Rana’s blood and her last supper

Translated by Saed Bannoura-IMEMC

Last Supper 7-year-old Rana Syiam had with her family in Khan Younis, ended with blood and tears after a bullet fired by Israeli soldiers entered her head and exited to wound her father in the leg.

On Friday December, 12, 2004, an Israeli soldier fired a bullet from a sniper-rifle and killed the joy and smiles of the family when this fated bullet penetrated Rana’s head.

The family still hold on to her memories and keep her blooded clothes to remind them of their child who, was killed in cold blood. Rana did no mistake more than sitting in the dining room.

Rana’s father, Omar Syiam, 50 years old, said that a soldier fired one bullet from his sniper rifle, taking the innocent life of his child.

“Those soldiers in the military camp near here, do not differentiate between a child and an adult. What did she do to them? What crime is it to sit at home and eat dinner with your family?”, he asked.

Syaim stated that he was sitting with his wife and children in the evening when they heard gunfire, but here, in Khan Younis camp, that is an everyday event.

“Over the last four years [of Intifada], we got used to the sounds of shooting and shelling. Our home is only 600 meters away from the Naveh Dkalim settlement and its surrounding military camps”, the father added.

With his face cast down in sadness, Syaim’s eyes filled with tears and he began to describe the death of his daughter. He said that as he went to wash his hands before the meal, he felt something sticking him to his right foot,

“I screamed, help me, I am hit, and the family rushed toward me — except Rana and her sister Hiba (6 years old). Hiba started to scream, calling her mother, and when we all rushed toward the girls, we saw Rana lying on her side, with blood flooding out of her head”.

Her father, in spite of his pain from the bullet in his leg, took his child and rushed to Nasser hospital. The hospital is only a few meters away from their home, but death, for Rana, came faster.

Rana’s mother cannot sit in the living room where her daughter was killed — whenever she sits there, she remembers the murderous bullet which took away the innocent life of her child. But it is impossible for her to avoid – simply by looking out her window, she sees the military camp, full of soldiers resembling the “murderer” who took away the life of her beloved child.

“I saw her screaming, and falling down to the ground, she was in front of me….”, Rana’s mother cried, remembering the “little angel” removed from this world by a bullet of hatred.

The Israeli army gave no explanation for the shooting.