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<div class="header reader-header" style="display: block;"
dir="ltr"> <font size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/grief-replaces-laughter-gaza-marks-ramadan/24501">https://electronicintifada.net/content/grief-replaces-laughter-gaza-marks-ramadan/24501</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Grief replaces laughter as Gaza marks
Ramadan</h1>
<p class="node__submitted">
<span class="field field-author"><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/people/sarah-algherbawi">Sarah
Algherbawi</a></span> <span class="field field-publisher">-</span>
<span class="field field-publication-date"><span
class="date-display-single"
content="2018-05-28T07:31:00+00:00">28 May 2018</span></span>
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<figure id="file-63441"><source media="(min-width:
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<p>The Abu Hassanein family is trying to mark Ramadan in
the normal way. But it has proven impossible.</p>
<p>Nobody could convince Shifaa Abu Hassanein to join
the family for an iftar – the meal which ends a day of
fasting – as the holy month began.</p>
<p>Three days earlier, Shifaa <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/listen-clearly-marked-gaza-medics-shot-israeli-snipers">lost</a>
her 36-year-old son Mousa. He was one of approximately
60 people <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israel-slaughters-palestinians-marching-return">killed</a>
by Israel during the Gaza massacre on 14 May.</p>
<p>Mousa was a paramedic – the orange vest he was
wearing clearly identified him as such. He was
providing first aid to the injured when he was hit by
a sniper’s bullet.</p>
<p>“I don’t feel like eating or drinking anything,” said
Shifaa. “I can’t even handle the family gathering for
an iftar without Mousa. Everything reminds me of
Mousa. He used to love the food we had at Ramadan. He
would always ask me to make pea soup and rice.”</p>
<p>After the evening prayers of Ramadan, Mousa would
“make us tea and come and talk and laugh with us,
sometimes for hours,” Shifaa added. “I will miss him
badly.”</p>
<p>Shifaa, who is 61, last saw her son at around 4 pm on
the day he was killed. She had joined the Great Return
March in Malaka, east of Gaza City.</p>
<p>Mousa took a <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/GNNA.NOW/posts/2091021001225394">selfie</a>
with his mother and gave her a kiss. He then left as
he had work to do.</p>
<p>Explosions had been heard in the environs of a
cemetery about two minutes drive from Malaka. Mousa
made his way to that area. He was equipped with just a
few tourniquets, which medical staff had been using to
try and stanch the loss of blood from people shot by
Israeli snipers.</p>
<p>When he reached the area, Mousa went to treat some
injured youths, who were near the fence separating
Gaza and Israel. As he approached them, Mousa was
himself shot in the chest.</p>
<p>He fell down and was on the ground for 30 minutes
before other paramedics could reach him. He was
already dead when they arrived.</p>
<p>Rafat Daher, a friend and colleague of Mousa’s, was
one of those paramedics.</p>
<p>“We needed time to reach Mousa because we had to
search for him amid the fire and smoke,” Daher said.
“When we reached him it was too late.”</p>
<p>Before he was killed, Mousa had succeeded in rescuing
another colleague, Palestinian Canadian doctor Tareq
Loubani. Mousa treated his colleague’s wound after
Loubani had been shot with a bullet that penetrated
both his legs.</p>
<p>In total, four members of the team in which Mousa was
working – including himself and Loubani – were shot
that day.</p>
<h2>Somber</h2>
<p>Usually, Ramadan is a time of joy and color.</p>
<p>This year it opened in a somber mood.</p>
<p>Many of Gaza’s families had to attend funerals for
the people killed in the 14 May massacre. Economic
hardship – caused by Israel’s siege and the <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/abbas-breaks-pay-pledge-gazas-workers/24371">refusal</a>
of the Palestinian Authority to pay public sector
wages – has also dampened spirits.</p>
<p>“Every year, we make a good profit during Ramadan,”
said 50-year-old Zuheir Abu Selmia, who sells kitchen
utensils at al-Zawya market in the center of Gaza
City. “But this year is different. People can’t afford
to buy food and other kitchen requirements for
Ramadan. I open from 9 am until 6 pm and often I sell
to less than 10 customers a day.”</p>
<p>Israel has repeatedly fired on unarmed demonstrators
since the Great Return March began in late March –
killing more than 100 Palestinians.</p>
<p>Thaer Rabaa, a 29-year-old resident of Jabaliya
refugee camp, was killed while taking part in protests
on 6 April.</p>
<p>The pain inflicted on his family has been so acute
that they have felt unable to celebrate Ramadan
together.</p>
<p>“Thaer was the most cheerful one,” said his mother
Etaf. “He was the one who started the conversations
and made us laugh. Thaer was the family breadwinner,
he worked in construction and supported us. Without
him our life doesn’t have a meaning.”</p>
<p>Thaer’s wife Shireen is pregnant. The couple’s baby
is due within the next few weeks.</p>
<p>As she fed her 18-month-old daughter Mayar, Shireen
said: “How will I provide for my baby? All I have is
loss, pain and hunger. Thaer was planning to call the
baby Mariam.”</p>
<p><em>Sarah Algherbawi is a freelance writer and
translator from Gaza.</em></p>
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