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Gazan chef Mahmoud Almadhoun, one of the founders of was killed on Saturday by an Israeli drone strike during his routine visit to Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, where he would feed displaced people seeking shelter.

The chef was among the 300,000 Palestinians who remained in Beit Lahiya, north of the enclave, an area which the United Nations said wasÌýfacing immediate famine.

With their home, bakeries, cropland, chicken farms and fishing fleet destroyed by the Israeli military, Almadhoun and his family were forced to rely on animal feed to survive.

In February, Almadhoun decided to start Gaza Soup Kitchen using whatever they could get their hands on as virtually no aid was entering the area, with Anera and World Central Kitchen suspending operations after Israeli attacks targeted their convoys,

On their first day, the Palestinian chef and his team of mostly family members fed 120 displaced people.

He has since fed over 3,000 people a day through the Gaza Soup Kitchen, mostly serving traditional vegetable stews to combat Israel's deliberate starvation of hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians who had chosen to remain in northern Gaza.

Almadhoun worked alongside local farmers who were harvesting their crops under the constant threat of Israeli forces and used seasonal vegetables in his stews.

In an for the Washington Post in April, Almadoudn wrote that he and his family would feed their neighbours for as long as they can.

"We will keep serving our community, remembering that when all else has failed the Palestinians, the land did not," Almadhoun wrote.

The chef leaves behind seven children, with the youngest being only two weeks old and the eldest recovering from injuries caused by an Israeli quadcopter.

Mahmoud also became viral in September after a of him feeding a crowd of hungry Palestinians was published online.

Gaza Soup Kitchen has also become a clinic that treats children with skin infections. It was a lifeline for Kamal Adwan Hospital, which has suffered relentless assaults from Israel over the last few weeks.

The organisation said the chef was deliberately targeted and "assassinated" by Israel.

"We believe he was killed because of his unwavering dedication to solving problems for Kamal Adwan Hospital and ensuring they had whatever they needed," Gaza Soup Kitchen said in a on Instagram.

"Mahmoud was a lifeline, standing in the way of the ethnic cleansing they are determined to carry out—and they would not allow that to continue," the statement said.

"He will be deeply missed, not only by his family but also by the thousands of families in North Gaza who depended on his unwavering support."

Since 5 October, north Gaza has faced multiple attacks and incursions, preventing food, water and medicine from entering the territory.

Thousands of Palestinians had relied on Almadhoun and Gaza Soup Kitchen for food, which was now very limited.

Including Almadhoun, at least 17 Palestinian aid workers and aid seekers have been killed since Saturday. according to Quds News Network.