‘Little guest’: How a rescued baby brought two Gaza families together | Israel-Palestine conflict

Jabalia, Gaza – Between the arms of his father and the household who cared for him throughout his disappearance, little Mohammed performs fortunately.

About 16 months in the past, a 13-month-old Mohammed sat crying beside his mom’s lifeless physique, surrounded by the useless and wounded, after an assault on the varsity the household was sheltering in.

That day, amid the chaos and worry as displaced households fled, he disappeared.

His father, Tareq Abu Jabal, spent greater than a 12 months on the lookout for Mohammed whereas, unbeknownst to him, one other man from the varsity was on the lookout for Tareq.

‘A little bit visitor’

Rasem Nabhan and his household have been additionally displaced and sheltering in al-Rafei Faculty in Jabalia in northern Gaza when two Israeli bombs hit it in late December 2023.

“We have been terrified, the youngsters have been screaming,” the 41-year-old mentioned. “Moments later, quadcopters appeared, broadcasting orders for everybody to evacuate instantly. There was gunfire all over the place.”

Rasem centered on getting his spouse and 7 youngsters out of the varsity with the opposite ladies and kids, then ran to assist extinguish the flames nonetheless burning within the bombed lecture rooms. They wanted to examine if anybody was left alive.

“Blood lined the partitions. … Physique components have been scattered on the ground among the many wounded and the useless. It was past phrases,” Rasem mentioned.

Amid the carnage, he mentioned, “I noticed a child crying and screaming. Subsequent to him lay the physique of a girl – her head and abdomen torn aside, her physique lined in blood. I feel she was his mom.”

He picked up the kid and ran, not pondering. “The child’s face was purple, and he may barely breathe, he was crying so onerous.”

“I stored asking folks round me: ‘Are you aware this baby? His mom was killed.’ However nobody did,” he recounted. “It was unattainable. … It felt just like the Day of Judgement, everybody fleeing, clutching their youngsters.”

Tanks had surrounded the varsity by then, he mentioned, forcing everybody to stroll south. Rasem walked with the infant in his arms till he reached his spouse, who was ready for him by the highway with their youngsters.

“I handed the kid to my spouse and advised her I’d discovered him on the college together with his useless mom,” he mentioned.

Fawakeh Nabhan, Rasem’s 34-year-old spouse, took the infant as her older daughters clamoured to be allowed to carry him.

“For a second, the worry pale as we welcomed this little visitor,” she mentioned. “He had probably the most stunning face, and I felt an immediate connection.”

They nicknamed the infant Hamoud, the diminutive for Mohammed and Ahmed, two fashionable names, and took him alongside as they walked south in the direction of Rashid Avenue, passing via the Israeli military’s Netzarim checkpoint.

They took turns carrying the infant – Rasem, Fawakeh and their two older daughters, 19-year-old Islam and 18-year-old Amina.

“He would go to sleep and get up in our arms, like every other baby, unaware of what was occurring round him,” Fawakeh mentioned.

Rising hooked up

The household didn’t know the way outdated the infant was, however they guessed he was seven to 9 months outdated, based mostly on his dimension and weight.

“We’d by no means seen him on the college earlier than and had no concept [about] his actual age or when he was born,” Fawakeh added.

The household walked to central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah, resting there some time earlier than persevering with to Khan Younis within the south, the place they’d heard there have been spots obtainable at one other school-turned-shelter.

“Regardless of the dangers, I felt a faculty was higher than dwelling in a tent. Not less than we might have a concrete roof over our heads,” Fawakeh mentioned.

The story of their displacements is lengthy and complicated as a result of they moved from college to displacement camp to sleeping tough again to a tent for months.

By way of all of it, Rasem and Fawakeh noticed the infant as a supply of heat and pleasure.

“At first, he was withdrawn and silent, by no means laughing, regardless of how a lot we tried. For practically 50 days, he was like that – as if he have been trying to find his mom and questioning who we have been,” Rasem recalled. “However over time, he began to open up. He grew hooked up to us, and we to him.”

All through their displacement, Fawakeh, with Islam and Amina, cared for the infant. However when it got here to feeding him, Fawakeh insisted on doing it herself.

