Islam Hijazy, an aid worker who was shot dead in the southern Gaza Strip on Friday in a suspected mix-up, was a “dedicated, hard-working, compassionate” humanitarian worker and a “proud Arab Palestinian,” according to her colleague.

Steve Sosebee, the founder of HEAL Palestine, told CNN he has worked with Hijazy for more than a decade. “She was a mother of two children, which gave her the greatest joy in life,” he added.

The Israeli offensive displaced Hijazy and her children Maria and Mohamed several times, Sosebee said. They fled the northern Gaza Strip in the early days of the war, he said, separating her from her husband, who was unable to travel.

“When she was bombarded by tanks, she escaped with her children carrying one in each arm, and tanks were firing on the neighborhood, and she lost her shoe and was so scared that she fled and didn’t go back to get it. “

Before she was killed by a group of gunmen, according to testimony, Hijazy Sosebee had spoken of the challenges of raising children in the face of Israeli bombing that has led to mass displacement into tent camps. “She talked about the tent where she and her family lived. It was flooded by the rain.