Translated Content:
Today's News - On a quiet Friday morning, the ninth of this month, at 6:30 a.m., brothers Ahmed and Mohammed Miqdad set off in their small boat from the beach of Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, to provide for their children. The brothers carried nothing but old nets and the hope of catching a fish to feed their family. But the sea, always a haven, suddenly turned into a bloody trap. As soon as the brothers began collecting their nets, the sound of explosions broke the calm: three shells fired by Israeli occupation boats stationed offshore toward their boat. As a result, the young fisherman, Ahmed Ali Othman Miqdad (27 years old), died, while his brother, Mohammed (32 years old), was seriously injured. A Torn Body Their brother, Ayoub Miqdad, stands on the beach with lost eyes, scanning the horizon, hoping the waves will bring him back the body of his drowned brother. He tells Filastin newspaper: "We are still looking for him. One of the shells hit him directly and tore his body apart." He adds with deep sadness, his heart sinking just as Ahmed drowned, without a farewell, without a grave, without a shroud other than the salty sea and the pain it enveloped. Ayoub is trying to coordinate with a number of fishermen to search for his brother's remains, hoping they can bury him as befits any human being, so that the waves won't remain the only witness to the farewell. Martyr Ahmed was the father of two children: Ali, two and a half years old, and Karaz, the infant who had not yet completed her third month, according to his brother, who said, "Ahmed passed away, leaving behind a bereaved wife and children without a father, without a place to visit, without any tangible memory other than a faded image." His brother, Mohammed, is fighting for his life inside the intensive care unit at Al-Shifa Medical Complex, the hospital that was severely damaged during the war and partially restored despite a severe shortage of equipment and staff. Muqdad notes that his brother was injured by shrapnel in his chest, abdomen, and pelvic area, adding, "Any hope of his survival rests on life support and the prayers of his family." A pile of stones. Muqdad walks sadly, standing on the rubble of his destroyed home. “We live in a tent now after our house in Al-Shati refugee camp was destroyed when the war began,” he says, pointing to a pile of stones that was once home to five families. “After temporary displacement, we returned to find our four-story house a pile of rubble. We set up tents next to it, awaiting reconstruction.” His voice filled with sadness, he continues, “Our house was destroyed, my brother was martyred without a body, and the fate of the other is unknown. The boat that was destroyed in the bombing supported four families. We used to catch a little to eat and sell the rest to buy necessities for the children. Now, there is nothing.” Since the outbreak of the brutal war on the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, the Strip has been living under a stifling naval blockade imposed by the Israeli occupation forces, preventing thousands of fishermen from entering the sea. According to local data, about 150 fishermen have been killed since the beginning of the war, 50 of them while trying to fish to provide for their families. Most boats have been destroyed, even the small ones, which the fishermen had built with their own effort and sweat. The number of licensed fishermen in Gaza is about 4,500, in addition to 1,500 people working in fishing-related professions, such as selling fish, maintaining boats, and making ice to preserve catches. The martyr Ahmed Miqdad is not just a number on the list of martyrs, but a face of the daily suffering in Gaza. The sea was a source of life for his family, but today it has become an open grave. Every wave tells a story, and every net is the wreckage of a dream. Source: Palestine Online