However caring for a child as Israel wages its genocidal conflict on Gaza is a large monetary pressure as a result of system, diapers and nutritious meals are both not obtainable or are exorbitantly priced.

“After we arrived within the south, we purchased system and a pacifier, however he refused. I feel he was breastfed by his mom,” Fawakeh mentioned. “In a approach, that was a aid as a result of system was costly. As a substitute, I fed him lentils, beans, rice. He ate no matter we ate.”

“He cherished bananas a lot. We may solely afford two – one for him and one for my four-year-old son, Abdullah.”

Diapers needed to be rationed as their value skyrocketed, reaching 10 shekels a diaper (about $2.70).

“I might put one diaper on him at evening, and in the course of the day, I used cotton cloths that I modified regularly,” Fawakeh defined.

Blessings

Because the household moved round, the infant grew to become well-known and adored, bringing blessings to the household, Rasem mentioned.

Hamoud didn’t seem like the Nabhans, and folks would ask Rasem and Fawakeh about him. Once they heard his story, their hearts would soften, and they’d bathe the little boy with no matter small presents they might discover.

“Our neighbours within the camp would ship us plates of meals only for him,” Fawakeh mentioned with amusing. “They might say, ‘Be sure that he eats this.’”

“He calls my husband Baba and me Mama. He sleeps in my lap, runs straight to me when he wants consolation,” Fawakeh mentioned, decreasing her voice as she glanced at her youngest son.

“Abdullah, my four-year-old, would get so jealous and cry every time I gave the infant an excessive amount of consideration.”

General, the couple’s youngsters – Mohammed, 20; Islam, 19; Amina, 18; Maryam, 12; Nour el-Huda, 10; Mustafa, 9; and Abdallah, 4 – embraced the infant as considered one of their very own.

Regardless of quite a few provides from organisations, orphan sponsorship programmes and even different households keen to undertake the infant, Rasem refused.

“He’s my eighth baby. I like him deeply, and I refused the concept of somebody taking him from me,” Rasem mentioned.

“My reply was at all times agency: The one approach I might ever let him go is that if I discovered his actual household.”

Then, in a hushed voice, he confessed: “However in my coronary heart, I prayed I wouldn’t discover them. I finished looking out. We had change into too hooked up.”

A father’s search

As Rasem spoke, Mohammed’s father Tareq, 35, sat close by listening, smiling at his youngest son.

The daddy of three – Omar, 14; Tolay, 9; and Mohammed, now 26 months – had by no means stopped on the lookout for his lacking baby.

“On the day al-Rafei Faculty was bombed, my spouse and three youngsters have been inside our classroom,” Tareq recalled. “I used to be within the schoolyard when the air strike hit. I ran, screaming, in the direction of them.”

The Israeli military had shelled each al-Rafei and the varsity subsequent door. “In that strike, my spouse, my nephew and 6 others have been killed – eight lives misplaced straight away,” he mentioned.

“Once I reached our classroom, I noticed Omar and Tolay, each injured. Omar had shrapnel in his again, and my daughter had been struck within the abdomen. Then I noticed my spouse. … Her physique was torn aside.”

His voice faltered. “I collapsed. However in some way, I pressured myself to assist evacuate her physique with the others.”

His spouse, Iman Abu Jabal, was 33. Tolay carried shrapnel in her abdomen for 3 months.

“Grief, worry for my wounded youngsters, the screams, the push to evacuate, the military’s drones circling overhead,” Tareq recounted. “Within the panic, I didn’t take Mohammed with me once I carried his siblings out.”

When he went again for Mohammed, he couldn’t discover him. The child was gone.

“I began asking everybody,” he mentioned. “Some advised me he had been killed. Others mentioned somebody took him. The tales stored altering.”

“I used to be devastated. I searched via the crowds, however everybody was working, screaming, grabbing their youngsters and fleeing,” he added.

He was not capable of finding his child.

He went again into the varsity with a number of others to bury the victims of the bombing.

“We wrapped my spouse’s physique in a sheet and waited for 3 hours in a classroom, unable to go outdoors to the yard to bury her,” Tareq recalled.

“The shelling and gunfire have been relentless, however I needed to bury my spouse, it doesn’t matter what.”

