is Nafeth’s testimony:
“”My name is Nafeth Ahmed Zaki Abu Hamada. I am 11 years old. I lived near the Bedouin Village Towers in northern Gaza. On the morning of 7 October 2023, I was preparing to go to school, where I was in the fourth grade at Beit Hanoun Elementary School for Boys. At around 06:30, I started hearing explosions everywhere. My mother, Amani Nafeth Khader Abu Hamada (34), did not allow me and my siblings—Mohammed (16), Omar (13), and Ziad (12)- to leave the house, where we stayed until noon,” Nafeth began recounting his story.
The family decided to leave their home that day due to intensified Israeli bombardment. Nafeth stated:
“We headed to my maternal grandfather’s house, Nafeth Khader Ahmed Hamdan (59), located near Beit Hanoun Hospital in northern Gaza. We stayed there for only two days, and as the bombardment intensified, we left my grandfather’s house under bombardment at 07:00 on 9 October 2023. We headed towards Hafsa Girls’ School in the Al-Faluja area, west of Jabalia Refugee Camp. There, we managed to shelter in a classroom with great difficulty, as the school was overcrowded, and had no blankets or mattresses.”
The family spent their first day at the school with hard difficulty, as there were no basic supplies. The next day, Nafeth’s brothers, Mohammed (16) and Omar (13), went to their house and managed to bring some mattresses and blankets, but they were not enough for everyone.
From that moment on, Nafeth and his siblings began to endure daily struggles. Instead of studying and carrying their school bags, they took on daily responsibilities. stating:
“Every morning, I would go with my brothers to fetch drinking water and try to collect some firewood to light a fire for cooking. I had to walk long distances to do so.”
After prolonged suffering, compounded by the bitter cold and lack of sufficient blankets amid the freezing weather, Nafeth’s mother decided to return to their house along with his father (40), who suffered from psychological disorders, to bring more blankets and other necessary supplies.
This Is How They Killed My Parents and Siblings
Nafeth sorrowfully recalled how his mother, father, and siblings Omar (13) and Ziad (12) left for their house at 09:00 on 06 November 2023. Hours passed, but his mother, father, and brothers never returned. Soon, the devastating news arrived: IOF had targeted them upon reaching their house and killed them.
The news was shattering and shocking for Nafeth. His mother meant his entire world. He found himself at the school without his parents and brothers, staying instead with his grandparents and siblings Mohammed (16) and Saja (8) until 18 November 2023, when the IOF targeted the school with several smoke bombs, stating:
“We could not leave the school that day because of the intense shelling around the school and the smoke bombs falling inside. The next day, my grandparents decided to leave the school and move to southern Gaza. At 06:30, we left the school on foot, along with other displaced people from the school.”
Displacement to the South
The grandparents and their grandchildren, along with other displaced people, walked toward Netzarim checkpoint set up by the IOF on Salah Al-Din Road, where the displaced were inspected and searched before entering southern Gaza Strip. Nafeth said:
“At 09:00, we arrived at the checkpoint. There were many displaced people standing before the checkpoint, and an Israeli tank stood there with several soldiers on it. Some soldiers fired shots to intimidate them, while others began calling them out, allowing them to enter the checkpoint one by one. We waited until it was our turn and crossed the checkpoint, where soldiers stood on a sand berm, pointing their weapons at those crossing. One soldier used a loudspeaker to call on displaced people, ordering some to leave behind what they were carrying and approach him.”
After safely crossing the checkpoint, the grandparents and grandchildren headed to Rafah, where they set up a tent in Tel Al-Sultan near UNRWA barracks. They stayed in Rafah for six months, a phase marked by relentless suffering, fear, bombardment, and longing for their deceased loved ones.
Responsibilities and Burdens
The dire displacement conditions imposed heavy responsibilities on Nafeth and his older brother Mohammed. Nafeth added:
“I used to help my brother Mohammed fetch drinking water from the charity kitchen and stand in line to fill jerrycans. Mohammed was forced to work with a vegetable vendor near the UNRWA barracks to support us and our grandparents.”
He added:
“I would leave early in the morning to collect firewood for cooking and assist my grandparents with whatever they needed. My grandmother took care of everything for us, meeting our needs as best she could. We continued this way in Rafah, and the daily struggles remained the same until the IOF began demanding the evacuation of Rafah residents to other areas.”
With yet another displacement, Nafeth, his two siblings, and grandparents were displaced on 28 May 2023, carrying only a few belongings, heading to Al-Mawasi Khan Younis.
Nafeth recounted:
“We stayed at Al-Henawi School, opposite Asdaa’ Prison. The school was filled with rubble. We cleaned one of the classrooms and prepared it as best as we could to live in it.”
After displacing to Khan Younis, Nafeth had to shoulder new responsibilities. He began selling lupine beans that his grandmother prepared for him. He would go to schools and nearby tents sheltering displaced people to sell them. He continued this for a while until the prices rose, forcing him to stop.
As he concluded his testimony, Nafeth’s emotions overflowed:
“We are still in the school to this day. I miss my mother, father, and brothers Omar and Ziad. My mother was so close to us and very kind. My grandmother often tells me that I call out for my mother in my sleep without realizing it. I miss her so much and feel her absence deeply.”
Details of the Child’s Killing
On the morning of Friday, 15 November 2024, the day after the PCHR’s researcher had taken Nafeth’s affidavit, the child accompanied his grandmother, Fatima Ismail Mohammed Hamdan (58), to Abu Halawa Junction in southern Khan Younis. They were trying to obtain a bag of flour from traders near the aid truck routes when Israeli warplane bombed the area, killing Nafeth.
The news of Nafeth’s death was shocking and painful, not only for his grandparents and siblings but also for the PCHR’s field researcher Rami Radwan, who had documented his story just hours earlier at their displacement location in Khan Yunis. Hours before, Nafeth had been sitting beside the researcher with his grandfather Nafeth Hamdan, Grandmother Fatima Hamdan, and brother Mohammed.
“With great emotion, I recall how Nafeth was deeply attached to his grandmother. He spoke candidly, sharing his suffering, often turning to his grandmother to affirm his words,” Rami said. “The following morning, I received a call from my father, who informed me of Nafeth’s killing. My family is displaced in the same school where Nafeth and his family were sheltering. The news was a devastating shock, and I was so sad and overwhelmed for him.”
Nafeth’s journey ended after a year filled with hardship, displacement, loss, and grief. His story remains a testament to the tragedies endured by Gaza’s children under an occupation that relentlessly targets children and everything else in Gaza falling under a crime of genocide.
