Killing of Shaban Al-Dalou

Shaban Al-Dalou was a 19-year-old man from the Gaza strip who was burned alive during the bombing of the Al-Aqsa hospital on October 13, 2024. The area had been designated as a safe zone and as a result was densely populated with patients as well as refugees who had set up camps around the hospital. Shaban's story gained widespread attention when a video began to circulate online of Shaban trapped in the hospital bed by the IV drip to which he was connected while trying to get out and burning alive. Shaban's mother was also burned alive in the fire.

Life

Shaban Al-Dalou

Shaban had two brothers and two sisters. According to his mother he had memorized the Quran by heart. In the final university qualifying exam,Tawjihi, Shaban had scored 97.9% and had just started studying software engineering at Al-Azhar University in Gaza in September 2023.

Prior to arriving at Al-Aqsa hospital, Al-Dalou and his family had been forcibly displaced 5 times. After their home was bombed by the IDF, Shaban started a GoFundMe page to try and raise funds for his family to evacuate from Gaza. As the eldest of 5 kids, Shaban was the primary earner for his family and had erected the tent in which his family was staying. A week prior to his killing, Shaban had survived the IDF's bombing of a mosque and had been transferred to Al-Aqsa hospital to receive treatment.

Reaction

Cori Bush: “There are no words powerful enough to capture the agony of human beings being massacred & burned alive. The U.S. is funding & arming the Israeli military’s extermination of the Palestinian people. It’s unconscionable.”

Sonny Bill Williams: “They’re burning people alive but some of you are still scared to speak out”

Omar Suleiman: "His name was Shaaban. He was loved by his family and friends, a memorizer of the Quran. He’s named after the month that in the Islamic tradition is referred to as the forgotten month. Let him never be forgotten."

Roger Waters: “I’ve just watched the video of the young man burning in the tent…Israel is a disgusting genocidal state beyond anything”

United Nations Children’s Fund: “Today, our screens were once again filled with horrifying reports of children killed, burned, and families emerging from bombed tents in Gaza. These should shock the world to its core.”