The story of Abdallah Aldalee, one of Gaza’s heroes
Abdallah Aldalee, 29, during the water supply initiative in Gaza City’s al-Daraj neighborhood, September 20, 2024. Aldalee helped coordinate the water supply to the neighbourhood. Photo provided by the author.
Abdallah Aldalee is a 29 year-old photographer from Al-Tuffah in the east of Gaza city. Before the genocide, he owned a photography studio, capturing people’s joyful moments: graduations, weddings and family portraits. Aldalee was the sole bread-earner and the backbone of his family.
“My life was like a flower, and my dreams reached for the sky. I loved life, loved excellence, loved everything unique,” he told Palestine Nexus.
Aldalee was well-known in his community. Through his photography, Aldalee had also established a following on his Instagram account, where he now has close to 140,000 followers.
But the genocide changed what Aldalee photographed. Israeli forces partially destroyed his home, forcing him and his family to move to al-Daraj, where he is now displaced with his family in Tel Al-Hawa in southern Gaza. He has shifted his lens from joy to destruction, from hope to cries for help, from portraits of smiles to videos of rubble.
Aldalee cooks a traditional Palestinian meal of lentils and chard for his daily kitchen initiative in al-Daraj neighborhood, Gaza City, November 14, 2024. Photo provided by the author.
But he didn’t stop at documenting the genocide and the suffering of his people; he decided to start doing humanitarian work, cooking meals and delivering aid to his community, all on his own.
Amid the ongoing siege and near-total collapse of infrastructure, individual efforts like Abdallah’s have provided a critical lifeline to so many in need.
As the crisis deepened, Aldalee said he was driven by an inner voice: “Be human before being a journalist, a photographer, or even a survivor.”
Distress messages flooded his Instagram account, driven both by his powerful documentation of the ongoing genocide in Gaza and his efforts to support his community; mothers desperate for milk for their babies, children who had lost their parents and families clinging to life amid the devastation.
Aldalee distributed blankets to displaced people at the Kuwait Camp in Gaza January 11, 2025. Photo provided by the author.
Every day, Aldalee wakes up at 7 A.M. He rides his bicycle, sometimes for ten hours straight, to deliver aid to different parts of Gaza, bought with donations from across the world through his Instagram account: clothes, children’s toys, cleaning supplies, food, and even cash donations.
Children run after his bicycle, waving with innocent smiles and eyes lit with hope of a warm meal or some milk. He traveled through many neighborhoods in northern Gaza — Shuja’iyya, Tuffah, Tel al-Hawa, Zeitoun, Daraj, and Beach Camp, and everywhere, people welcomed him with teary eyes.
He recounts one person telling him: “Thank you for remembering us… we just wanted someone to feel our pain, to recognize our humanity.” An elderly man, after receiving water, said: “You didn’t just bring water — you brought back hope.”
Children ran to him asking, “When will you come give us toys? We want to play like the other kids!”
“Even in my fear and exhaustion, I knew I had to keep going to help these children,” he said.
In May 2024, as basic resources for daily needs became increasingly scarce, Aldalee began cooking for hundreds of displaced people. Every day, he filled five large pots with lentils, chard, fava beans, peas, and rice and cooked simple meals.
In May 2025, while a friend was filming him preparing a meal, a neighboring area was bombed. People fled, but Aldalee stayed. He finished the cooking and personally distributed the food to nearby families. He was determined to feed the children who had gathered to watch him cook. At a time when a kilo of tomatoes cost $30 and onions $120, people were overjoyed to taste food cooked with onions. “Wow! There are onions?”, a young boy who was waiting for the food exclaimed.
Aldalee distributing toys to children in Gaza, June 16, 2024. Photo provided by the author.
In a city under siege, surveillance and bombardment, delivering aid brings daily threats to life, and Aldalee has come close to many. Every day is a risk, but says he has no intentions to stop, “no matter the risk”.
On June 21, 2024, Israel bombed the home of six-year-old Sinan Abu Al-Atta in Shuja’iyya and killed his entire family. Sinan lost his left eye and was in danger of losing a leg. Aldalee spread the word for Sinan’s medical needs, documenting his condition on his Instagram account, and reaching out to organizations outside Gaza.
His call for help was answered: Sinan was transferred to Egypt by the Palestinian Ministry of Health with Aldalee’s help, who ensured that Sinan could be evacuated and receive treatment abroad.
“He was a beautiful child… blond hair, blue eyes. His face was like a portrait of peace in the middle of war,” said Aldalee. “I felt that saving Sinan was saving what remained of our humanity.” Sinan is now healthy and lives in the United States.
Aldalee also launched a GoFundMe campaign for Farah Ammar, an 18-year-old girl from Gaza who was studying journalism before her life was upended by the genocide. On the night of October 16, 2023, while at home in darkness, Ammar and her family were bombed. She lost her right leg and right eye in the attack. With donations raised from the campaign, she was transferred to Jordan in November, and then to California for treatment.
Today, Farah is working to rebuild her life in the United States and adapt to her new reality with a prosthetic limb.
For many, Aldalee has become a lens of truth and a hand of mercy. He is the man who rides a bicycle that brings life to those starved of food and the bare necessities. In a time of famine and relentless bombing, Aldalee is a witness to Gaza’s struggle.
“I cannot forget every person I have met — their smiles, their laughter, their courage in the face of despair — they have become my family. As long as they need me, I will be there. Hope lives in their eyes, and I will never let it fade,” he said.
Subscribe to the Palestine Nexus Newsletter: