When an Israeli airstrike on Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah sparked a fire that swept through a cluster of tents Monday night, 19-year-old Shaban al-Dalu was sleeping near his mother, Alaa, 38.
In a video that circulated widely on social media, Shaban’s arms could be seen reaching from the enveloping flames, horrifying a world that watched him being burned alive.
In an interview with NBC News, Shaban’s 17-year-old brother, Mohammed al-Dalu, described the Israeli attack that killed his mother and brother, saying he saw something fall on Shaban’s leg, pinning him down. He tried to run into the tent to save his brother, but several men held him back.
“No one let me see my brother Shaban,” he said. “My heart was burning.”
Their father, Ahmed al-Dalu, his face covered in burn dressings and his right eye swollen shut, said in an interview with Al Jazeera that he’d been thrown from the tent by the blast’s impact, but managed to run back to pull his daughter and his youngest son out of the tent before it was engulfed in flames.
Shaban’s death was certain to have been painful, but Mohammed told a kinder story: “The fire was cool and peaceful for him.” His mother, Mohammed said, “she remained asleep. If the fire had been burning her, she would have woken up and started screaming, but my mother, thank God, remained asleep.”
Mohammed said his mother’s last words to him were good night: “My mother woke up, but she is in heaven.”
The family had been displaced at least 15 times before, and Shaban had been injured two weeks earlier in another attack. Wednesday would have been his 20th birthday.
Shaban and Alaa were among five people killed. Dozens more were injured, including Shaban’s father and three of his four siblings.
The video capturing Shaban’s final moments had a visceral impact on those who watched it and it quickly spread on social media, with some calling for Israel to be held to account for the strike as the country faces mounting pressure to end its offensive in the Gaza Strip, where more than 42,400 people have been killed in the past year, according to local health officials.
“Burning people to death when they are sleeping in tents ?” one person wrote. “Humanitarian organizations and all western governments must condemn Israel and withdraw all support immediately.”
“israel is committing a horrific genocide while western leaders are complicit in the deaths of families, innocent children, and entire bloodlines,” another said.
Israel has been accused of genocide over its actions in Gaza before the International Court of Justice and by the United Nations’ special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinain territories. Both Israel and the U.S. have denied the accusation.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller described the images of people burning alive as “deeply disturbing” during a news briefing Tuesday.
“We all saw that video. … It’s horrifying to see people burn to death,” Miller said. “We have made clear our serious concerns about the matter directly to the government of Israel.”
The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that the military targeted the compound because Hamas militants were allegedly using the hospital as a “command and control” center. The IDF did not provide evidence supporting the claim, and NBC News was not able to verify the statement.
Mohammed confirmed that it was his brother and their mother burning to death in the video.
Walking the NBC News crew around the charred remains of his family’s tent, near burned-out vehicles and debris, Mohammed pointed to where Shaban and Alaa had slept, with items in the area consistent with the video seen online.
Al-Aqsa hospital is one of the facilities supported by Médecins Sans Frontières, known as Doctors Without Borders in English. The organization told NBC News it does not have information about the IDF’s allegations, but confirmed the strike hit an area for civilians and outpatients, describing the attack as “totally unacceptable.”
“Hospitals should not be used by either warring party for military activities/purposes and should benefit from particular protection at all times,” a spokesperson for the organization said.
Mohammed said Shaban had “nothing to do with politics.” He was dedicated to memorizing the Quran and had been a software engineering student before the war who had graduated at the top of his high school class.
Crushed by the hopelessness and harsh realities of the war, Shaban had started a GoFundMe campaign some months ago to pay for his family of seven to escape Gaza into Egypt, where he hoped to start a new life.
“Gaza is where dreams go to die,” Shaban had written. This week, he was buried, wrapped in his mother’s embrace.
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