Tributes pour in for Palestinian student burned to death in Israeli attack on al-Aqsa Hospital

Social media is flooded with tributes to Sha'ban al-Dalou, a 19-year-old Palestinian  student who was burned alive after an Israeli air strike hit al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital and killed three others. 

Sha'ban was connected to an IV drip when the strike on the hospital tents took place and footage on social media showed him trying to move as he was burned to death.

His brother, who watched his mother and brother burn in their tent, said Sha'ban had survived an earlier Israeli strike on 6 October that targeted the al-Aqsa Martyrs Mosque, where he had been sleeping. Twenty people were killed in that attack.

Sha'ban, who was forcefully displaced last year when Israeli forces destroyed his home, had just started his university studies in software engineering in September 2023.

His final moments shocked millions and drew widespread condemnation of Israel's targeting of Palestinian civilians.

Questions of accountability and the dehumanisation of Palestinians stormed social media after his death, with people pointing out the fact that he had been displaced several times by Israeli attacks and wounded before his death in the hospital tents. 

Social media users honoured Sha'ban's memory by focusing on life, describing him as a young man full of vitality and resourcefulness. He had even built the tent in the hospital compound where he lost his life.

Oxford University lecturer Jennifer Cassidy paid tribute to Sha'ban, saying that he was not an image on social media but a human being. She added that “the word war crime doesn’t even begin to cover” the atrocity committed against him.

Say his name Shaban. The man, the human, the soul behind the photo seen around the world. The man who was burnt alive by an evil regime, while being attached to an IV in a hospital.

The word war crime doesn't even begin to cover this. He is not a number. Not one single person… pic.twitter.com/tbXj1Pix3A

— Dr. Jennifer Cassidy (@OxfordDiplomat) October 14, 2024

Researcher and activist Philip Proudfoot remembered Sha'ban as a kind person with dreams of living a normal life.

“Let his murder haunt every genocide-enabling western politician for the rest of their lives,” Proudfoot wrote.

This is Sha'ban— who we saw burning in a tent he built for his family –– set alight by Israel. Let's also remember his kind face, and his dreams of a normal life. Let his murder haunt every genocide-enabling Western politician for the rest of their lives. pic.twitter.com/j4LPmxfU7m

— Philip Proudfoot 🇱🇧🇵🇸 (@PhilipProudfoot) October 14, 2024

The attack on al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital is not the first time Israel has targeted displaced people in tents in Gaza. In May, an Israeli air strike on tents housing displaced Palestinians in Rafah killed 45 people and decapitated a child.

Some on social media expressed their anger and frustration that Israel is injuring Palestinians repeatedly “as they miraculously survive one horrific attack only to kill them in another”.

I didn’t realize he was injured in a horrific airstrike last week. Do you know how insane it is that Israel is repeatedly torturing Palestinians like this? Injuring them as they miraculously survive one horrific attack only to kill them in another. https://t.co/uKLIAVvkB2

— Laila Al-Arian (@LailaAlarian) October 15, 2024

Many users shared Sha'ban's story and videos that he recorded before he was killed. One user wrote that he was the sole provider for his family. 

“Now, he's gone, leaving behind two sisters and a little brother with no one to care for them.”

Early on Monday morning, the Israeli military attacked tents housing displaced people at al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza, sparking a fire that killed four people and wounded many others. Journalists and residents shared footage on social media showing tents engulfed in flames as people desperately tried to extinguish the fires and rescue those trapped inside.

Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee confirmed that the air force had conducted the attack and said that the hospital was a “command and control centre” used by Hamas. However, he did not provide evidence to support his claim.

Since Israel's war on Gaza began last October, Israeli authorities have frequently said that civilian infrastructure, such as hospitals and schools, were being used by Hamas as command and control centres without offering evidence.