Nighttime Prayers

At night we pray for those who will die as we sleep. And each morning, we wake up to meet them in three different ways.

As numbers.
Night after night anywhere between a dozen and 50+ die in the air strikes on Gaza. One hundred and eighty eight dead in six days.

As images.
Their remains lie on the street, or on stretchers in the hospital, in the arms of loved ones, or in blood soaked sheets in funeral processions.

As stories.
A father hurried down the street towards the hospital carrying his young boy. Only moments earlier the child was playing next to his mother. Then shrapnel flew into their home, mortally injuring the child. "Wake up my son," the father repeats. "I've brought toys for you, please wake up".


Al Jazeera provides this list of names of people who have died the first five days. It is a new way of 'meeting' those we have prayed for.

1. Mohammed Shaaban (24) 

2. Amjad Shaaban (30) 

3. Khader Al-Bashiliki (45) 

4. Rashad Yassin (27)

5. Mohammed Ayman Ashour (15) 

6. Riad Mohammed Kawareh (50) 

7. Bakr Mohammed Judeh (22) 

8. Ammar Mohammed Judeh (26) 

9. Hussein Yousef Kawareh (13) 

10. Mohammed Ibrahim kawareh (50) 

11. Mohammed Habib (22) 

12. Ahmed Moussa Habibi (16) 

13. Saqr Ayesh Al-Ajuli (22) 

14. Ahmed Nael Mahdi (16) 

15. Basil Salem Kawareh (10)

16. Hafez Mohammed Hamad (30)

17. Ibrahim Mohammed Hamad (26)

18. Mahdi Mohammed Hamad (46)

19. Fawziya Khalil Hamad (62) (Female)

20. Dunya Mahdi Hamad (16) (Female)

21. Suha Hamad (25) (Female)

22. Suleiman Salman Abu Sowaween (22)

23. Siraj Ayad Abdelal (8)

24. Abdel Hadi Jumaa Al-Sufi (24)

25. Rashid Al-Kafarneh (30)

26. Nayfeh Farajallah (80) (Female)

27. Abdel Nasser Abu Kweik (60)

28. Khaled Abu Kweik (31)

29. Mohammed Arif (13)

30. Mohammed Malake (1 year and a half)

31. Amneh Malake (27) (Female)

32. Hatem Abu Salem (unreported age)

33. Mohammed Khaled Al-Nimre (22)

34. Sahar Hamdan Al-Masri (40) Female)

35. Ibrahim Al-Masri (14)

36. Mohammed Khalaf Al-Nawasra (4)

37. Nidal Khalaf Al-Nawasra (a child of unreported age)

38. Aicha Najm (Female) (unreported age)

39. Salah Awad Al-Nawasra (unreported age)

40. Mahmoud Nahed Al-Nawasra (unreported age)

41. Amal Yousef Abdel Ghafour (Female) (unreported age)

42. Raneem Judeh Abdel Ghafour (Young girl of unreported age)

43. Ibrahim Daoud Al-Balaawi (24)

44. Abdel Rahman Jamal Al-Zamli (22)

45. Ibrahim Ahmed Abdeen (42)

46. Mustafa Abu Murr (20)

47. Khaled Abu Murr (23)

48. Mazen Faraj Al-Jarba (30)

49. Marwan Isleem (27)

50. Hani Saleh Hamad (57)

51. Ibrahim Hamad (20)

52. Salima Hassan Maslam Al-Arja (Female) (60)

53. Mariam Atiah Mohammed Al-Arja (11) (Female)

54. Hamid Shihab (37)

55. Ibrahim Khalil Qanan (24)

56. Mohammed Khalil Qanan (26)

57. Suleiman Al-Astal (55)

58. Hamdi Badie Sawali (33)

59. Mohammed Al-Akkad (24)

60. Ahmed Sawali (28)

61. Raed Shalat (37)

