Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Facebook/YouTube
When Mohamed Shamiya, a 39-year-old Palestinian physician living in Las Vegas, woke up to news that his childhood best friend had been killed in an overnight airstrike in Gaza this week, he began crying uncontrollably and canceled all of his appointments for the day.
Like scores of other Palestinians scattered around the world, Shamiya has spent the last few weeks in a constant state of stress and turmoil, fearing for the lives of the friends and relatives he had grown up with in Gaza. The death of his former schoolmate and neighbor, Abdulrahman Abuamara—who was killed while sheltering with four family members in the pizzeria he owned—hit him hard.
“He’s the most pleasant person I have ever met,” Shamiya told The Daily Beast. “He’s very polite. He’s very calm. Very smart. He used to be one of the top students in our school.”