Tributes to Mahmoud Alnaouq, killed Oct. 20, 2023

On Oct. 20, 2023, the WANN family lost Mahmoud Alnaouq. He was killed by an Israeli missile strike on his family’s home in the town of Deir Al Balah, in the central Gaza Strip. In addition to Mahmoud, other family members killed in the airstrike were his father, Nasri Al-Naouq, his brother Muhammad, his sisters Walaa, Alaa, and Aya, and their children, Bakr, Basma, Raghad, Islam, Sarah, Abdullah, Islam, Dima, Tala, Nour, Nasma, Tamim, and Malak.

Mahmoud was the brother of WANN cofounder Ahmed Alnaouq.

May Mahmoud and the departed members of his family rest in peace.

Mahmoud was 25 years old. He was employed as an outreach officer at Pal-Think for Strategic Studies, which inspires rational public discussions and consensus for the well-being of the Palestinians. He was a talented writer who published five stories at our website between 2018 and 2020.

We are adding tributes to Mahmoud as they are able to come in, given the challenging communication circumstances.

Pam Bailey (WANN founder and mentor to Mahmoud)

When I first met Mahmoud, I could see that he had Ahmed’s sweetness and intellectual potential, but he wanted to find his own way to develop. And he sure did. He progressed from one NGO to another, finding his unique niche. I was thrilled to learn that he had finally fulfilled his desire to travel, just recently returning from Malaysia. What breaks my heart is that he didn’t live to follow his dream to Australia, where he just had been given a master’s scholarship. Mahmoud, you made us all proud.