Young Fighter– Dr. Abdullah Adeeb Al-Helou

If I must die

To tell my story,

You must live.

You must tell my story.

If I must die,

Then you must live.

Sell my belongings,

Buy a piece of cloth and wire,

Make long-tailed white kites out of them.

Somewhere in Gaza,

A child,

Unable to say goodbye to anyone,

Unable to bid farewell even to their own body,

Staring at the sky,

Waiting,

For a father turned to ashes in flames,

Should see the kites you made flying.

And even if just for a moment,

Let them believe an angel has come.

Let them feel that love has arrived.

If I am to die,

Let my death become a story.

If I am to die,

Let my death keep hope alive.

If I must die,

Then you must live.

You must tell my story.

(The poem above belongs to Rifaat al-Araeer, professor of English literature, Gazan author and poet. Rifaat al-Araeer spent all his life in Northern Gaza at Shuja'iyya neighborhood and defined this place “symbol of the revival that rejects to kneel before the Israeli barbarism.” But, at the start of December, he has to leave his house upon rising attacks and take shelter in his sister’s place in Al-Daraj neighborhood. The house they refuge in with his sister and the other family members was targeted by Israeli occupation forces on December 7. In this attack Rifaat, his brother Salah, his nephew Muhammed, his sister Esma and her three children Ala, Muhammed and Yahya were killed. Rifaat Al-Araeer was 44 when he was killed.) 

Israel’s attacks on Gaza that have been going on for over a year continues to be the main issue on the world’s agenda. With the new added losses every month, confirmed and announced death count is close to 45,000. However, the reason behind these attacks happening at the top of the world's agenda is more about the characteristics of this war rather than the death count it caused. Primarily, these attacks towards Gaza are a genocide conducted with a well calculated strategy.

Attacks going on with crimes and violations that the modern world rejects such as violations of civil rights that could be recognized under tens of titles, war crimes, using civilians as shields and hunger looks more like the limitless attacks of an irregular organization rather than a responsible state recognized by law. As a matter of fact, the Israeli Prime Minister and Minister of Defense found guilty of the above-mentioned violations at the International Criminal Court and the court ordered the arrest of both officials.

Israel acting as an occupant in Gaza tries all the ways to force nearly 2.3 million people in Gaza to immigrate. On top of these ways is forming a catastrophe towards destroying all the opportunities to live a civilized life at minimum in Gaza and wiping out all the hopes of starting over. The trauma that will be caused by the targeting of especially women and children is obvious. However, on the other hand, destruction and wrecking of all the public infrastructure -initially health and education-, targeting and demolishing of particularly qualified people, restriction of the access to the vital supplies such as energy, water, sanitation and food are part of a genocide plan that provokes a serious indignance almost all over the world. As a respect to healthcare workers who were murdered in Gaza, their scientific efforts and high responsibility they presented to humanity and science, their lives are recorded on this page.

Dr. Abdullah Adeeb Al-Helou

Dr. Abdullah Adeeb Al-Helou

In this text, the story of Abdullah Adeeb Al-Helou who was a young Palestinian doctor killed with his whole family by Israel on October 11, 2023, is told. In fact, the insufficiency of details that are embedded in these short biographies is a document of how Israel destroyed a nation with their memories, recollection and whole existence morally and materially. Tens of thousands of people have been vanishing to nothingness as if they have never lived, existed, studied universities and schools, had families and pasts. As Rifaat Al-Araeer said in his poem mentioned above, all of us are responsible for at least telling the names and stories of these people who were sentenced to annihilation and be forgotten, in terms of humanitarian responsibility.

Abdullah Adeeb Al-Helou, a Palestinian doctor,  from the village of Beit Jirja, which was driven by the Zionist militias by terror and incitement during the great exile (Nakba) in 1948. Abdullah Adeeb was born in Saudi Arabia where his family worked in 1993. His family returned to Gaza and settled in the Jabalia refugee camp in 1998. Abdullah Adeeb was enrolled in a school which was connected to the United Nations Relief and Public Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) there. The Helou family moved to Tuwam neighborhood located at the west of Gaza Strip in 2005.

Abdullah Adeeb came to the fore as a hardworking student who was into science and research even in the first years of his school life. Abdullah Adeeb who dreamed of studying medicine since childhood completed secondary school with excellent grades in 2011 and qualified for medical school in Russian Federation. Right after his graduation he returned to Gaza aiming to serve his country and people. After completing his obligatory internship year, he started his career as a general practitioner in the emergency and internal medicine department of Beit Hanoun Hospital. Dr. Abdullah Adeeb who worked at the Al-Saftawi clinic connected to UNRWA for some time started working at Palestine Ministry of Health as a doctor. 

Dr. Abdullah Adeeb passed the exam that was set by the Palestine Cardiology Establishment aiming to proceed in his profession and do academic research in medicine. Yet, this scientist who was just at the beginning of his residency lost his life after the brutal attack of Israel on October 11, 2023. [1] More than 200 people, most of whom were women and children including not only Dr. Abdullah Adeeb but also 15 people in his family including his father, mother, siblings, their wives and children were brutally murdered in the attack.

Dr. Abdullah Adeeb kept serving his people and humanity despite all the hardship and danger during the attacks. Especially, he volunteered to recover the wounded in the Yemen clinic of Jabalia camp and refused to move from northern Gaza to the south which was insisted on by the occupation forces. This was his last message he sent his friend just before his martyrdom during the attack he was gonna be martyred which was targeting civilian residential areas: “We don’t know how to get out. The bombing doesn’t stop.”

Dr. Abdullah Adeeb, with the expression of his close friend Dr. Ismail Qanoo, left behind a lasting memory of his service and devotion, leaving this temporary world, on his way to his eternal homeland. Dr. Abdullah Adeeb was a young doctor who was gracious, bound to his family, determined to serve his people and interested in scientific research. He wished to marry and start a family soon. May Allah bestow and have mercy on these radiant souls that illuminate the sky of humanity.

Thanks to Intern Dr. Ola Imad Abu Olwan and journalist author Mustafa Ekici for their contributions.

Prof. Dr. Orhan Alimoğlu

İstanbul Medeniyet University