‘They killed him on the spot.’ Israel targeted Gaza soup kitchen chef in drone attack, brother says

By Sana Noor Haq and Abeer Salman, CNN

(CNN) — Mahmoud Almadhoun, 33, walked towards Kamal Adwan Hospital early Saturday to drop off produce to hundreds of patients in the besieged Beit Lahiya neighborhood, in northern Gaza.

But moments later, an Israeli drone struck and killed Mahmoud, according to two relatives – months after he told CNN that surviving more than a year of war is “our greatest victory.”

“They killed him on the spot,” Hani Almadhoun, Mahmoud’s brother, said on Monday. “They’ve targeted him… It is an attack against him. It’s not an accident.”

A friend rushed to take Mahmoud to the medical facility, but was immediately surrounded by gunfire, Hani, who is based in Virginia, alleged to CNN.

“They thought they could save him, but they said the sniper fire started shooting at them or near them,” he added. “They tried to find another route and they couldn’t. So, they just took him home, said a final goodbye, wrapped him in a blanket [and] quickly buried him.”

Over the past year, the Israeli military had detained Mahmoud twice in northern Gaza and released him both times, Hani told CNN. “He was detained unclothed, and they released him,” he said. “They had no interest in them, they let them go.”

CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment on Hani’s allegations.

The Israeli military campaign in Gaza since the Hamas-led October 7 attacks has eviscerated entire families, turned once-lively neighborhoods into sprawling displacement areas, and triggered a humanitarian crisis of severe hunger, dehydration and disease.

A strike on southern Gaza’s Al Mawasi area, which Israel itself had designated as a humanitarian zone, is one of the latest attacks on areas where displaced Palestinians are sheltering. At least 20 people were killed, including at least 11 children, according to Nasser hospital officials on Wednesday. The Israeli military said efforts were taken to mitigate civilian harm before its “precise strike” on senior Hamas militants in the humanitarian area.

At least 44,502 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its war in Gaza, according to the Ministry of Health there. Another 105,454 people have been injured, the ministry added.

Hani told CNN that at least 180 of his relatives, including immediate and extended family members, have been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza. Last winter, his other brother, Majed, his wife, and their four children, were killed by an Israeli airstrike – just two hours before a temporary ceasefire came into effect.

Mahmoud is survived by his wife, Alaa, and their seven children – the youngest of whom is a baby girl named Aline, who was born just two weeks ago. The family have since fled from Beit Lahiya to another neighborhood in northern Gaza, Hani told CNN.

“There is nobody there to support them,” he said. “[Mahmoud] was their breadwinner, and he was the father.

“He had a soft side to him. He was a jokester. He was always teasing my mom and dad. He just cared for his neighbors.”

‘He refused to leave’

Before the war, Mahmoud owned a store selling mobile devices. But like many other retailers in the enclave, Israel’s bombing campaign destroyed his business. Instead, he turned to running a soup kitchen.

In September, Mahmoud told CNN that he feeds between 600 and 800 families per day in the northern Gaza strip. “Thank God we survived physically,” he said. “That is our greatest victory.”

Then on October 5, Israeli forces unleashed a volley of aerial and ground attacks on three neighborhoods in northern Gaza, decimating entire street blocks, compounding chronic hunger and leaving emergency crews unable to rescue civilians wounded by the onslaught.

The Israeli military says the attacks are targeting Hamas’ renewed presence in the region. More than 3,700 Palestinians have been killed there, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office (GMO). Another 10,000 people have been injured, the GMO said on Monday.

As Israel’s attacks intensified, the soup kitchen’s operations became increasingly precarious, Hani recalled. In the days preceding his death, Mahmoud delivered meals for as many as 200 to 250 families per day. He started sending produce to the nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital, serving patients and medical staff, according to his cousin based in Gaza.

“In his last effort, he managed to bring in vegetables with the aid supplies and ambulances that had arrived in the north, bringing joy to many during such difficult times,” Yahya Almadhoun told CNN on Monday.

“He refused to leave the north. When we fled the north, we spoke with him and urged him to come with us, but he declined, saying, ‘As long as there are people and the hospital is here, I will stay to support and provide them services. I cannot leave.’

“He had a kind heart and was very active in providing psychological support for children and helping those in need.”

Virtually no aid has entered besieged parts in northern Gaza since early October, the UN reported on November 19. Famine is “imminent” in those areas of northern Gaza, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which assesses global food insecurity and malnutrition, said on November 8.

On Monday, the Israeli agency that controls the flow of aid into Gaza said that the UN’s World Food Programmed collected 52 food trucks through the Erez West crossing, for distribution in the northern Gaza Strip.

“This is really purely ethnic cleansing. They’re just killing everybody. This is not a targeted operation,” Hani told CNN. “There is nothing left for them. They’re just destroying homes and kicking people out.”

“This is really reliving the Nakba,” Hani added, referring to “the catastrophe” of 1948 – when at least 700,000 Palestinians fled or were forcibly expelled from their homes in historic Palestine, during the creation of Israel.

“Mahmoud, and people like him, were doing God’s work. And that was good enough to put a target on his back,” he said. “He was punished because he was helping people fight the famine.”

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CNN’s Dana Karni contributed reporting.