Name: Khamis Yousef Abu Salem

Birth date: 20 November 1980

Martyrdom date: 8 August 2003

Hometown: Yaffa

Residence: Askar Refugee Camp

Childhood and Education:

The Abu Salem family was uprooted from Yaffa in 1948. They were forced to leave the city after the Zionist Irgun and Haganah militias occupied the city and committed crimes against its civilian population. They became refugees and resided in Askar refugee camp, east of Nablus.

Khamis was born on November 20^th 1980. He studied elementary and primary school in the camp’s UNRWA schools. And he was a very good student. However, there were 8 children in the family; and he was forced to work to help provide for the family. He worked in the construction business. But that didn’t stop him from being a member of the Musab Ibn Omayr mosque family in the camp. In his mosque education, he got a certificate in recitation of the Holy Quran, and his brothers enjoyed hearing his sweet voice read the Holy Quran in prayer.

Jihad:

Khamis built his house and prepared it with is own hands. He was about to get married. However, the eruption of Al-Aqsa Intifada changed his plans. He was one of the first activists in Askar to join Intifada activities. He joined Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades, who found him a strong and trustworthy man.

Khamis was an assistant to the field commander Fayez El-Sadr. He was very good in making explosive devices, which targeted occupation army patrols and efforts to storm the camp. As a result, occupation forces placed him on their wanted list on March 10^th 2003.

Khamis’s family was subjected to abusive house raids, threats and detention at the hands of occupation troops in their efforts to catch Khamis. These soldiers didn’t differentiate between men, women and children in their abuse and detention.

Martyrdom:

On Friday, August 8^th 2003, occupation forces in armored personnel carriers and with aerial support stormed Askar refugee camp and imposed a curfew. They clamped down on the whole camp, and then surrounded Dweikat building.

Speaking from an armored carrier, an occupation officer called Khamis and Fayez El-Sadr to surrender. They replied with their guns. The two mujahideen battled scores of heavily armed troops for 4.5 hours. One occupation soldier was killed and 2 others were injured.

A shoulder held rocket hit the room where Khamis was firing from. The explosion killed him instantly. And Fayez continued to fight till an occupation bulldozer demolished the house on him. Two civilians were killed after the operation as occupation forces left the camp and were firing tear gas and live ammunition indiscriminately.

Occupation forced took Khamis’s body and returned it to his family 4 days later. He was buried in the martyrs’ cemetery in the refugee camp.