‘My joy was shattered’: Journalist grieves killing of third son as ceasefire arrives too late
The day a ceasefire was declared in Gaza should have brought Motasem Dalloul relief. Instead, after losing his wife and two children in Israeli attacks last year, the prominent journalist learned that another one of his sons had been killed while trying to find food.
“I learned of the martyrdom of my son Ibrahim just hours after [US President Donald] Trump announced the ceasefire.
“He is my third son to be killed by Israel since the beginning of the genocide in Gaza,” said Daloul, speaking to Middle East Eye.
The journalist remained steadfast in Gaza City, refusing to evacuate to the south throughout the two-year war, even as Israel threatened residents and invaded the city.
Dalloul and his family were displaced 13 times, and until recently they had been living in a tent in the al-Rimal neighbourhood.
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
On Wednesday, a day before the ceasefire was declared, 21-year-old Ibrahim and his friends set out for the south in search of food, as their hunger became unbearable.
They also hoped to bring back goods to sell in the north and earn some cash, since withdrawing money from banks has become nearly impossible, Dalloul said. Money changers, meanwhile, charge exorbitant commissions.
“On their way to southern Gaza, near the al-Nabulsi roundabout, Israeli forces opened fire on them,” Dalloul recounted to Middle East Eye.
“We still don’t know if it was a tank shell, gunfire from a quadcopter, or a missile.”
Dalloul lost contact with Ibrahim on Wednesday, spending “hours in agony” as he searched for news of him.
Then, on Thursday, only a few hours after Trump announced the end of the war, a friend called Dalloul and told him his son and his friends had been killed
“My joy at the ceasefire was shattered. I had wished to see my son as a groom beside his fiancee,” he said.
“He is the third son I’ve lost in this genocide."
‘Deep wound in my heart’
Last year, at the height of famine in northern Gaza, Dalloul and his family were forced to eat animal feed - an experience he described as both physically and mentally devastating.
On 28 February, his wife Riham told him she was starving, so he and Ibrahim headed to al-Nabulsi roundabout to wait for flour trucks.
“By some miracle, we managed to get one sack of flour,” Dalloul said.
“I returned to our shelter overjoyed that I could finally bake bread for my children. Moments later, I received a call saying that Riham’s family home had been bombed.”
The journalist rushed to the hospital and found that his wife and two-year-old son, Abu Bakr, had been killed.
“Losing my wife has left a deep wound in my heart that I will never recover from, no matter how patient I try to be,” he said.
“Israel killed my wife while she was hungry.”
Three months later, Dalloul lost his son Yehya.
That day in May, the journalist and his children returned to their destroyed home in al-Zaytoun neighbourhood to search the rubble for anything they could salvage - “clothes, food, anything at all”.
Suddenly, he said, an Israeli tank opened fire on them, killing his 21-year-old son.
Dalloul fled the area with his other children, forced to leave Yehya’s body behind.
“A week later, when I returned, I found that Israeli tanks had crushed and mangled his remains,” he said.
‘The image of his beautiful face’
Dalloul was only able to bury Ibrahim three days after he was killed. His 19-year-old fiancee, Doha, is still in deep shock.
“He was ambitious, kind, and generous. He often invited his friends for lunch or dinner at our home,” he said.
Before the war, Dalloul opened a large supermarket for his sons, hoping to give them a good future. But Israel bombed both their home and their shop.
'Israel killed my wife while she was hungry'
- Motasem Dalloul, journalist
“The pain of loss is unbearable. Doha still cannot process his death - he was always so kind and gentle with her,” Dalloul said.
“She asked to see his body one last time, but when we finally brought him to the tent, she refused to have the shroud opened. She said, ‘I want to keep the image of his beautiful face in my memory,’ and bid him farewell from afar.”
Dalloul is grappling with mixed emotions. As the war ends, people are beginning to come to terms with the immeasurable losses they have suffered.
“Yes, the killing has stopped, but our suffering continues. We have lost so many loved ones in this genocide.
“We have no homes to return to, we struggle to obtain even the most basic necessities, and the situation in Gaza is catastrophic - the infrastructure, the roads, the hospitals, the schools - everything has been destroyed.”
Middle East Eye delivers independent and unrivalled coverage and analysis of the Middle East, North Africa and beyond. To learn more about republishing this content and the associated fees, please fill out this form. More about MEE can be found here.
