Shaaban Al-Louh
Age 17
Shaaban was 18, from Khan Younis. He had just turned 18, weeks ago. He lost his father to a previous war when he was three. By 2024, he was growing up in a tent camp of 500,000 people. He became a protector of children. He often went to sleep hungry so his little sisters and brothers, and the other kids around him could eat. He worked at the same time as Raneen, filming as many children as he could who wanted to leave, and collecting audio recordings of many more, hoping to change the minds of American adults that didn’t care if thousands of little kids were being caged and murdered. He gave five dollars of his own food money to every hungry child he filmed, and he told the American he worked with bluntly: “The kids need it.”
Shaaban dreamed of leaving Gaza. But he also dreamed of having a tent in the south first. Not even a house, just a tent to escape what he called an “unjust prison.” He found families who wanted to leave and convinced them that if they could talk about how they were ordinary people just wanting to escape, if enough people worldwide heard their pleas, everyone would try to help them find a way out.
He was trapped by military violence and international financial violence. Banks blocked transfers to his Bank of Palestine account. His first GoFundMe campaign was deleted like many other campaigns. He lost everything. But Shaaban never blamed anyone. He was trapped by men and women that claimed to want Palestinians out of Gaza—but not as much as they wanted to torture and murder them while keeping every exit out of Gaza closed forever.
On March 20, 2025, Shaaban and his older sister Tasneem were murdered at night by a man launching a missile at their neighbors’ home while they hid from the nightly bombings. There was no warning. The nightly killings had begun again—only two days ago, after a ceasefire, murdering hundreds of people with no chance to run away. He died doing the work of sharing children begging to live.
Shaaban and his family were interested in raising awareness for all the little children who wanted to leave Gaza even temporarily. But the politicians of America and Israel and worldwide did not care about them or any other child trapped and caged to suffer and die. They cruelly resumed the late-night bloody violence and military funding over these pleading kids and made sure Shaaban and the kids he filmed wouldn't have a prayer of escaping with their young lives.
The votes that paid for the weapons
Joint Resolution, S.J.Res. 33: Block arms sale to Israel—2000-lb bombs (reattempt)
House Bill, H.R. 8034: Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024
House Bill, H.R. 815 (Senate): National Security Supplemental—Trojan Horse (shell: Veterans bill)