Abdullah Omar Jendeia
Abdullah Jendeia was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers while waiting near an aid truck in the Netzarim Corridor.
On 20 July, Abdullah left his home around 16:00 local time to walk more than 5 kilometers north in search of food, refusing to accept the last remaining lentils at home. Alongside two of his brothers and some in-laws, he traveled to meet an aid truck that arrives weekly to provide flour. While waiting near the truck in the Netzarim Corridor, a militarized zone that separates northern and southern Gaza, Israeli soldiers opened fire without warning. According to his brother Mahmoud, who was present and also injured in the incident, Abdullah was killed during this unprovoked shooting. The Israeli military later stated they were targeting immediate threats and requested coordinates to investigate further but did not provide confirmation of the incident's specifics.
Biography
Abdullah Omar Jendeia was a 19-year-old Palestinian young man from the al-Sabra neighborhood in central Gaza. Known for his kind heart and cheerful spirit, Abdullah was someone who brought joy to those around him. He enjoyed walking on the beach with his sister and had a passion for football and sports. Before the war, he helped local grocers by carrying fruit and vegetables, and he dreamed of one day starting his own business. Abdullah was staying in his mother’s damaged house during the conflict and, like many in Gaza, was struggling to find food for his family.
Abdullah was the kind of young man remembered not only for his warmth and fun-loving personality, but also for his sense of responsibility and ambition. He worked from a young age to support his family, regularly helping grocers carry produce in local markets. He lived through extreme hardship and conflict in Gaza yet maintained dreams of a better future—hoping to open his own business after the war. His sister Nadreen recalled how they used to take long walks by the sea together and how he remained a hopeful, caring brother despite the devastation around them. On the day of his death, his concern for feeding his family drove him to take the risk of walking several kilometers in search of aid, reflecting both his courage and desperation under siege conditions.
Pleas of Surviving Relatives and Family if any
Abdullah’s sister, Nadreen Jendeia, shared a heartfelt and sorrowful account of her brother's final day. She pleaded with him not to go out, urging him to eat the few lentils they had left, but he insisted on going to find food for the family. Her words reflect a family's desperation and a sister's deep regret and grief:
“He was impatient to go and fetch some food that day... I told him, ‘Just eat the few lentils we have left,’ but he refused.”
After his death, she expressed how deeply the loss has affected the family, remembering him not just as a provider during desperate times, but as a joyful, kind-hearted young man who loved football, walks on the beach, and had dreams for a better life after the war.
Additional Information
Sources & References
A teenager who went looking for food, an eight-year-old girl living in a camp for displaced Palestinians, and a man who endured months of malnutrition are among those who have died in Gaza in the past week. On Thursday, the Hamas-run health ministry recorded two new deaths due to malnutrition in the past 24 hours, as aid agencies warned Israel's siege of Gaza was causing "mass starvation" to spread across the territory. An Israeli government spokesman denied this, saying Hamas was to blame for creating a food shortage and hijacking aid. With the UN warning that humanitarian conditions in Gaza are breaking down at an "accelerating" pace, and the World Health Organization saying that at least 10% of Gazans are acutely malnourished, the BBC has been speaking to people in the territory about loved ones they've lost in the past week.1 bbc.com Open source