North metro family loses 5 relatives from Israeli airstrikes in Gaza
MINNEAPOLIS -- The war in Israel continues to hit home for some Minnesotans. A north metro family is mourning five relatives who were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza on Sunday.
Jehad Adwan, a nursing professor at Minnesota State Mankato, and his wife, Fatma, are struggling to understand the scope of their loss.
"She is having a hard time processing all this," Jehad Adwan said.
The dead are their sister-in-law, Hiba Madhoum, an architect, and their nephews — 7-year-old Abdelrahman, 6-year-old Yusef and 18-year-old Hmaid.
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"I'm sorry, he had great potential, he could have been something big," Jehad Adwan said.
Also killed was a 40-year-old cousin. Four other family members, including three children, are wounded.
The family says they have no ties to Hamas, the terrorist group behind the terror attacks on Israelis.
"Israel says it is out to eliminate Hamas. Are you and your family Hamas? No. These children Hamas? No, they are not. I can tell you, none of them have anything to do with Hamas. Nothing to do with Hamas. And they will, like many other Palestinian kids, pay the price," Jehad Adwan said.
The bombing happened in the Palestinian refugee camp of Khan Younis, which is right by the city of the same name in the southern portion of Gaza.
The couple says they feel as Israel's expected ground invasion happens, they and other Palestinians will only lose more loved ones.