Man dies after setting himself on fire in Gaza, family blames Palestinian officials

A Gaza-based man committed suicide by self-immolation due to his ongoing hard-living conditions resulting from poverty, medical sources told The New Arab on Monday. 

"Husseini Abu Arabia was transferred to al-Shifaa hospital in critical condition as he set fire to himself. The medical teams did their best to save his life, but all attempts failed as he died after 24 hours," the medical source told The New Arab. 

On 21 July, according to Abu Arabia's mother, he poured gasoline on his body in his house in the al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, and set himself on fire.

"My son lost all of his desire to live, mainly as we have been suffering from poverty for more than 15 years," the grieving mother told The New Arab.

 "He did his best to find a job, but all the doors were closed in front of his face," the victim's mother added.  

Making matters worse, according to the mother, is that the victim was recently married, and his wife is currently pregnant. He could not support his family as he accumulated debt, including the rent for the house. 

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"I watched my son burn (...) I tried to extinguish him, but I burned with him. My son died forcibly and unjustly because of the officials in Gaza who do not care about people's conditions," the mother recalled. 

"My son has not been able for months to buy chicken for his family (...) he always felt oppressed and oppressed and that he would not be able to bear the conditions in which he lived very much," Ibrahim Abu Arabiya, Hosni's father, told The New Arab.  "I did not expect that he would commit suicide in such a hideous way."

"My son died while he was hungry without being able to eat the chicken he craved. I wish I had been burned instead of him," the father said, adding that his son will not be the last person to commit suicide if the conditions in the impoverished Strip continued.

Abu Arabia's parents hold Palestinian officials responsible for the economic deterioration in Gaza, which force many to commit suicide to escape their bitter lives. 

Abu Arabia's suicide sparked outrage in Gaza as hundreds of people shared the young man's pictures on social media platforms and posted angry remarks regarding the unprecedented economic conditions in the besieged coastal enclave. 

Abu Arabia was among dozens of the young people who have committed suicide, Gaza-based human rights organisations said, adding that "the rate of suicide attempts has significantly increased amid the hard-living deterioration." 

In 2006, Israel imposed a blockade on the coastal enclave after Hamas won a general election in the territory.

Their electoral success resulted in clashes with rivals from Fatah, the movement that runs the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Israel tightened its blockade on the Gaza Strip after Hamas forcibly took over the territory from Fatah in 2007.

Because of the Israeli blockade, about 1.5 million Gazans have become impoverished, according to a report issued by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor in January.