Palestinian Man Scales Hospital Building Every Day To Visit His Mum Battling COVID-19
His mother took her last breath at Hebron State Hospital on 16 July.
By Yap Wan Xiang — 21 Jul 2020, 01:20 PM
A story of a filial son in Palestine who scaled a hospital wall just to sit by the window to accompany his mother suffering from COVID-19 has touched millions of hearts online
According to Astro Awani, the 30-year-old man from Hebron, Palestine was spotted visiting his mother in the hospital every day.
In all of his visits, the dutiful son - named Jihad Al-Suwaiti - had always stayed at the spot for hours.
"He climbed the pipeline on the building to get up to a spot to see his mother, who was on the second floor of the hospital," said a hospital official.
"He spent most of his days there, observing his mother's condition from outside the window. He only came down after he was convinced that his mother had fallen asleep."
Despite being told not to scale the hospital building again due to safety reasons, Jihad remained stubborn
Citing an interview with an international media organisation, Republic World reported that he could only sit helplessly outside the window to observe his 73-year-old mother, named Rasmi Suwaiti.
Rasmi was admitted to Hebron State Hospital and had spent five days there.
"He is indeed very close to our mother, especially since our father's passing 15 years ago," shared Jihad's brother, adding that his brother is the youngest child in the family.
Even during her final moments, Jihad was by his mother side
Based on media reports, he tried to enter his mother's hospital room when he came to know about her worsening condition.
Last Thursday, 16 July, he scaled the hospital wall for the final time to get to a window by the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), where his mother was fighting to survive.
Jihad managed to bid farewell to his mother before she took her last breath.
"Our mother was also battling leukaemia prior to being diagnosed with COVID-19 a few weeks ago. When Jihad was informed about our mother's death, he was angry and was in disbelief," said the older brother.
"But now, he seems to have accepted the fact."
Photos and videos of Jihad by the hospital window have since gone viral on social media
A gallery post by Al Jazeera was liked over 16,000 times and garnered over 2,600 shares.
The chief executive officer (CEO) of Patriotic Vision and a representative of the United Nations, Mohamad Safa, had also taken to Twitter to share Jihad's story last Saturday, 19 July.
The tweet with over 160,000 likes was accompanied by an illustration showing that it is Rasmi's turn to watch over her son.
