Asmaa Salem Sulaiman Al-Mahmoum

Location Rafah

Sixteen-year-old Asmaa from Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip was a smiling, elegant and optimistic girl. She was sociable and liked to visit her relatives. Her ambition was to be a physiologist to understand and help the people around her. She liked studying and would borrow books from her school library. She was not scared during the war.  

On 1 October 2014, there was a violent Israeli shelling. The Al Mahmoum family decided to evacuate their house. Civilian groups were targeted by Israeli shells while they were trying to find shelter within the UNRWA schools. People who managed to reach the school informed the others in the shelter about the killing of the Al Mahmoum family members, including Asmaa.