EXCLUSIVE: Family of Murdered Gaza Protester Speaks Out

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On March 29, in a neighborhood called Tel al-Hawa in southern Gaza City, Hamas brutally murdered 22-year-old Uday Nasser Saadi al-Rabbay, his family said. After Uday had been tortured and mutilated, his body was thrown off a tall building.

His crime? He had spoken out—loudly and publicly—against the terrorists who rule Gaza with an iron grip.

For three straight days last week, thousands of courageous Palestinians took to the streets all across the Gaza Strip in the largest anti-Hamas demonstrations since October 7, 2023. Uday was part of those protests. But on Saturday, he took a step beyond. He stood up inside a coffee shop in Gaza City, and in a loud voice, denounced Hamas.

According to his family, a few hours later, around 30 armed men from the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, stormed his home and dragged him away. His family says they tortured him for hours, until he was dead. When they were done—after they had broken his fingers, stabbed him repeatedly, and smashed his head with a rifle butt—they dropped his body off a rooftop. A note was pinned to his clothes: “This is the price for all who criticize Hamas.”

His mother, along with his siblings, found the body.

Until now, the family has been afraid to talk to reporters, worried that their words would be twisted—as many local journalists in Gaza serve as de facto Hamas mouthpieces—or that the remaining al-Rabbay sons would be targeted next.

But through our partnership with The Center for Peace Communications, The Free Press was able to obtain exclusive interviews with Uday’s mother and father and one of his cousins. This is the first time they’ve spoken publicly about what happened.