GAZA, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), Eighteen-year-old Mohammed Al-Zeinati did not hesitate when he saw an injured civil defence rescuer following an Israeli strike in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of western Gaza City. He rushed toward the scene to help, but moments later, Israeli aircraft struck the area again, killing Al-Zeinati as he tried to save him.
The attack began when an Israeli strike hit civil defense member Sharif Labad, leaving him wounded at the scene. Despite the continuing danger, Al-Zeinati ran toward Labad in an attempt to reach and rescue him.
Al-Zeinati was not a paramedic or a member of the civil defense. According to his friends, he was simply a young man who saw someone in need and did not hesitate to help. Before he could reach Labad, a second Israeli strike hit the same area.
At Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Mohammed’s father received the news that his son had been killed. Standing over his shrouded body, he struggled to comprehend the loss of a son whose life had ended at just 18.
“May God have mercy on you, my beloved, my hero,” his father said before adding in anguish, “I never got to rejoice in seeing him grow into a young man. God is sufficient for us, and He is the best disposer of affairs.”
Mohammed’s friend, Mohammed Al-Balawi, recalled the final moments before Al-Zeinati was killed, describing him as someone known among his friends for his energy, courage and readiness to help others.
Al-Balawi said they had been together with friends only shortly before the strikes, spending time together before the day suddenly turned into tragedy.
When Al-Zeinati saw that Labad had been injured, his friend said, he immediately rushed toward him. His focus was not on the danger surrounding him but on reaching the wounded rescuer.
Al-Zeinati ran toward the scene barefoot, trying to reach the civil defense member, but the second strike hit before he could save him.
“We were playing together just minutes earlier, and suddenly he was in a shroud,” Al-Balawi said.
He questioned why a young man attempting to help an injured person was targeted, saying Mohammed “ran to protect someone else and never came back.”
Al-Zeinati’s killing comes as civilians, paramedics and civil defense crews in Gaza continue to face severe risks while attempting to reach the sites of Israeli strikes, recover bodies and rescue the wounded.
According to official figures, around 100 civil defence personnel have been killed during Israel’s war on Gaza, alongside hundreds of killed and wounded medical and emergency workers.
Sharif Labad had been carrying out his duty of rescuing others when the first Israeli strike hit him. Mohammed Al-Zeinati, who belonged to no rescue team, then rushed forward to save him.
The second strike killed them both.
Al-Zeinati was killed beside the rescuer he had tried to save, leaving behind a family that had hoped to watch him grow and friends who remember a young man who, in his final moments, ran toward someone in danger instead of running away.
