[Global Economic Times] A video showing a 19-year-old young man in the Gaza Strip, who had experienced the horrors of war, being burned alive in a refugee tent village where he believed he would be safe, is spreading, sparking public outrage around the world.
According to the American daily New York Times (NYT) on the 20th (local time), Shaban Aldalu, a college student, was burned to death at the site of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, on the 14th.
The sight of Aldalu engulfed in flames and helplessly waving his arms was vividly recorded on video by an eyewitness at the refugee camp, and has spread into a scene symbolizing the horror of war and the grief of Gaza residents.
Israel said it had conducted an airstrike on the hospital complex with the purpose of hitting the Hamas command center, but the fire struck refugees in the hospital parking lot, killing several people, including Aldalu and his mother.
They pitched a tent next to the hospital, believing that Israel would uphold international law prohibiting attacks on medical facilities, but suffered misfortune.
Aldalu sadly passed away a day before his 20th birthday. He once dreamed of becoming a doctor, and before the war broke out, he studied at Al-Hajj'ar University in Gaza City and hoped to obtain a doctorate in software abroad, but the war took away all his dreams.
Not giving up on life, he posted an appeal to stop the war on social media, posted a video of the evacuation scene, and asked for help through GoFundMe, an online fundraising site.
As time went by, Aldalu suffered from injuries and malnutrition, and thought that escaping from Gaza was the only way out, and he even announced his plan to those around him.
“His plan was to get out himself and then find a way to get his sister, brother and parents to escape,” said Aldalu’s aunt, Carbahan.
He raised more than $20,000 in funds to escape through overseas activists he contacted on the Internet, but his escape attempt was aborted as Israel closed the Rafah checkpoint leading to Egypt in May.
But he was not discouraged, and while watching the news and analyzing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech, he encouraged his family by saying, "Everything will be fine."
Aldalu miraculously survived an attack on an Israeli mosque that killed 26 people 10 days before his death, but ultimately died in a fire.
The shocking video showing the last moments of Aldalu and other refugees was enough to amplify the international community's concerns about the way Israel is conducting the war.
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