Early Wednesday morning, Said Heloo, 25, and his brother Ala, 22, sought cover in their Gaza house as Israelis blew up a small factory across the street. The force of the blast brought their building crashing down on them, killing them.
They were among 11 Palestinians killed in the Israeli incursion. It followed an incident Saturday, when a huge bomb blew up an Israeli tank in northern Gaza, killing four Israeli soldiers.
The militant Hamas claimed responsibility for the blast, and Israel pledged to redouble its efforts to smash the Hamas infrastructure in Gaza, according to a statement from the military.
About 40 Israeli tanks rumbled into the Gaza City neighborhood of Shajaiyeh early Wednesday. Soldiers headed for metal workshops where the Israelis claim Palestinians make weapons, including rockets and mortars. Palestinian gunmen came out to confront the Israelis — at least seven of the dead were Hamas fighters.
Said and Ala Heloo were just trying to get out of the way, said their father, Nahid, who works as a construction worker in Israel when he can get a permit to cross.
"I did my best to keep them focused in the right direction and away from trouble," he said. "I don't think in terms of Jewish or Arab, and that's how I raised my sons."
The right direction was soccer. Over the last two years, as Palestinian suicide bombings, gunfire and rocket attacks were answered by Israeli air strikes, incursions and roadblocks, Said and Ala concentrated on their sport.
They played for two of Gaza's best teams and joined forces on the fledgling Palestinian national soccer team, which has played in neighboring countries and hopes one day to make it to world competition.
Said's former coach, Ibrahim Qatta, said Said was a prodigy. He was only 18 when he joined the Tufah neighborhood team, and soon he was named captain. Ala played for the Gaza club and served as its captain.
Fatah (news - web sites), Yasser Arafat (news - web sites)'s movement, and its rival, the Islamic Hamas movement, tried repeatedly to recruit the brothers but failed, officials from both groups said.
The competition only intensified after their deaths. As their bodies were carried through the streets of Gaza in a traditional funeral procession for Palestinians killed in the conflict with Israel, a Hamas loudspeaker truck blared out tributes, only to be drowned out by a Fatah truck.
Fatah went further. Since neither brother had posed for a picture holding rifles, Fatah activists admitted they made posters electronically — splicing the picture of the heads of the brothers onto the bodies of armed fighters.
Meanwhile, their father directed his bitterness at Israel.
"When bad things were done to me by (Israelis), I always kept in mind the good things I did for them and why I did them," he said. "I no longer think that. All I can remember now is that they killed my sons."
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