\n<\/p>\n
Twelve-year-old<\/span> Ahmed Zidan\u2019s<\/span> adolescence has been defined by genocide and starvation. Israeli forces had already bombed his family\u2019s home in Gaza, killed his older brother, and displaced his family a second time when, one month ago, they shot Ahmed\u2019s mother while she was seeking sustenance for her seven living children.<\/p>\n \u201cIsrael killed my mother,\u201d Ahmed told The Intercept.\u00a0\u201cWe were waiting at the U.S. aid distribution point in Rafah.\u201d<\/p>\n Ahmed\u2019s mother was one of the more than 400 Palestinian people<\/a> who have been gunned down by Israeli forces in a particularly brutal new phase of the country\u2019s U.S.-backed genocide in Gaza. After the Israeli military, powered by U.S. bombs, destroyed Gaza\u2019s food supplies and choked daily life to a halt, the government cut off the flow of crucial aid to the people it was starving. The move has forced hungry Palestinians to a limited set of Israeli and U.S.-run aid distribution points. These places have become the sites of dozens of daily murders.<\/p>\n \u201cFor six days before my mother was killed on June 3, she, my sister Mirvat, and I would walk to the U.S. aid distribution point in Rafah every evening, leaving our tent at 7:00 p.m. and waiting until dawn for food,\u201d Ahmed told The Intercept. \u201cThe Israeli army surrounded us with drones, F-16s, tanks, and snipers.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI will never forget the moment I saw my mother shot by Israeli bullets, right in front of me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n The family made the 2-kilometer journey nightly on empty stomachs. They were \u201cterrified,\u201d Ahmed said, \u201cby the constant shelling and gunfire. We saw martyrs fall while waiting for food. Hundreds were wounded. We were all civilians \u2014 there were no fighters with us.\u201d<\/p>\n Ahmed\u2019s older sister Mirvat, 20, told The Intercept that the daily march was just one of many grueling journeys the family was forced to make. \u201cThe Israeli army bombed our home in Khan Yunis,\u201d she said, \u201cwiping away every memory we had in that warm, familiar place.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Israeli forces killed her 23-year-old brother, Nabil, in January of last year, Mirvat said, \u201cduring our first grueling displacement journey to Rafah<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNabil was the backbone of our family \u2014 our only provider,\u201d she added. \u201cHe was studying law and working at a company. He didn\u2019t earn much, but at least he could bring us food. He had dreams of becoming a successful lawyer one day, but Israel killed him \u2014 along with his dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n Nabil\u2019s death devastated the family, Mirvat said. \u201cBut when Israel killed my mom, it shattered our family. I will never forget the moment I saw my mother shot by Israeli bullets, right in front of me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n