Ulfat Khaled Hamudah was a 35-year-old mother of three children: Muhammad, 14, Amjad, 12, and Arkan, 7. She lived with her husband Abdullah – a restaurant worker – and children in the al-Amal neighbourhood of Khan Younis.
When the Israeli military assault on Gaza began in October 2023 they continued living in their home, but by late January 2024 the violence had escalated in their neighbourhood, with shelling from tanks, firing from quadcopters and bombing from airplanes. Ulfat and her husband decided to leave with the children for a safer place and began preparing to evacuate.
On 24 January Ulfat’s youngest son, Arkan, was suffering from toothache. She wanted to get him checked out before the family began the evacuation, so she decided to take him to a Red Crescent dental clinic near their home. Her husband and their other two children stayed at home, packing for the journey and trying to find a car they could travel in.
As Ulfat and Arkan reached the dental clinic gate, they came under fire from a quadcopter and tank. Ulfat was hit in the stomach by shrapnel and killed instantly. Seeing her killed, 7-year-old Arkan raced home alone. When his father asked what had happened, Arkan told him that ‘Mummy is dead’.
Abdullah said:
‘This loss is unbearably hard for me and the children. Arkan’s trauma was especially severe, having seen his mother killed before his eyes. He can’t forget the sight and probably never will. Since then, we have lived in deep sorrow and grief. Ulfat was everything to us. Without her, our lives are shrouded in darkness. A mother is a child’s entire world. Every time they hear the word “mother,” I see the sadness on their faces, especially Arkan’s.’