Child Profile: Batool Bassam Ahmed Abu Jamee

Name: Batool Bassam Ahmed Abu Jamee

Date of birth: 18 August 2010

Date of death: 20 July 2014

Three-year old Batool from Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip was supposed to start kindergarten soon. She was very enthusiastic about it. “I named her Batool from the name of the Virgin Mary. “She liked the ‘Mama had a baby’ song,” her aunt said. “She was very sentimental, so she loved her younger brothers very much. She felt responsible and took care of them. She used to call her sister Suhailah ‘Bes’,” said her father. “She was very calm, not very active, and an adorable child,” her aunt said.

On 20 July 2014, just before sunset, the Abu Jamee’s three-story house was bombarded by missiles by Israeli forces. There was no prior warning given. “It was a real massacre; twenty-six people were killed. Three people were injured and survived,” her father added.