Bullets and a Cup of Tea

Translated By, Saed Bannoura, IMEMC

Making a cup of tea is not dangerous, yet in this case it was fatal!

A bullet fired by soldiers penetrated the chest of Ni’ma Abu Sahloul, 55 years old, while she was making some tea for her guests in west Khan Younis refugee camp.

Ni’ma was shot dead Sunday night, during a military operation conducted in the camp, south of the Gaza Strip.

Fayza Abu Sahloul, Ni’ma’s daughter-in-law, said Ni’ma was making some tea when several rounds and then a loud roar were heard.

“We knew something terrible happened, we heard her screaming, and rushed into the kitchen to find her soaked with her blood, she looked at us, with a short smile…and died”, Fayza said.

Fayza added that her mother-in-law always told her family not to go to the western side of the house, where the kitchen is, because it’s dangerous and was targeted several times before, especially at night.

The house is located on the outskirts of the camp, several homes beside it were damaged and shelled, and their house became obvious and exposed and can be seen from Al-Tuffah Checkpoint, and several military camps surrounding Naveh Dkalim settlement.

Bullets which killed Ni’ma are still there, damages are still there, witnessing a new crime to be added to the history of the camp.

Sadness, anger, and misery were clearly observed on the face of Shihda Sahloul, the 60 years old husband of Ni’ma, as he pointed out at a military base and said, “They have targeted my house several times, they…killed my wife, killed tens of children and women…what guilt have we committed, what did the children and women do to them…?”

Shihda paused for a while, and after a moment of deadly silent he said with teary eyes, choking voice, “They…they want us to leave… but we will stay, we will never abandon our homes and lands, we will remain here no matter what happens, this is our land.”

“Army is killing the residents… daily, they want us out of here, so that they can say that this is a “no man land”, they already demolished nine homes yesterday”, Shihda added.

“Where is the world? Why aren’t they moving?”, he wondered with an angry sad tone.

During the past two months, army killed in Khan Younis area, six residents while they were at home, among the dead, three children.

Jawad Al-Teeby, Minister of Health in the P.A, said that the number of females killed since the beginning of the Intifada reached 222 females.

“Women and children have been repeatedly targeted, even while they were asleep”, Al-Teeby said.