Yusuf Abu Salama

The martyr Yusuf Abu Salama.

His sister, Majd Abu Salama, says: “Yusuf is our brother, our soul, our dear cousin, and the love of our hearts. After we traveled and left the house to our parents, Yusuf decided to stay with them in our home to take care of them and stay by their side, so they decided to adopt him.

I can’t grasp the idea that I’ll return to Gaza and not find you in your room, not see you practicing your hobbies, watering the plants, and taking care of the garden. You won’t be there to make us the tastiest Palestinian stew on earth or the Nablus knafeh. Well, even if it’s just thyme and olive oil, as long as you are there.

I feel like I’m in the worst and ugliest nightmare of my life. I wish I could wake up and find that everything was a lie. It’s not easy for me that Mom, Dad, and the people who love you won’t be able to bid you farewell. They deprived us of you and separated us from each other. They deprived us of standing together in our moments of pain.”

“Oh my God, the pain is so immense; only God can ease mountains of pain. Mountains, Yusuf, my dearest and sweetest Yusuf.”

Yusuf was martyred in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza on November 1, 2023.