Child Profile: Mohamed Jehad Matar

Name: Mohamed Jehad Matar

Date of birth: 5 April 2002

Date of death: 24 July 2014

Twelve-year-old Mohamed from Beit Hanoun in the north of the Gaza Strip was the first child of his parents. He was a spoilt and daring child. “He was obsessed with riding horses and he liked bicycles,” his father who is 43, said.

Mohamed and his family relocated to an UNRWA school seeking shelter. On 24 July 2014, he returned to his house along with his sister Amna, 11, to collect their clothes from their roof before returning to the shelter. An Israeli missile directly targeted them. They both were immediately killed.