Shaban and his mother were burned alive when Biden's bombs were dropped on his family's tent. Learn about
Father was badly burnt but saved two family members.
In another video, Shaban talks about the difficulties of finding food “because the Israeli occupation managed to separate the middle area from the rest of Gaza and the people here are struggling to meet their basic needs”.
He also filmed himself donating blood at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which Israel had already bombed several times in the last year before the bombing that killed him.
“We saw so many injuries, many children are in dire need of blood,” Shaban said. “All we demand is a ceasefire and for this tragedy to end.”
In some videos, Shaban asked for donations to help his family evacuate to Egypt.
“165 days of the continuous genocide against us,” he said in one. “Five months we have lived in a tent.”
“I’m taking care of my family, as I’m the oldest,” he said in another, adding that his parents, two sisters and two brothers were displaced five times before finding refuge on the hospital’s grounds. “The only thing between us and the freezing temperatures is this tent that we constructed by ourselves.”
‘The fire just engulfed everything’
Tents used for shelter in the hospital effectively became coffins on Monday, when it was set ablaze by Israeli bombs, trapping Shaban and his relatives in the flames.
His father, Ahmad al-Dalou, who was severely burned, told Al Jazeera that the impact of the strike pushed him out of the tent, where he quickly realised that the fire had engulfed his children. He was able to save two of them.
“After that, the fire just engulfed everything. I couldn’t rescue anyone,” he said. “I did what I could.”
Ahmad said Shaban had hoped to study abroad to become a doctor, but that he had wanted to keep his son closer to home. “Now, I wish I had sent him,” he said.
Shaban was a studious boy who had memorised the entire Quran. Even during the war, he would often take out his laptop to study, his father added.
“He loved his mother the most,” Ahmad said. “Now, he’s been martyred in her arms. We buried them in each other’s embrace.”
The attack that killed Shaban and his relatives tore through a makeshift camp set up by displaced people in the hospital’s courtyard, injuring at least 40.
“I looked out and saw flames devouring the tents next to ours,” Madi, a 37-year-old mother of six, told Al Jazeera from the charred remains of her tent. “My husband and I carried the kids and ran towards the emergency building.”
“People – women, men and children – were running away from the spreading fire, screaming,” she added. “Some of them were still burning, their bodies on fire as they ran.”
‘Where are we supposed to go?’
Like the al-Dalou family, many of those seeking refuge by the hospital have been displaced many times.
“Where are we supposed to go?” said Madi. “It’s nearly winter. Is there no one to stop this holocaust against us?”
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The hospital bombing came as Israel continues to escalate its attacks on Gaza. Just days earlier, another strike on a school turned shelter, in Jabalia, killed at least 28 people. Horrific images of the fire at Al-Aqsa Hospital that killed Shaban earned a rare rebuke from US officials.
“The images and video of what appear to be displaced civilians burning alive following an Israeli air strike are deeply disturbing and we have made our concerns clear to the Israeli government,” a spokesperson for the Biden administration said in a statement on Monday. “Israel has a responsibility to do more to avoid civilian casualties — and what happened here is horrifying, even if Hamas was operating near the hospital in an attempt to use civilians as human shields.”
Israel has regularly made that accusation with little evidence.
The end result of the Israeli bombing was the fire that devastated the al-Dalou family.
“We are people that only ask for peace and freedom,” Ahmad told Al Jazeera, mourning his son and wife. “We want basic rights, nothing else. May God take care of our oppressors.”
FREE BONUS BITCHOUT - STRAIGHT OUTTA GAZA
Palestinian woman talking to Americans:
“Dear racists, We , humans have learnt that a country,any country , will not remain powerful forever. One day you will be weak and the feeling of guilt will destroy your hearts. One day you will ask us to forgive you for funding the genocide, but we will not be here to forgive you. It is us that stand strong and the ones who will determine your destiny . We will then treat you as non humans because the time of paying back will be under our control. Although I have a broken sad heart , I know this day will come . Our burning alive bodies cant be as equal as your non human hearts and minds. Thank you for informing us that your filthiness can't destroy our souls. You are the ones to know that the killing you fund , the demolition of homes , the confiscation of land and the rape zionists do is going to be punished and the ones to be punished for it are the americans. You are all guilty of war crimes and are not to be forgiven. Our children will never forget what you are doing . It is an eye for an eye. No mercy will be practiced from our side.”
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Ron Harold opposes U.S. wars, proxy wars, occupations, opposes state-sponsored war crimes. To PUMP UP THE VOLUME against US PROXY WARS, become a paid subscriber.