Amongst those that remained on the college was a surgeon who handled the wounded, together with Tareq’s youngsters, as finest he may.

“My nephew was bleeding closely. A younger man helped him go away the varsity and stroll to al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia, however he arrived in essential situation and handed away there.”

Tareq and the youngsters spent the evening within the college with the others who had stayed to bury their family members. Within the morning, they snuck out via a spot within the college’s partitions, taking detours to achieve his brother’s home in western Jabalia.

After dropping the older children off, Tareq spent the remainder of the day looking out the hospitals in Jabalia for Mohammed, then on the numerous spots the place displaced folks had gathered.

“I used to be advised a household had taken him to the south whereas others hadn’t seen or heard something about him.”

However Tareq additionally needed to concentrate on his different youngsters, traumatised by seeing their mom die and in want of meals, drugs and care.

By the tip of February 2024, northern Gaza was within the grips of famine, so Tareq determined to maneuver south to save lots of the youngsters from the extreme starvation sweeping the area.

As quickly as he arrived in Rafah, Tareq resumed his seek for Mohammed.

“I began asking family, acquaintances and neighbours who have been with us within the college we had fled from, however I discovered no hint of him,” he continued. “I spent days like this till I misplaced all hope and turned to God.”

“I used to be seeing folks fleeing, leaving their youngsters behind within the bombings and evacuations. I noticed youngsters misplaced and crying. … It made me take into consideration my baby.”

Reuniting

On January 27, when displaced households have been allowed to return to northern Gaza, the Abu Jabals and the Nabhans walked again to Jabalia.

“By 8am, my youngsters and I have been standing on the rubble of our residence in Jabalia,” Tareq advised Al Jazeera. “We had set out at 4am – we couldn’t wait any longer.”

Rasem and Fawakeh’s household headed out a bit later, and alongside the way in which, they have been stopped for an interview.

“I talked about my pleasure to be going again. Then the journalist requested me concerning the child, pondering he was my son and the way he had grown up within the south,” Rasem recalled.

“I advised her he wasn’t my son and defined his story. She was so moved, she made a plea on air for anybody to establish the kid’s household,” Rasem added.

The household finally bought to Rasem’s mother and father’ residence in Jabalia, not too far, as they’d discover out later, from Hamoud’s “actual” household.

The subsequent morning, Tareq got here throughout the video from the TV interview.

“His options hadn’t modified though he had grown just a little. I began shouting out throughout the rubble: ‘My son’s alive! My son Mohammed is alive!’

“My brother, his spouse, the household and neighbours rushed over, asking what was unsuitable.

“All of us watched the video collectively. Rasem’s face was acquainted as a result of we’d been sheltering on the identical college.”

Asking round, Tareq discovered the place Rasem’s household was staying and rushed over.

“Me, my youngsters and brother went over, and I launched myself to Rasem, who recognised me instantly.

“Mohammed didn’t recognise me and cried,” he mentioned, smiling in gratitude anyway.

The Nabhans have been conflicted, pleased that Hamoud, who they now knew was named Mohammed, had discovered his household however unhappy that he was leaving.

“It felt like I used to be giving freely a chunk of my soul,” Rasem mentioned. “The toughest second was after they left, and Hamoud was calling me, crying, ‘Baba, Baba!’”

“I spent the evening crying from the unhappiness over Hamoud’s departure,” Fawakeh mentioned, her eyes brimming with tears.

“My daughters cried for a whole week. The home felt like a wake. Hamoud had change into part of us,” Fawakeh added as she held the visiting Mohammed, who nonetheless calls her Mama, shut.

“I advised my husband and Tareq that Hamoud ought to come see us usually. He’s like our son, and he’s very hooked up to me.

“Fortunately, they reside close by, and my youngsters at all times go to deliver him over, so he can spend time with us. He brings us such pleasure,” she beamed.

Watching the Nabhans taking part in together with his son, Tareq smiled. “I’m so grateful to them, from the underside of my coronary heart. They raised him as if he have been their very own. … He was with a household who confirmed him the love and care of the mom he misplaced.

“However as you possibly can see, when Mohammed sees Rasem, his spouse and their household, he utterly forgets about me,” Tareq mentioned.

“He loves them a lot.”