Sami al-Jerjawi, 51: Van driver and father of 30 ‘respected everyone’

Sami al-Jerjawi, 51, from the unrecognized Bedouin village of Wadi al-Na’am, was murdered by Hamas terrorists at the Sha’ar Hanegev Junction on October 7, 2023.

Sami was driving a silver Volkswagen van for seven Gazan workers early that morning, who were legally working in Israeli agriculture in southern Israel. He had risen at 4 a.m. as usual for the job, which he had been doing for many years.

The van came under fire from Hamas terrorists at the junction outside Sderot, video shows, and Sami and at least five of the Gazan workers were slain in the gunfire. He was the only Israeli citizen in the van.

His body was not handed over to his family for two weeks, and he was buried that same day near his village.

Though Sami was born and raised in Wadi al-Na’am, outside Beersheba, officially, he is listed by the government as being from the nearby Segev Shalom or Shaqib al-Salam, since his town is not recognized by Israeli authorities.

His cousin, Nissem Jerjawi, told The Washington Post that Sami had three wives and 30 children.

“We took this very hard,” Nissem said. “In the Bedouin community, the firstborn son is responsible for his siblings, for his children, for the whole family.”

“He and his brothers and their families are about 80 or 90 people. The situation is very hard for the family,” he added.

Nissem said that his cousin was working for a Jewish boss and driving Arab workers, and “whether someone was Jewish or Arab, Christian or Muslim, there was no difference to Sami when it came to race, religion or sex. He respected everyone alike.”

Sami’s cousin said his relative “was murdered in cold blood with no guilt of his own… He hadn’t harmed anyone. He made an honest living.”

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