Jamal al-Durrah sat beside the grave of his son Muhammad in Bureij camp. He read the first chapter of the Quran, Surah Al-Fatiha, on his son’s soul and recalled the incident when Muhammad was killed by Israeli army fire 13 years ago in south Gaza, when Jamal was returning by taxi from a shopping trip.
Jamal told Al-Monitor what happened: “On Sept. 30, 2000, I went with Muhammad to Gaza City. Upon our return, there was a lot of shooting and confrontation with Israeli soldiers near the Israeli settlement of Netzarim, so we had to get out of the taxi. I went behind the agricultural lands of the almond trees, east of Salahuddin Street, the location of the clashes between Palestinian youths and the Israeli army. Then we took a street that intersects with Salahuddin. At the intersection’s other corner, there was an Israeli military watchtower from which they started shooting at us directly and continuously for approximately 45 minutes. Muhammad was hit in his right foot. I was scared and tried to comfort him, but he was in high spirits.”