GAZA (Dispatches) – Desperate screams as he struggled to free himself from a combat dog unleashed by Zionist troops. 
This is the last image Nabila Ahmed Bhar recalls of her son Muhammed, 24, who had Down syndrome. 
The Palestinian family were hiding in their home in eastern Gaza City’s Shujaiya neighborhood when Zionist troops stormed it, Bhar told Middle East Eye.  
Dogs were sent in first, which attacked Muhammed and started mauling him. 
Soldiers then expelled everyone from the house, except for Muhammed, who was taken to a separate room.
Unable to see him, Bhar could only guess his fate from the screams as she was forced to leave the area at gunpoint. 
Seven agonizing days of waiting passed before Zionist troops finally withdrew from Shujaiya. 
The family rushed back to the apartment on Wednesday. They found Muhammed’s decomposing body with worms eating his face. 
“I cannot stop thinking of his screams and the image of him trying to free himself,” said Bhar. 
Muhammed’s Down syndrome was severe, she explained. His mental development “was at the level of a baby” according to her.
“Muhammed was very innocent. He could not understand… He couldn’t grasp anything.
“He was like a one-year-old. I used to feed him and change his diaper. 
“I cannot bear to think of what they did to him, or how they left him to die like this.”
Zionist troops raided Shujaiya under the cover of heavy air strikes on 27 June. 
For two weeks, they continuously bombed the densely populated area, stormed houses and expelled tens of thousands of people.  
Many families were trapped in their homes, like Bhar’s. 
The 71-year-old told MEE the family was besieged for a week before Zionist troops stormed it.
There were 16 people inside, including Bhar’s two sons, their wives and children. 
The children hid in the bathtub to take cover from the heavy Israeli fire. 
But Muhammed, who was heavy and often refused to move, was kept in the safest corner of the living room the family could find. 
“Before this recent displacement, we had been displaced at least five other times, and he wouldn’t understand where we were going,” she explained. 
“Because he was obese, he would get tired and sit every few steps.”
When Israeli troops arrived, they unleashed their dog first, which immediately jumped on Muhammed. 
“The dog bit his chest, then started biting and mauling his arm. Muhammed was screaming and trying to free himself as the blood poured,” Bhar recalled. 
“Muhammed could not speak or say any word, but out of horror, he was screaming at the dogs, sometimes saying ‘wala, wala’ [hey you], and sometimes ‘Khalas ya habibi’ [enough, my dear]. 
“I don’t know how he uttered these words; we had never heard him speak before.”