Judy Ashour
Age 10
Judy Ashour was 10 years old. She lived in Gaza with her mother, her father Ismail, and her brother. Her mother was an Egyptian citizen who had given Egyptian citizenship to her children. Her father was Palestinian from Gaza. They were a family with roots in two countries and documents that should have meant something.
Judy's family was trying to leave Gaza. A week before they were killed in November 2023, her mother spoke to a friend and said that tanks were on the road, preventing them from reaching the Rafah crossing. They were waiting for their chance to cross into Egypt with the children. They had Egyptian citizenship. They had a plan. They weren't allowed to live.
Even though they held Egyptian citizenship, the family faced Egyptian politicians blocking the return of Egyptian parents and children trapped in Gaza. The family had already moved from their own home to the mother-in-law's house because the mother felt unsafe near Hamas-affiliated neighbors.
In November 2023, a man fired a tank shell into the room where Judy, her grandmother Tahani (39), and her sister Sama (7) were sleeping. Judy was murdered. Tahani and Sama were murdered alongside her. A male relative, Muhammad (42), was also killed in the same strike. Judy's brother was badly burned and cut, but he survived. His grandmother later paid thousands of dollars to arrange his evacuation to Egypt, and he was able to leave Gaza just before the Rafah crossing was permanently sealed.
The votes that paid for the weapons
House Bill, H.R. 6126 (House): Emergency supplemental appropriations for Israel