Palestinian schoolgirls in Jenin lead funeral for classmate killed by Israeli forces

Palestinians in the Jenin refugee camp mourned, on Wednesday afternoon, a 14-year-old Palestinian girl who died in the morning after succumbing to wounds caused by Israeli forces during a military raid on the camp on Monday.

Sadeel Naghnaghiyeh, a 9th grader and sister to four boys, was hit in the head by a bullet fired by Israeli soldiers during Monday's raid. Six other Palestinians were killed that day, including a 15-year-old boy Ahmad Yousef Saqer, and more than 90 were wounded, including 23 in critical condition, in what residents described as "the largest and most brutal" Israeli raid on Jenin in twenty years.

Sadeel's classmates at the UNRWA refugees' school carried her coffin through the streets of Jenin, whipping away tears. Thousands of Palestinians surrounded them, chanting in anger.

She was put to rest at the Jenin Martyrs' Cemetery on Wednesday afternoon.

BREAKING| 15-year-old Palestinian girl Sadeel Naghniyeh has died from critical injuries sustained by Israeli occupation troops' live bullets during Monday's military raid into Jenin. pic.twitter.com/IAzb7vihTQ

— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) June 21, 2023

"Sadeel was a joyful girl who made everybody around her smile," her uncle, Nidal Naghnaghiyeh, told The New Arab. "She was very clever and had high grades at school. She was also the spoiled child of the family, being the only girl between four brothers."

"Her loss has been a shock to her family and her friends, but especially to her mother, who is still in denial," her uncle added. "She was killed without any reason. She posed no danger to anyone."

Shortly after she was pronounced dead Wednesday morning, Sadeel's father spoke to Palestinian media in front of the Jenin hospital. 

"The alarm siren of the camp began to whistle, indicating that the occupation was raiding the camp. At the same time that Sadeel was going over to her cousin's house just across the street," he said. 

"There were no confrontations in our part of the camp, but I was worried because the occupation army often places snipers around the camp before a raid," the father recounted. "I let her go because she was visibly a young girl, not a fighter, and since there was no shooting in our street, I just told her to stay with her cousin inside, away from windows."

"Then as she stepped out into the house's courtyard, I heard her brother shout that she had fallen on the ground, and when I rushed to pick her up, she was bleeding from her head," he said.

Over the shoulders of her classmates, young Palestinian student Sadeel is sent to her last abode after she was killed by the lsraeli occupation forces in Jenin. @Timesofgaza

pic.twitter.com/Dr14yLrBSG

— Muhammad Smiry 🇵🇸 (@MuhammadSmiry) June 21, 2023

On Monday, the Palestinian health ministry reported the number of killed and wounded in Jenin, pointing out "a young girl critically wounded in the head". On Wednesday, at 6:30 in the morning, she was pronounced dead.

"Lord, we trust you our camp and its resistance, please give us one day without loss or grief," was the last post that Sadeel Naghnaghiyeh wrote on her short Facebook timeline.

On the post, her friends and age-peers continue to comment on their loss and grief while sharing her now-most circulated post, which she published in April of 2022.

Sadeel wrote it three days after another school girl in the Jenin camp, Hanan Khadour, died of wounds caused by Israeli forces: "We don't love martyrdom, it is martyrdom who loves us."

With the death of Sadeel Naghnaghiyeh, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since the beginning of the year has increased to 174, according to the Palestinian health ministry. 29 children are included in this count, according to children's rights groups.