BEIT HANOUN, Gaza Strip — In the early hours of July 9, Hafez Hamad, 37, was sitting in a small courtyard in front of his house, along with his wife, Suha, 31, his mother, Fawzia, 70, his brothers Ibrahim, 35, and Mahdi, 41, and Mahdi's teenage daughter Dina. They were chatting and drinking coffee, escaping the power cut inside their home, when an unmanned Israeli aircraft fired a missile, killing them all.
Al-Monitor spoke with Amir Hamad, the 11-year-old son of martyr Hafez. With a pale face after losing his father and mother, he said, "I was sitting beside my father and we were chatting when the plane bombed the location. I wasn't injured, but I saw everyone on the ground. I screamed out for my father, yet he didn't respond. I lifted up his hand, but it fell limp. At that time, I knew he had died. I picked up my little brother Nour and ran toward the house."