The scribbled note on a Manchester shop that reveals the scale of death and suffering in Gaza

Last month, a photo of a heart-breaking note detailing the reason why a takeaway in south Manchester was closed went viral. Crudely sellotaped on the shutters and written in black felt tip, the message read “Business close [sic] due to martyred [sic] of my family by Israeli strike on my home in Gaza city.

“My mum, my brother, my sister-in-law (pregnant) and my little niece (12-years-old).”

It was a visceral reminder of the shocking realities the civilian population in Gaza are living through and the immense heartache their loved ones must endure while trying to live normal lives.

The author of the note was Dalloul al-Neder, 33, a man who has spoken extensively about the unfathomable pain of losing one family member after another to the conflict in the Middle East.

At the time of writing the message to his customers, Dalloul was mourning his mum, brother, pregnant sister-in-law and two nieces. However, Israel’s operation in Gaza has continued, and, devastatingly, Dalloul says he has lost two more loved ones since - while the rest are suffering from famine and battling disease.

“My sister-in-law and my niece, her child, have been killed.” He told the M.E.N “I’m beyond words, I can’t describe it anymore, I’m devastated.

“20 days ago now, they bombed the shelter where my family was staying and trying to survive. That means seven have died from the 30 members of my family.

“The rest are injured or suffering from a liver virus that is now a big problem in Gaza. It is really horrible, there’s really no words to describe the situation in Gaza.”

The death toll in Gaza is around 35,000, with children accounting for more than a third, according to health authorities there. Aid agencies are concerned about the scale of civilian death and injury, famine, disease and the scale of damage to homes and infrastructure in this dramatic escalation of a decades-long, tragic cycle.

The Israeli authorities say they have killed 13,000 Hamas militants. Hamas is proscribed in the UK as an 'Islamist terrorist group'.

The bombardment of the blockaded enclave of Gaza began after an attack launched by Hamas on Israel on October 7, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 240 hostages were captured, mostly civilians.

Born in Gaza, Dalloul moved to the UK in 2017. He had built up a business here - the Royal Grill House on Kingsway, Burnage. But the pain of his loss has taken a huge toll on his mental health, forcing him to sell the south Manchester takeaway on whose shutters he left the scribbled note.

Having sold the takeaway, Dalloul has moved to Bolton and is currently unemployed, filled with anxiety and dread.

“I’m no longer capable of managing my business like I used to do.” He explained. “Since I’ve lost my business, I haven’t been able to do anything.

“All I’m doing is sleeping, crying, sometimes walking and I’m trying to look after my family.

“It wasn’t easy to receive bad news about my family and try to manage my business, the amount of pressure I was facing was unbelievable.”

What he has been doing, is working to rebuild the lives of his wife, Rania, 19, and 10-month-old daughter Mila, who were in Gaza at the time the conflict began, but have made it safely to Manchester.

“They are traumatized, they are in pain," he told the MEN. “When I met them, they’d walked five thousand miles from being under the rubble. They’d survived tanks opening fire on them, walking to check points, crossing checkpoints to then finally arriving in Manchester. They arrived on March 26 and I had to pay around $10,000 for them to be evacuated by an Egyptian company called Hala.

“When they arrived, they were exhausted, and they needed a shoulder to cry on. They still don’t realise what has happened to them.

“They realise they’re safe, but they still feel like they’re at risk.”

Since the conflict began Dalloul has been attending pro-Palestine rallies up and down the country and using his social media page to raise awareness. In January he went viral after a video of him confronting Labour party members at a fundraiser in Stockport.

Speaking about the incident he said: “It’s hard to keep watching things happen. It feels like no-one cares about Palestinian lives, so you feel frustrated.

“We just want this to stop.”