Palestinian family mourns boy who died from panic attack amid bombing

On Monday night, Tamim Daoud, a four-year old Palestinian boy, went to bed at home in al-Remal, a neighbourhood in the centre of the Gaza Strip.

Daoud, who was eagerly awaiting his fifth birthday next month, was woken along with his family at 2am by the sound of Israeli bombs. 

The sound of the bombing was deafening, and even after the air strikes had finished the Daoud family’s building still reverberated. Windows had been shattered. The neighbourhood was blasted apart. 

Tamim wept heavily. He was having a panic attack. His mother Lina, 29, who is eight months pregnant, tried to soothe him back to sleep but the boy continued to cry. He grew short of breath, gasping desperately to take in air.

In the end, Tamim returned to sleep. But about five hours later, he began to struggle again. He experienced another panic attack.

“I rushed him to the hospital,” his father said. “But his heart stopped functioning on the way there.”

At the hospital, Tamim received medical treatment, but his heartbeat was very faint. “My son was admitted to the intensive care unit. The doctors told me that he died at dawn,” Mohammed told MEE.

The father paused. “My little son’s heart could not bear the horror of the bombing.” 

Read more: 'His heart couldn't bear it': Palestinian boy dies after panic attack from bombing