LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Hani Almadhoun remembers when he and his brother Mahmoud started the Gaza Soup Kitchen. It was February 14 this year, Valentine's Day.
HANI ALMADHOUN: He purchased three pots and started cooking soup for people.
FADEL: The war was four months in - already, little food or water was being allowed into Gaza.
H ALMADHOUN: So he would go to local farms, forage some greenery that comes with the rain, and then just cook whatever he can.
FADEL: In the morning, his mother and sisters washed and chopped vegetables - if they could get their hands on any - and Mahmoud looked for clean water and fuel.
H ALMADHOUN: That was a challenge in itself, finding wood for the fire 'cause, remember, Israeli restricted cooking gas.
FADEL: As more people grew hungry, Mahmoud fed them, with Hani and the U.S. raising more than $2 million for the soup kitchen.
H ALMADHOUN: Then he kept running this until the very last minute of his life.
FADEL: On Saturday, Mahmoud was killed.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ABU TAMER: (Speaking Arabic).
FADEL: Hani shared this recording from Mahmoud's friend, Abu Tamer. It was 9 a.m. He and Mahmoud were walking to distribute aid at Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of the last partially functioning in North Gaza. An Israeli drone opened fire at Mahmoud's feet. And under fire, Abu Tamer said he couldn't get him to the hospital. Mahmoud eventually died of his wounds.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TAMER: (Speaking Arabic).
FADEL: He took Mahmoud's body back to his seven children.
H ALMADHOUN: They say goodbye, wrap him in a blanket and take him on a cart and just bury him.
FADEL: Hani Almadhoun calls it an assassination.
H ALMADHOUN: We believe it was intentional. We believe he was flying too close to the sun. He's a Palestinian man. He's a chef. He wanted to cook and help families stay in the north, and I think they might be on a schedule. They want to empty north of Gaza.
FADEL: Was there anyone around him - any gunmen, anything around him?
H ALMADHOUN: I challenged the Israeli Army to share why my brother was killed. There was absolutely no activities - nothing.
FADEL: We asked the Israeli military why Mahmoud was killed. So far, they haven't responded.
(SOUNDBITE OF ALUMINUM PACKETS KRINKLING)
FADEL: I want to play a clip from a video of Mahmoud getting a big pot of rice ready at the Gaza Soup Kitchen.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MAHMOUD ALMADHOUN: (Non-English language spoken).
FADEL: So as he pours rice into these aluminum packets for individual servings for dinner, he's saying, all my love to our beloveds in the United States for this support.
H ALMADHOUN: That was his sign-off. He reminds us that - of all the great people in America, and that's the most painful part.
FADEL: Painful, Hani says, because so much of the weaponry used in Gaza comes from the U.S.
H ALMADHOUN: He's always thanked people in America for their support because that's where I am, and that's where most of our supports come from. Maybe he felt a sense of safety when he says the U.S. - he's not going to be targeted.
FADEL: This is your second brother you've had to bury?
H ALMADHOUN: Yes, Mahmoud, and then, before him, my brother Majid. It's cruelty because he has seven kids, and the youngest is 10 days old. There is no office in Gaza left to go get a birth certificate or yet name her. So she still has not had a name yet, and they just killed her father.
FADEL: Over the weekend, you posted a photo online of produce - avocados and tomatoes - with the caption, Chef Mahmoud's final gift to the besieged Kamal Adwan Hospital arrived this morning. Who is left to carry on Mahmoud's work?
H ALMADHOUN: We - our family pledged to continue to send produce to the hospital. This is our obligation to support our neighbors and relatives. We have opened three other soup kitchens in different locations in north Gaza and two in the south to keep his legacy. People should not be killed for providing a hot meal for a hungry child. It should never be a political statement to get a sip of water for people who need it. But in Gaza, this seems like a crime.
FADEL: That was Hani Almadhoun on his late brother, Mahmoud, who ran the Gaza Soup Kitchen.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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