Early Morning Chaos
On the morning of 19 May, what began as a typical day for 13-year-old Mohammad Ahmad Kamel Sarhan quickly descended into horror and chaos. At around 6 a.m., the tranquility of sleep was shattered by the deafening sound of explosions that rocked their modest shelter in Khan Younis, a city in southern Gaza.
“I was asleep next to my family when I suddenly woke up to a massive explosion. I didn’t know what was happening,” Mohammad recounted in an interview with Middle East Eye. “I saw soldiers storming into our home. We were terrified.”
The home, a small one-room structure with a kitchen and bathroom, had been built atop the ruins of their previously destroyed house. It was shared by Mohammad, his parents, and four younger siblings—Yusuf (2), Jude (9), Mahmoud (10), and Wael (11). On that morning, their fragile sense of safety was obliterated.
A Targeted Operation
The Israeli military raid was part of a larger special operation targeting Mohammad’s father, a senior figure in the Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades—the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees. Israeli forces claimed the raid was aimed at arresting or eliminating key figures of the Palestinian resistance.
Mohammad’s father, who had gone to the bathroom moments before the raid began, was immediately confronted by the soldiers. According to Mohammad, the troops forcibly entered and began their assault without warning. The family had no time to react or even understand what was happening before their lives were forever altered.
A Family Torn Apart
As the soldiers stormed the room, Mohammad and his siblings clung to their mother, trembling in fear. “We were all screaming. My little brother was crying. We didn’t understand why this was happening,” he said.
Mohammad recalled how the soldiers separated him and his siblings from their parents. Moments later, gunfire rang out. His father, he later learned, had been shot and killed by the soldiers during the raid.
“The soldiers took my father away and we heard gunshots. Later, someone told us he was dead,” Mohammad said, struggling to hold back tears.
Mother Abducted and Tortured
The trauma did not end there. The soldiers then turned their attention to Mohammad’s mother. According to the boy, she was handcuffed, blindfolded, and taken away without explanation. For days, her whereabouts remained unknown.
“We begged them not to take her. My brothers and I were crying, but they dragged her away. We didn’t know if she was alive or dead,” Mohammad said.
When she finally returned days later, the signs of torture were evident. Her body was bruised, her spirit shaken. According to her account, she was subjected to physical and psychological abuse during her detention, allegedly to extract information about her husband and his associates.
“She couldn’t even walk properly when she came back. They beat her and interrogated her without mercy,” Mohammad recalled.
Living Amid the Ruins
The Sarhan family, like many in Gaza, had been forced to rebuild their lives atop the rubble of destruction. Their current shelter—a single cramped room—offers little protection or comfort. Yet it was their home, and it was where the family tried to live as normally as possible.
Now, with their father dead and their mother traumatized, the already fragile sense of normalcy has been shattered.
“We live on the ruins of our old home, but now it feels like we’re living in the ruins of our lives,” Mohammad said. “My siblings cry every night. My mother barely speaks. We don’t know what to do.”
