GAZA, (PIC)
There are tales and human narratives that strike deep into the conscience, inscribed by Gaza, whether it’s about resilience or martyrdom, life or death, tears or joy, surviving bombings or getting wounded, bleeding and drowning in your own blood, or being rescued and healed from your wounds. The story is one, even if the names are many. Yet, the story written by the young Palestinian doctor Mustafa Al-Najjar will remain immortal and recounted in the record of the eternal martyrs.
Al-Najjar, may God have mercy on him, used to narrate the story of his survival from Israeli bombings four consecutive times, but he didn’t know that the fifth time would lead him to paradise, where the noble martyrs ascend to Allah’s mercy. He became “the story” itself, not just the narrator.
The doctor Mustafa Al-Najjar recounted a documented testimony of his survival for the first time from targeting and death, then he survived three more times. However, he was martyred the fifth time on February 6, 2024.
He said, “The first time we were targeted was when we were on our way back to the school where we had taken refuge at the beginning of the war, my mother, my brother’s wife, and her young children. We had spent a long day at my sister’s house; my sister, was martyred along with her small family in another attack on their home. My mother and my brother’s wife were a few meters ahead of me, no more than five meters. My nephew Mohammed was running ahead of us, and suddenly, for the first time, something strong pushed us back forcefully, and it was a powerful gust of wind accompanied by thick dust. Then I saw flames and fire spreading around us, and I saw stones falling on us, but I didn’t feel them, then a whistling sound in my ears. All of this happened in a few seconds, not exceeding three seconds. I realized that we were targeted, and I was still alive.”
Al-Najjar continued, “But when I opened my eyes, I didn’t see my mother; all I saw was dust and suffocating smoke. I tried to stand on my feet, but I couldn’t at first. I tried again and succeeded, but I was unbalanced, and the reason was my head injury.”
Though the treacherous Israeli aggression deprived Najjar of narrating the rest of his survival story, he left a legacy of love and sacrifice as a doctor who lived for his people’s cause, continuing the resistance to save and treat the wounded until the very last moment, the last breath, before he ascended as a martyr.
Sadness spreads across social media
Palestinian activists expressed their profound sadness over Najjar’s martyrdom, sharing his last posts on his page via the “X” platform.
The young doctor had spoken about his survival four times from imminent death due to Israeli airstrikes. One of his sisters was martyred in the Israeli aggression that left more than 27,000 martyrs so far.
Hours before his martyrdom, Najjar mourned his friend, the paramedic Fouad Abu Khamash, who was martyred in the airstrikes on Gaza along with other paramedics.
He documented his pain and Gaza’s wounds in his posts
A week before his martyrdom, Mustafa Al-Najjar wrote: “(Prophet) Ayoub (Job), wounded, supplicating, and my country is all Ayoub.”
The late Mustafa Al-Najjar wrote poignant words about the tragic situation in Gaza, saying: “Is there a death worse than having your face crushed by a massive block of cement? Or dying slowly, trapped amidst rubble, hearing them trying to reach you but failing? People usually die, O Allah, in their warm beds or as elderly, tired of life and its pleasures. As for us, we die before we live, we die as children, remembering nothing from life but hunger, siege, and panic!”
He continued: “We die of hunger in a world overflowing with food, our souls ascend to you, and our hearts tremble with fear for our loved ones and friends, not ourselves.”
