He went to seek help and never returned: stories of people killed in Gaza

He went to seek help and never returned: stories of people killed in Gaza


While humanitarian agencies warn “widespread hunger” in the Gaza strip, the BBC listens to the stories told by the relatives of some people killed last week.




A young man looking for food and an adult man who spent months with malnutrition is among the dead in the Gaza strip last week.

Thursday (24/07/24), the Ministry of Health managed by Hamas recorded two other deaths of malnutrition in 24 hours.

Humanitarian agencies warn that the Israeli siege of the Gaza range caused “widespread hunger” that spreads throughout the territory.

A spokesman for the Israeli government denied the situation, blaming Hamas for creating the lack of food and the appropriation of humanitarian aid.

The United Nations warns that the humanitarian conditions in Gaza are deteriorating at increasing speed. The World Health Organization, on the other hand, states that at least 10% of Gaza residents suffer from acute malnutrition.

The BBC spoke with people in the area who lost their loved ones last week.

Abdullah Jendeia, 19 years old

Abdullah Omar Jendia, 19 years old, was killed on Sunday (07/20) while he came out to look for food, according to his sister Nadreen. They lived in the house of the mother damaged in Al-Sabra, in the center of the Gaza Strip.

“He was impatient to go out and take food that day,” says Nadreen. “I told him ‘eat only the remaining lentils’, but he refused.”

He says that at 4:00 pm local (10 of Brasilia), Jendeia left the house and walked for more than 5 km north, for a help truck that passes weekly around the place.

He wanted to get a few kilo of flour to nourish his family and went there with two brothers and some .In -law sisters.

Almost at 23:00 (17:00 in Brasilia), one of the brothers, Mahmoud, named Nadreen. He said they were waiting for the help truck when the Israeli soldiers suddenly opened fire against them.

They were in the Netzarim corridor, a military area that separates the North and the South of the Gaza Strip.

Mahmoud told Nadreen that Jendia was killed and that he and the other brother were injured.

“It was a joy to be with him,” he says. “He was kind and fun at the same time.”

Nadreen remembers the tours that she and Jendeia made in the afternoon to Gaza Beach when they were younger. “He loved football and other sports.”

He says that Jendeia worked with local shopkeepers, helping to transport fruit and vegetables. “He dreamed of starting a new activity after the war,” according to Nadreen.

The defense forces of Israel (IDF) declared, in the case of Jendeia, who work to dismantle the military structures of Hamas and took the possible precautions to reduce civil damage.

The IDF declared that it could “respond better to the consultation if it was possible to provide the coordinates” of the position of the accident.

The Gaza Civil Defense Agency, managed by Hamas, said that the Israeli blows killed a total of 93 people and wounded dozens of others in the whole Gaza range that day, mainly close to humanitarian help points.

Speaking of a specific accident in the north of Gaza, the Israeli army declared that the soldiers shot warning shots on the crowd “to remove an immediate threat”, but disputes the victim’s budget.

Ahmed Alhasant, 41 years old



Ahmed Alhasant was a football enthusiast and installed satellite television antennas

Ahmed Alhasant, 41, died on Tuesday (07/22). His brother, Yeia, says that “he died of malnutrition – day after day, became weaker and weaker”.

Yehia says that her brother started getting sick after Israel has imposed a block of help in Gaza in March. From May, Israel has permitted help in the territory, but humanitarian groups say that it is far from sufficient.

Alhasant was also diabetic and for three months he didn’t have enough food or drinks. He only ate pieces of bread and occasionally canned foods, according to Yehia.

Therefore, its weight collapsed from 80 kg to 35 kg and her health quickly deteriorated, according to her brother.

“His speech was disconnected and sometimes we barely managed to understand him,” says Yehia.

The cousin of Alhasant, Rebat, says that the family brought him to the hospital, but “they said” he needs food, not medicine “. So we brought him home.”

Yehia says that Alhasant “died peacefully” at home in the city of Deir Al-Balah, in the center of the Gaza Strip. He installed satellite television antennas and was a football enthusiast.

“He had a strong personality and was one of the kindest people I have ever met”, according to his brother.

Mohamed Kullab, 29 years old



Mohamed Kullab was

Mohamed Kullab, 29, was killed in an air strike on July 22, according to his brother -in -Law, Amar Ragaida.

He says that Kullab was resting on his tent, in a field for the Palestinians displaced in the Al-Qadesiya region, west of Khan Youus, southern Gaza.

It was then that an aircraft strike hit the region, between 17 and 18 local hours (between 11 and noon, Brasilia time).

“He was alone,” says Ragaida. “We knew he was killed a few hours after the attack, when some people called his sister, saying he was dead.”

He says he talked to Kullab the day before his death. They met by chance while looking for help.

“He said to me: ‘Don’t go alone, I will try to take some flour for you.’ The next day he had died.”

Kullab left a younger sister and brother, totally dependent on him, according to his boyfriend.

“Kullab was a young man with life, full of life,” he recalls. “He wouldn’t have done anything useless and all around him loved him.”

The IDF issued a declaration similar to that provided to Abdullah Jendeia, claiming to have taken “possible precautions to reduce the damage to civilians” and would need the coordinates of the site of their death to examine the case.

Source: Terra

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