Mahmoud Jehad Naif Abdeen

Location Khan Younis

12-year-old Mahmoud Jehad Naif Abdeen from Khan Younis was an open-minded boy with a strong personality. His father had a workshop where he repaired refrigerators and Mahmoud hoped to follow in his footsteps when he was older. He wanted to work in the same area. He liked riding around on his bicycle and playing with different apps on his mobile phone.

On 24 July 2014, Mahmoud and his father went to repair a fridge at the Al Najjar family’s house. While they were there they heard an explosion. Everyone ran outside to see what had happened and the group was then targeted by Israeli forces. Mahmoud sustained shrapnel wounds with the shrapnel perforating his heart and lungs, and he was killed instantly. ‘I dreamt of him on the first day of school. He was walking with a teacher of his who had been killed four days earlier. The dream felt as though it was real,’ says his mother, Helala, 46.