Explosions, screams of panic, fear, pain, and the body of a young man trapped in the flames, who cowers, and ends up consumed by the fire. Since Sunday October 13, images of the deadly fire of dozens of refugee tents, after a strike claimed by the Israeli army, in a parking lot of Al-Aqsa hospital in Gaza, have gone around the world, arousing immense emotion. On X, Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, condemned the strike, citing “civilians killed and injured in appalling circumstances”.
Five people died in the fire, while more than 60 were injured, some suffering serious burns. According to the concordant elements gathered by CheckNewsthe man who died in the flames, in the sequences which shocked social networks, is Shaaban al-Dalu, a 20-year-old Palestinian student from northern Gaza. His mother also died in the tragedy. His father, sisters and youngest brother survived.
On Monday, the names of five victims had been shared on social networks in the lists of «martyrs» broadcast through Palestinian channels and on the social networks of relatives of victims, as is the custom after each bombing in Gaza. It included that of Shaaban al-Dalu. Contacted by CheckNewsa cousin of the young man confirmed his death, explaining that he had learned about it from relatives.
On Instagram, one of the photographers who filmed the scene, Hani Abu Rezeq, confirmed that the man trapped in the flames was indeed Shaaban al-Dalu. On one of the videos (the most unbearable) shot by another photojournalist, Omar Aldirawi, we can clearly see the face of the man engulfed in flames, and still conscious at that moment. His beard, hair and features are consistent with Shaaban’s.
“All that was left were bones, no clothes, nothing.”
Shaaban’s little brother, Mohammed, 16, told the media about the scene Middle East Eyeand at greater length at Al-Jazeera. On the Qatari channel, he said that his youngest brother, his father and his two sisters managed to escape the fire. One of them was burned, he adds, however, specifying that they “had to put out the fire on his back and face”.
In a video of the scene shot by photojournalist Abdallah Alattar, viewed by CheckNewswe observe a woman with her head and back on fire, leaving the area designated by Mohammed in the Al-Jazeera sequence, just after a man. The two people would therefore be the father and one of the sisters. Mohammed reports that various members of his family were sent to other hospitals in Gaza.
The teenager, who burst into tears in front of the video of his brother’s body devoured by the flames visible on his phone, also points out to the Al-Jazeera camera the place where Shaaban was, among the pieces of blackened scrap metal . According to different sequences compared by CheckNewsthe area identified by Mohammed as their tent, and his brother’s bed, is precisely where the man was burned alive in the footage.
In front of the camera, Mohammed explains that he managed to identify the body of his mother, Alaa, thanks to the necklace around her neck. Regarding Shaaban, he explains to Al-Jazeera that he identified him by elimination: “He was the only one of the martyrs who could not be identified at first. I didn’t recognize him. But since there was only him left… There were only bones left. No more clothes, no more pants, no more ring, no more nothing. That’s how they knew it was him.” Footage filmed just after the fire, broadcast by NBC, showed men lifting a completely charred body under a sheet, in the area where Shaaban was burned.
“I once had big dreams, but the war ruined them”
In February, Shaaban al-Dalu created a fundraiser to ask for help for himself and his family. He presented himself in these terms: “My name is Shaaban Ahmed, I am 19 years old and I am a computer engineering student,” proudly stating that he was in the top ten of his class after his first year of study. “My life was turned upside down by the incessant bombing and shelling. Once full of aspirations, I am now faced with the harsh reality of displacement and uncertainty.”
“In Gaza, dreams die out, he said. Each move leaves behind another fragment of our broken souls. The nights, in particular, are merciless: cold, unforgiving, filled with the anguished cries of children who know only fear and uncertainty. I once had big dreams, but the war ruined them. It affected me greatly, making me physically and mentally ill. I suffer from depression and hair loss due to the constant trauma we face. Time seems to have stopped in Gaza and we are stuck in a never-ending nightmare.” The student expressed his hope of reaching Egypt, close but closed to Gazans.
In different publications, we find him sunglasses on his nose, shirt on his shoulders, and acoustic guitar in his hands. Also visible are screenshots of academic results in science, university admissions, congratulatory messages sent by loved ones, and video of a graduation ceremony.
From the beginning of 2024, Shaaban will broadcast, in English, calls for support, to denounce what is happening in Gaza. He shares a photo of his destroyed house. Another one of him, smiling, with his entire family. Or a selfie in March, catheter in his arm alongside other patients, when he explains that he was hospitalized and that he was diagnosed with hepatitis.
In a video released on March 17, the student films himself inside his tent, in the same camp where he died on Sunday. “We have been moved five times so far. Today we are in Al-Aqsa hospital, in the middle of Gaza, in Deir al-Balah.” Behind him, the buzz of an Israeli drone mixes with his voice. “I take care of my family, as I am the eldest […]. We live in very difficult conditions, suffering from different things, such as being homeless, [d’avoir] little food, and extremely little medicine. The only thing between us and the freezing temperatures is this tent we built.” Two weeks later, he filmed a strike on a shelter in the same refugee camp. The vicinity of Al-Aqsa hospital has been struck seven times since the start of the war, according to Doctors Without Borders.
The young man also pays tribute to one of his friends, visibly killed at the end of September. In a message posted on May 26 on his account Threadhe confides in Arabic: “I’m afraid to open my camera roll and see a photo that shows me with a martyred friend. I’m afraid I’ll miss their conversations and want to forget everything. The war took friends from me who were like brothers to me, not just people in my life. No, no. They were people present in my life.”
In the interviews he gave, his brother insisted on highlighting the piety of Shaaban, who according to him knew the Koran by heart. What many Palestinian channels repeat. According to him, it was for a recitation competition that Shaaban found himself sleeping with his friends in a mosque targeted by a bombing on October 6 around 1 a.m. Mohammed does not specify the name of the mosque, but the one adjacent to Al-Aqsa hospital was indeed targeted at the time and date he indicates. According to the Palestinian authorities, 19 people died in the shooting. Shaaban recounted his luck in having escaped with fifteen stitches behind his ear.
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