Khader, 19, shot trying to get food

Late one night in June, Mahmoud Qassem lost his 19-year-old son, Khader. The boy was shot trying reach a food distribution center run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Khader was apparently killed around midnight because Mahmoud talked with his son by phone at 11pm. “He told me he was in a safe place — he had gone to the Netzarim distribution center — and I told him to take care," Qassem told DW from a tent in Gaza City.

 "At 1 a.m., I tried calling him again, but his phone wasn't receiving calls. I started to feel anxious. There was no word the whole time, and I waited until 2 p.m. on Friday. I felt like a fire was burning inside me," said the father.

On Friday, Mahmood went to central Gaza and checked the hospitals until he discovered that Khader had been killed. When the body was eventually recovered, after coordination with the Israeli military, it showed that his son had died from several gunshot wounds.

Qassem said he hadn’t wanted his son to go, but Khaled wanted to help his family.

More information: dw.com (website of Deutsche Welle, international broadcaster funded by the government of Germany)