Israel killed chef of a Gazak kitchen in drone use, says Bruder

Israel killed chef of a Gazak kitchen in drone use, says Bruder

Mahmoud Almadhoun, 33 years old, approached the Kamal Adwan Hospital early on Saturday to deliver fresh vegetables to hundreds of patients in the besieged district of Beit Lahiya in the north of the Gaza Strip. Tragically, Mahmoud was killed by an Israeli drone shortly afterwards. According to statements by two relatives, this months after he had told CNN that the survival of more than a year of war was "our greatest victory".

a targeted attack

"You killed him immediately," said Hani Almadhoun, the brother of Mahmoud, on Monday. "You targeted him ... it was a targeted attack on him. It was not an accident." A friend tried to take Mahmoud to the hospital, but was immediately surrounded by an accelerating fire. Hani, who lives in Virginia, reported CNN: "They thought they could save him, but they said that the sniper fire had started or near them." The group tried to find a different way, but they did not succeed. They finally brought him home, said goodbye for the last time, wrapped him in a blanket and buried him hastily.

a lost life and a broken family

Last year Mahmoud was arrested twice by the Israeli armed forces in Northern Gaza and was released both times. Hani said: "He was arrested naked and they let him go again. They were not interested in him, they just let him go." CNN asked the Israeli forces to comment on Hani’s allegations.

The military offensive of Israel in Gaza, which began after the Hamas attacks on October 7, wiped out entire families, once lively districts transformed into extensive areas of displacement and triggered a humanitarian crisis with severe malnutrition, dehydration and diseases.

The dramatic numbers

According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, at least 44,502 Palestinians have been killed since the beginning of the war. Another 105,454 people were injured. Hani reported that at least 180 of his relatives, including immediate and expanded family, were killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza. Last winter his brother Majed, whose wife and four children were killed by an Israeli air raid - just two hours before a preliminary ceasefire came into force.

Mahmoud leaves his wife Alaa and her seven children, the youngest girl Aline was only born two weeks ago. The family fled to another neighborhood in the north of the Gaza from Beit Lahiya, as Hani Cnn announced. "There is no one there who supports them," he said. "[Mahmoud] was the family of the family and the father." Hani remembered that Mahmoud had a gentle personality and was always a joke that gave his parents and neighbors a lot of fun.

The humanitarian crisis and its influence on the local population

Before the war, Mahmoud had a shop for mobile phones, but like many other shops in the region, his business was also destroyed by the Israeli bombing. So he started operating a soup kitchen. In September, Mahmoud told CNN: "I provide between 600 and 800 families in northern Gaza strip every day. Thank God we survived physically, that is our greatest victory." On October 5, Israel started a series of air and soil attacks on three districts in Northern Gaza, which destroyed entire streets and the chronic malnutrition of the population was tightened.

The Israeli forces emphasized that the attacks on the renewed presence of Hamas in the region aimed at. According to the Gauze government's media office, over 3,700 Palestinians have already been killed and about 10,000 more injured, according to the office on Monday.

a last act of help

With the intensification of the attacks, the work of the soup kitchen for Mahmoud became increasingly dangerous, Hani recalled. In the days before his death, Mahmoud delivered meals for 200 to 250 families daily and began to deliver vegetables to the nearby Adwan Hospital to support patients and medical staff. "In his last attempt, he brought vegetables with the relief goods and the emergency services, which had arrived in the north, which was fun for many in such difficult times," said Yahya Almadhoun on Monday. "He refused to leave the north. When we fled, we spoke to him and urged him to come with us, but he declined and said: 'As long as there are people and the hospital is here, I want to stay here to help and serve them. I can't go.'"

"He had a good heart and was intensively campaigning to offer children psychological support and help the needy." According to reports from the UN, there has been practically no help in the besieged parts of Nordgaza since the beginning of October. According to the UN integration report on nutritional security, hunger is “imminent” in these areas.

On Monday, the Israeli agency, which controlled the river from auxiliary goods to Gaza, announced that the UN World Food program has collected 52 food trucks through the Erez West Transition to distribute it in northern Gaza Strip. Hani explained: "This is really ethnic cleansing. They just kill everyone. This is not a targeted operation. They don't have anything, they simply destroy houses and pass people."

"This is strongly reminiscent of the Nakba," added Hani, referring to "Die Disastrophe" from 1948, when at least 700,000 Palestinians from their historical homeland were failed or violated while Israel was founded. "Mahmoud and people like him performed God's work. And that was good enough to target him," he said. "He was punished because he helped people fight against hunger."

cnns Dana Karni contributed to reporting.