Mohammed Salem
Age 13
Mohammed Salem was 13, from the Jabalia refugee tent camp in northern Gaza. After a year of violence, freezing, and forced starvation, he dreamed of being anywhere else. Getting a scholarship one day would let him leave the country for good and become the engineer he wanted to be. But that afternoon, Mohammed was walking back to his tent from another makeshift tent class. He was walking—unarmed, on a familiar street in his own community.
On October 18, 2024, an Israeli man operating a drone from a screen miles away saw Mohammed walking below. He decided it would be interesting to fire a missile towards him, to see what would happen. The blast left a small crater in the street. Mohammed was thrown back to the ground. When the smoke cleared, he was badly hurt but still alive. He could only sit in the street, waving an arm and pleading for help before falling over in pain.
A 21-year-old journalist named Wafaa Thaher filmed the scene from an apartment window. The footage shows Mohammed next to the scorched crater, black with dust and burns, signaling desperately. She can be heard asking: “He’s a child. In pieces. Why did they strike him?”
Around a dozen men and a boy ran toward Mohammed to help him. They reached the crater and bent down to pull him from the street. The Israeli trooper was still watching. He saw the rescuers gather around the wounded boy. He waited until they were all as close to him as possible, picking him up. Then he launched a second missile at the exact same spot.
The men who had come to save Mohammed were caught in the explosion. A 14-year-old boy who had run to help had his feet ripped off. He died later. More than twenty other people were seared and sliced by metal shrapnel. Mohammed died as well. The Washington Post verified the film of young Mohammed’s slaughter.
Mohammed Salem was 13. He was walking down his own street. He wanted just a good night of sleep and a sky where savages didn’t rain bombs. A grown man playing with a drone watched a little boy bleed and beg, waving for anyone to come. The grown man saw a group of innocent people and another child running to help him. The grown man waited until they all reached the boy, and then he fired again.
The votes that paid for the weapons
House Bill, H.R. 8034: Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024
House Bill, H.R. 815 (Senate): National Security Supplemental—Trojan Horse (shell: Veterans bill)
House Bill, H.R. 8369: Israel Security Assistance Support Act