GAZA CITY: Arriving in the deadly aftermath of an Israeli strike in northern Gaza last week, rescuer Nooh Al-Shaghnobi risked his life to aid the wounded despite warnings of another imminent attack.
In a video that has since gone viral on social media, civil defense member Shaghnobi can be seen desperately trying to pull a wounded man out from under a mound of rubble after a strike on a school on Thursday.
As he was working, a fresh evacuation order was issued by the Israeli military, warning of another strike on the same site, a school sheltering displaced people from across the territory.
“The scene was terrifying” as people fled the building, Shaghnobi told AFP, referring to the Dar Al-Arqam school which Gaza’s civil defense said served as a shelter for Palestinians displaced by the war.
“I became anxious, and the injured person grew even more distressed,” he said.
“I tried to calm him down, telling him, ‘I will stay with you until your last breath. We will die together if we must.’“
Shaghnobi said he dug with his bare hands through the debris to reach the wounded man’s leg which was pinned under concrete.
“He kept calling out: ‘Why did you come back, man? Leave me to die. Get out.’“
Shaghnobi said at one point the pair were the only people left in the building as Israeli reconnaissance drones flew overhead.
“I kept trying to pull him out, but I couldn’t. I said to myself: ‘This is the moment we die.’“
It was then that one of Shaghnobi’s colleagues rushed over, warning that they had just 10 minutes to save anyone still alive before another strike hit.
Together they pulled with all their strength until the man’s leg was freed.
“In that moment, my eyes welled up with tears, my body shaking from exhaustion,” he said.
While initially hesitant, Shaghnobi’s other colleagues arrived to help carry the wounded man to safety.
Gaza’s civil defense agency said at least 31 people, including children, were killed in last Thursday’s strike on the school in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood, northeast of Gaza City.
Since the Gaza war began after Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians have sought refuge in schools and other facilities in a bid to escape the deadly violence.
Most of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once since the war started.
On Wednesday, a strike on a residential block in Gaza City that housed many displaced people killed at least 23 people and wounded more than 60, according to Gaza’s civil defense agency.
The Israeli military said it had targeted a “senior Hamas terrorist” in the attack.