GAZA, (PIC)
Scenes of pain and suffering in Gaza never seem to end—scenes that perhaps have never occurred in any era or time. The brutal occupation commits atrocities day and night, weaving agony into the hearts of Gazans.
Palestinian paramedic Aziz Bardini (28 years old) was devastated by the death of his mother in a scene reminiscent of dramatic television shows or fictional tales. Yet this is the harsh reality in Gaza, which has been enduring genocide for over a year.
“I didn’t recognize you, mom.” These were the words Bardini cried out at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, after realizing that he was carrying the body of his mother, who had been killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Al-Maghazi refugee camp.
Bardini, a volunteer paramedic with the Red Crescent from the same camp, is still in shock over the tragedy. He had not realized that the woman he was carrying was his mother until later.
He recounts how he was on a rescue mission at a station in the nearby Al-Bureij camp when they received a call about an airstrike in Al-Maghazi. They rushed to the scene, and Bardini’s vehicle was the first to arrive. Upon reaching the location, he found the body of a woman and three other injured people, including a critically injured 12-year-old boy. Bardini prioritized treating the child, not knowing at that moment that the woman who had died was his mother.
He transported the child to the intensive care unit at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital and returned to move the woman’s body to the morgue. Still unaware of her identity, Bardini recalls, “I waited for someone to come and identify her body. When no one came, I uncovered her face and thought she resembled my mother. I was about to mark her as ‘unidentified’ until I looked closely at her face. That’s when I screamed and broke down in tears, realizing that she was indeed my mother.”
In deep grief, Bardini continued, “I couldn’t believe it was her. I left the morgue, then went back in. It really was my mother. I wished someone would come and say it wasn’t her. Until the last moment, I hoped she wasn’t my mother. But the bitter truth was that it was her.”
Crying out in anguish, he said, “I shouted, ‘I didn’t recognize you, mom’ at the top of my voice, while the doctors around me were shocked and asked, ‘How didn’t you recognize her if she’s your mother?’ He replied, ‘My mother lives in the Al-Maghazi camp, and since the airstrike hit the camp, it never crossed my mind that she could be the victim. She was the one who made me a cup of tea that very morning before I left for work.'”
Local sources reported that 64-year-old Mrs. Bardini died from a shrapnel wound to her eye, which caused internal bleeding in her brain. She was killed when Israeli warplanes targeted a civilian vehicle in the Al-Maghazi camp, killing three people and injuring dozens more.
Bardini’s case is not unique. Thousands of residents in Gaza suffer the same fate, not knowing the whereabouts of their loved ones. Human rights reports estimate that 10,000 Palestinians are currently missing, their fate still unknown.
Dr. Khaled Abu Al-Araj, who was on duty at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital at the time of the incident, told our correspondent, “It was a tragic event, and paramedic Bardini went through an extremely painful shock, causing him to break down several times.”
Dr. Abu Al-Araj added that everyone in the hospital cried at the sight of what had happened, emphasizing that the Palestinian people are enduring one of the most severe tragedies in modern history. UN officials have confirmed that the situation in Gaza is the worst since World War II.
For over a year, Israel has been waging a devastating war of extermination, destroying homes, nature, and human lives. Thousands of children, women, and elderly people have been killed in brutal massacres, spreading pain and grief throughout Gaza, which has become a hotspot of death cultivated by Israel day and night.
