Abdul Zaben, 22, said that he was by himself when he found his friend Musallet, who had called to say that he was injured. By the time he arrived, Zaben said, his friend was barely reacting and struggling to breathe.
Musallet’s father called from Florida, asking: “Is Saif good? Is Saif good?”
“I was trying to say, ‘Yes, yes … everything will be fine,’” Zaben said.
After more than an hour, Hafeth Abdel Jabbar and other men arrived with an ambulance, which he said the Israeli soldiers had finally let pass. Musallet died before they reached the hospital.