Ola Zeyad Hassan Islim

Location Gaza

Eleven-year-old Ola from Al Shejaeiah in Gaza City was a beautiful and kind child. She was organized, outstanding academically and committed to school. She had long beautiful hair. Ola would wake up early to do the household tasks before she went to school. When she came back, she’d repeat the cleaning; she was described as obsessed with cleaning and tidiness. She loved spending her time playing with her cousins. "She learned how to make sweets and cakes from her mother, and was teaching her uncle's wife what she learned,"  said her aunt.

On 20 July 2014, during a heavy Israeli bombardment on Al Sheja’iya, Ola’s neighborhood, her family and neighbors decided to evacuate. Ola and her family left the house together but in the chaos of the intensifying attacks by Israeli forces, Ola, her brother Shadi, 16, and brother Fadi, 9, were separated from their family. They hid in a nearby house. Thinking the attacks had stopped, Shadi, Fadi, and Ola left the house. Immediately upon leaving the house, they were targeted by Israeli forces. The three were killed instantly.