62. Asmaa Mahmoud Al-Hajj (Female) (unreported age)

63. Tarik Saad Al-Hajj (unreported age)

64. Saad Mahmoud Al-Hajj (unreported age)

65. Najlaa Mahmoud Al-Hajj (Female) (unreported age)

66. Fatima Al-Hajj (Female) (unreported age)

67. Omar Al-Hajj (unreported age)

68. Basima Abdel Fattah Al-Hajj (Female) (unreported age)

69. Ahmed Salim Al-Astal (unreported age)

70. Moussa Mohammed Al-Astal (unreported age)

71. Raed Al-Zawarea (33)

72. Mahmoud Lutfi Al-Hajj (58)

73. Bahaa Abu Al-Leil (35)

74. Salem Qandil (27)

75. Amer Al-Fayyoumi (30)

76. Abdallah Ramadan Abu Ghazal (4)

77. Mohammed Ehsan Farwane (18)

78. Islamel Hassan Abu Jamaa (19)

79. Mahmoud Talee Wallud (unreported age) 

80. Hazem Ibrahim Baaloushe (unreported age) 

81. Alaa Abdel Nabi (unreported age) 

82. Raed Mohammed Abu Shalt (37)

83. Hassan Abu Jamaa (19)

84. Yasmin Mohammed Al-Mutwak (4) (Female)

85. Mohammed Mounir Ashour (25)

86. Anas Rizk Abu Al-Qas (33)

87. Wissam Abdel Razek Hassan Ghannam (23)

88. Ghalia Deeb Jaber Ghanem (7) (Female)

89. Mahmoud Razek Hassan Ghannam (23)

90. Kifah Shahadeh Deeb Ghannam (20)

91. Nour Marwan Al-Najdi (10) (Female)

92. Abdellah Abu Mahrouk (Unreported age)

93. Sami Andan Shaldan (25)

94. Mohammed Kamal Al-Kahlout (Unreported age)

95. Ahmed Zaher Hamdan (22)

96. Bassam Abdel Rahman Khattab (6)

97. Jumaa Atiah Shallouf (Unreported age)

98. Noor Rafik Udai Al-Sultan (Unreported age)
99. Shahraman Ismaeil Abu Al-Qas (42) 

100. Mazen Mustafa Aslan (63) 

101. Mohammed Rabih Abu Humeidan (65) 

102. Shahd Al-Qreinawi (7) 

103. Abdel Halim Abdel Moeti (54)  

104. Hussein Al-Mamlouk (47)  

105  Saber Sukkar (80)  

106. Nasser Mohammed Sammame (49) 

107. Rami Abu Musaed (23) 

108. Mohammed Al-Sumeiri (24) 

109. Husam Eddine Al-Razayne (39)

110. Anas Youssef Qandil (17) 

111. Abdel Rahim Saleh Al-Khatib (38)

112. Youssef Mohammed Qandil (33) 

113. Mohammed Idris Abu Sanena (20) 

114. Hala Weshahi (31) 

115. Suha Abu Saada (38) 

116. Ali Nabil Basal (32) 

117. Mohammed Bassem Al-Halabi (28) 

118. Mohammed Al-Suweiti (20) 

119. Ibrahim Nabil Hamade (30)  

120. Hassan Ahmed Abu Ghoush (24) 

121. Ahmed Mazen Al-Balawi (26)  

123. Azmi Mahmoud Taha Obeid (51) 

124. Nidal Mohammed Ibrahim Abu Al-Malsh (22)

125. Suleiman Saeed Younis Obeid (56) 

126. Ghassan Ahmed Al-Masri (25) 

127. Mustafa Mohammed Taha Anabe (58) 

128. Rifaat Yousef Amer (36) 

129. Ghazi Mustafa Areef (62) 

130. Mohamed Idriss Abo Sowaylim (20) 

131. Fadi Yaqoub Sukar (25) 

132. Qassim Jabr Adwan Ouda (16) 

133. Mohamed Ghazi Areef (35) 

134. Khawala Mahmoud Al-Hawajeree (25) 

135. Ahmed Yousef Daloul (47) 

I don't know who we prayed for last night. I heard rumors that Israeli's have died, but I cannot find it in the news. There are reports of an additional fifty three Palestinians dead in one night, under the light of the super moon that lit up skies around the world.