Bahaa Masalmeh planned to give his young wife gifts on the occasion of her upcoming 21st birthday, which he had been planning for several weeks.
But on January 15, Ahed, mother of a six-month-old baby girl, was shot and killed by Israeli forces during a raid in the town of Dura, near Hebron, in the southern West Bank. At the time, she was in her brother-in-law’s house, watching for her husband’s arrival through a window.
The couple had only been married for 15 months, but Masalmeh said his wife left him with his best memories and gave him the “best days” of his life. Ahed was a passionate student, loved by “everyone,” he says – her joyful soul and lust for life were contagious.
“She was the love of my life,” he told Tel Aviv Tribune. “She was the embodiment of everything good in life.”
From now on, he must raise their daughter, Ayloul, without her.
Masalmeh had dropped Ahed off at his brother Shadi’s house that morning to prepare for another family celebration. There, she met her husband’s other siblings and his father to help prepare the house for Shadi’s wedding.
Her last words to her husband were: “Am I not as pretty as a full moon? »
‘In a dream’
A few hours later, Masalmeh returned with food for everyone. He saw Ahed peeking out of the second story window, waving with her usual humor for him to hurry up because she was hungry.
However, seconds later, Masalmeh heard young men from the neighborhood calling to him, warning him that Israeli soldiers had entered the area and were approaching Shadi’s house.
“All I heard then was the sound of live fire and bombs,” Masalmeh said. “I ran upstairs and my sisters were screaming and crying. I then saw Ahed on the ground in a pool of her own blood.
Masalmeh thought he was “in a dream” and, for a moment, he thought Ahed was playing “one of her pranks.”
But she had just received two bullets in the head.
“I walked up to Ahed and the first thing I saw was her eyes looking at me. She was smiling,” he said.
Meanwhile, his father tried to call an ambulance. Masalmeh wanted to run for help but he could not leave the house because of the Israeli soldiers stationed outside. Finally, Ahed bled to death. Palestinian officials in the West Bank and Gaza have also accused Israeli forces of often preventing ambulances and medics from evacuating the sick and wounded in time.
Tahani Masalmeh, Bahaa’s sister, was with Ahed when she was shot.
“No words can describe what happened to us,” the 25-year-old told Tel Aviv Tribune.
Before the incident, she said, her sister-in-law had suddenly – and strangely for her – brought up the subject of “death and separation.”
“Ahed told me that I must protect her daughter, Ayloul, and always hold her in my eyes as if she were my own child. This was even before there was an incursion,” Tahani said.
“I was surprised by her words and thought she was joking, as she always is.”
Tahani said she vividly remembers Ahed bleeding for about “50 minutes” before taking her last breath.
‘Big dreams’
Ahed’s sister Sumoud, 30, who lives in Ramallah, said she was shocked to learn her sister had been killed.
“The journey from Ramallah to Hebron usually took two hours. But after the war in Gaza and with the crackdown on Palestinians at checkpoints, it took me six hours to reach Ahed,” she told Tel Aviv Tribune.
Sumoud described his younger sister as “his first baby” and was adamant that she would attend his funeral procession.
The Israeli army has intensified its raids against towns and villages in the occupied West Bank.
Hundreds of people have been killed in the West Bank since October 7. More than 6,330 people have been arrested, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Society.
Ahed had “big dreams,” her husband Masalmeh said. The university student planned to study primary education after graduating, planning to juggle her role as a mother to a small child.
The couple had just opened a small online business together and they were going to help with deliveries.
“She told me we would be successful and grow our business. All I wanted was to support her in whatever way she needed,” Masalmeh said.
Masalmeh sees a lot of Ahed in his daughter, he said, especially in the way she laughs, smiles and plays.
“I intend to make Ahed’s dreams come true for Ayloul,” he said. “She will grow up and become a doctor, the best doctor in the world.”