Report: Gaza Deaf carpenter and leader killed in Israeli strike

According to a report from The New Arab, a 58-year-old Deaf Palestinian man who lived in Gaza, Hashem Ghazal, was recently killed along with his wife in an Israeli airstrike.

The report said Ghazal and his wife had seven children and that some of them were deaf. The children were severely wounded in the strike.

The reports of the airstrike surfaced on Monday.

The New Arab explained that Ghazal was a skilled carpenter and established a wood workshop for deaf carpenters. He wanted to see other deaf people learn this skill and make opportunities for themselves. He also organized craft workshops for a nonprofit.

Ghazal was featured in a video by AlJazeera that documented his work in the community. Here is a short clip.

[Clip from AlJazeera featuring Ghazal. He is in a wood workshop and he’s talking about how he’s proud that other deaf people can look after themselves. He says that Deaf people aren’t weak and are equal with hearing people.]

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A photojournalist working in Gaza, Wissam Nassar, posted on Instagram that Ghazal was known as the “Godfather for Gaza’s deaf community.”

[Full-screen image of Nassar’s Instagram post. It shows an image of Ghazal with a caption at the top that says, “Hashem Ghazal, the Godfather for Gaza’s deaf community, was killed today along with his wife. His seven children were severely injured.”]

The photographer said he personally worked with Ghazal in the past and that he had “genuine warmth and commitment to inclusivity.”

There are many comments that mourn Ghazal and his wife’s deaths and the fact that their children have lost their mother and father.

Report: https://www.newarab.com/news/gaza-mourns-deaf-activist-hashem-ghazal-killed-israel

Wissam Nassar IG Post: https://www.instagram.com/p/C678HBKOSjt/