Mother of Palestinian Boy, 6, Stabbed to Death in Alleged Hate Crime Asks Public to ‘Pray for Peace’

Wadea Al-Fayoume, 6, a Muslim boy who according to police was stabbed to death in an attack that targeted him and his mother for their religion and as a response to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, poses in an undated family photograph obtained by Reuters on Oct. 15, 2023. CAIR/Handout via Reuters

The mother of a 6-year-old Palestinian boy who was fatally stabbed in Illinois last week in what police believe was a hate crime motivated by the Israel–Hamas conflict has spoken out for the first time since leaving the hospital, reflecting on the loss of her “best friend.”

Hanan Shahin, 32, and her son Wadea Al-Fayoume were stabbed multiple times with a 12-inch serrated military-style knife with a seven-inch blade at their home in the Chicago suburb of Plainfield, Illinois on Oct. 14.