Basant Issam Abu Ismail

Basant was an outstanding student, a girl of morals, values, and faith. We were raised with a love for our religion and our homeland. She was martyred holding the intention of jihad and patience, and the dream of freedom. Basant was not just a friend to me; she was the light that illuminated my soul, the joy that inhabited my heart, the friend I considered a sister and even more. I always prayed to God that she would stay with me until our last breath in this world, but God's will was done, and Basant's intention was stronger. On a terrifying night, under the bombardment and rage of a usurping occupier, she said to her family before she was martyred: "Are you afraid of dying as martyrs? Is there anything in this world sweeter than the Shahada [martyrdom]?"