- "Dad, I'm dying."
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- The words keep echoing in Kamal Awaga's ears, sending
jolts of pain into his feeble, wounded body.
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- These were the last words uttered by his 9-year-old son,
Ibrahim, before he ended up as a practicing target for Israeli soldiers.
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- "They killed my son in cold blood," says the
grief-stricken father, still in a state of shock.
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- Ibrahim joined more than 350 children killed by Israel
in its three- week onslaught on the coastal enclave.
-
- But while others fell victim to killer bullets or deadly
bombs, Ibrahim's fate was even more tragic.
-
- He became a shooting practice for a squad of Israeli
soldiers.
-
- "The Israelis did not show mercy for his innocence,"
said his tearful father from his bed at the Al-Shefa hospital in Gaza
City.
-
- "They had no pity for his tiny body," added
the heart-broken father.
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- A Sunny Day
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- Nothing in the day prepared the Awaga family for the
tragic twist of events that unfolded.
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- They woke up to a sunny morning after days of being locked
in one small room to escape the massive Israeli bombardment.
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- "Mom, let's have our breakfast out in the garden.
I'm tired of staying in this room," the grieved mother recalls Ibrahim's
plea.
-
- An hour later, the table was set in the garden and the
family was hoping to enjoy rare moments of peace, unaware of the eyes
watching them from a distance.
-
- A first missile stole the family's job before another
destroyed their house.
-
- "Dad, I am dying," cried Ibrahim to his father
who rushed frantically to his side.
-
- "Hurry, let's go," Awaga told his wife and
two other children while carrying bleeding Ibrahim.
-
- But even before they could reach the gate, a flood of
bullets showered them.
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- One bullet hit the mother's leg and another hit the father's
waist.
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- Ibrahim's two frightened brothers ran for cover behind
the rubbles of their bombed-out house.
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- Shooting Practice
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- As the firing died down, the family thought their misery
was over. But the Israeli soldiers were not finished yet.
-
- "When the soldiers came closer, I thought they will
kill me," said Awaga who faked being dead.
-
- "But they were aiming at my young child," he
said choking at the bitter memory.
-
- One soldier came close to Ibrahim's body, turning him
by his leg and laughing while another fired his gun to the dead boy's
head.
-
- Laughs got louder as they carried the body to a higher
place to start their party.
-
- For a whole hour, the father hushed his cries of pain
as he watched the Israeli soldiers compete in sniping on his dead son's
body.
-
- "They were using his bullet-ridden, bleeding body
as a shooting practice.
-
- "With each bullet, they were humming with words
I could not figure out, but it sounded full of rapture. It was as if they
were celebrating."
-
- When they finally had enough "practicing,"
the Israelis took their guns and left the house.
-
- Four complete days passed before emergency doctors were
able to find their way to the family and rush them to hospital.
-
- "What did my son do to deserve that?" Awaga
asks, shaking his head in disbelief.
-
- "The Israelis killed my kid, not once or twice but
a thousand times."
-
-
- (end of article)
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-
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- This corpse of a young Palestinian is not the body of
Ibrahim, but count the bullet holes and, in the picture below, note
where the Jew, on yet another occasion, is aiming his weapon.
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-
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-
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- Zionist Nathanial Rothschild -- you don't have
to be there to pull the trigger.
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