Gaza footballer turned rescuer shares trauma of searching for survivors

Noah Al Shaghnoubi's videos have gained millions of views on social media

In the aftermath of Israeli attacks on Gaza, amid the sirens of rescue vehicles, choking dust and the cries of the trapped and wounded, Noah Al Shaghnoubi is a familiar figure.

A paramedic with the Palestinian Civil Defence, Mr Al Shaghnoubi, 24, has become known for risking his life to pull survivors from the debris left by air strikes and shelling, refusing to leave anyone behind.

He was injured on Monday when the Israeli military carried out a repeat strike on a home in Al Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza city as he was helping survivors of the initial attack.

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“I’ve been wounded several times since this war began,” he tells The National. “But each time I get back on my feet, for the sake of the people, for the sake of humanity.”

Mr Al Shaghnoubi was a footballer and gymnast before the war began in October 2023. His strength, agility and endurance, once honed for competition, now enable him to access spaces other rescuers cannot reach, to carry bodies others cannot lift and to withstand the crushing physical demands of his work.

He says the hundreds of rescue missions he has carried out have left him with memories he cannot erase: a child’s last breath, a mother’s scream, bitter moments when equipment failed or time ran out. “Every operation is a story,” he says. “Some will live in my mind forever, no matter what happens.”

He also has turned to social media to show the world Gaza’s plight under an unrelenting Israeli onslaught. His raw, unfiltered videos, captured during explosions, chaos and grief, have reached millions and drawn hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram.

“Over time, my followers became like family,” he says. "They ask about Gaza, they check on me, and I tell them what I see from the heart of the massacre."

He kept filming even when he was targeted on Monday, determined to show that not even rescuers are spared in Gaza.

Noah Al Shaghnoubi receives treatment at Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza city after being injured in a second Israeli strike on a home that was attacked earlier. Photo: Noah Al Shaghnoubi

Mr Al Shaghnoubi says the Civil Defence struggles with a lack of proper equipment, medical supplies and personnel, which costs lives. “Some people we reached at the very last moment. Others … we lost. Each loss is another wound you carry forever.”

One mission in particular has seared itself into his soul, he says. In April this year, Israel attacked the Dar Al Arqam school sheltering displaced families in Gaza city. The Civil Defence team arrived as the Israeli military was warning of a second attack. Trapped beneath the rubble was a young man, Yousef Hassouna.

“I tried everything to save him, but without proper equipment, time was running out. I cried as I worked, cried from fear, pain and determination. In the end, I pulled him out alive, even as the threats continued.” That rescue was captured by video footage that spread worldwide, carrying Gaza’s cry for help far beyond its borders.

On many missions, Mr Al Shaghnoubi was the only rescuer on the scene, working alone for five or six hours at a stretch. He has buried colleagues, saying farewell “with blood and tears”, and he presses on despite the constant targeting of rescue teams.

“We work with nothing,” he says. “We create something out of nothing, because if we stop humanity here will die.”

On Tuesday, the Civil Defence announced that another of its members had been killed – in an Israeli attack on a family’s tent in Al Mawasi that also killed his parents – taking the death toll among its ranks to 137.

Despite the Israeli bombardment and blockade on aid that has caused severe levels of hunger, Mr Al Shaghnoubi refuses to leave northern Gaza.

“I just want this war to end,” he says. “I want Gaza rebuilt. I want peace to return, for life to return. For now, I have no personal ambitions, everything is on hold because of the genocide.”