Gaza Grandfather Killed in Israeli Strike One Year After Going Viral with Video Mourning Granddaughter Who Also Died in Bombing

A Palestinian grandfather was killed after Israeli forces fired shells from tanks at a refugee camp in Gaza on Monday, one year after a video of him mourning his granddaughter's dead body went viral.

Khaled Nabhan was recorded holding and kissing his granddaughter Reem's lifeless body while he called her "the soul of my soul" after she and her 5-year-old brother, Tarek, were killed by Israeli forces in southern Gaza in November 2023.

"I used to kiss her on her cheeks, on her nose and she would giggle, Nabhan told CNN at the time. "I kissed her but she wouldn't wake up."

Nabhan was a pillar of the community. After the IDF bombed his home, killing his son and the rest of his family, Nabhan helped rescuers and medics take care of injured Palestinians and handed out food to starving children.

Social media users shared videos of Nabhan comforting Palestinians who lost family members or were injured, including a young girl whose leg was amputated after an Israeli air strike.

"He was such a gentle, beautiful soul. May Allah grant him Firdaws," X user @fatimazsaid wrote, wishing for him the highest garden in paradise.

"Khaled Nabhan was everything the media doesn't want you to think Palestinian men are: gentle, loving, joyful, indispensable community builders. He spent the last year of his life finding ways to comfort displaced children in Gaza," X user @chelseahartisme posted.

Nabhan was killed after the Israel Defense Force fired artillery shells from tanks into the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. As he ran to help his injured neighbors, Nabhan was also killed.

"What a great man we have lost. We will never have someone like him again," Nabhan's nephew, Saed, told CNN.

More than 45,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas launched an attack on Israeli settlements, Reuters reported.