Smoke billowed after Israeli airstrikes in Nabatieh district, in southern Lebanon, in September.Credit...Hussein Malla/Associated Press

Kate Selig

By Kate Selig

Oct. 5, 2024

Updated 5:19 a.m. ET

Kamel Ahmad Jawad remained calm, even as Israeli missiles rained down around him in his hometown in southern Lebanon, thousands of miles from his other home, Dearborn, Mich.

That’s what his family recounted in a statement about Mr. Jawad on Tuesday. When the impact of an airstrike knocked him down while he was on the phone with his daughter, he got back up, found his phone and told her he needed to finish praying. Then, he got back to helping others, the family added.

That was his last day alive. Mr. Jawad, an American citizen, husband and father, and resident of Dearborn, was killed on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. during an Israeli airstrike, his family said.

“I would often ask him if he was scared, and he repeatedly told me that we should not be scared because he is doing what he loves the most: helping others live in the land he loved the most,” his daughter Nadine Jawad, a Rhodes scholar and Stanford medical school graduate, wrote in the statement.

When Mr. Jawad’s wife was reached on Friday, she said the family declined to comment further.

The airstrike was part of Israel’s intense bombardment and ground invasion in Lebanon, intended to target Hezbollah forces in that country and stop Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel. The military campaign has caused widespread destruction and displacement. At least 1,600 people have been killed by the airstrikes, and over 1.2 million people have been displaced across the country, according to Lebanese authorities.

A State Department representative wrote in a statement on Friday evening that it had confirmed that Mr. Jawad was a U.S. citizen and that it was “aware and alarmed” of reports of his death.

“We extend our condolences to the family,” the statement said.

His friends and family described Mr. Jawad as a man deeply committed to his faith and to helping others, especially through his frequent trips to Lebanon, where he quietly paid off debts of people living there and supported those without the means to flee. He was also known for his devotion to his family — he is survived by his wife and four children — and his passion for soccer.

“He was this old-school, legendary father figure,” said Hussain Makke, 33, a preacher and teacher of Islamic sciences. Mr. Makke said he was living with his parents in London after his home in Lebanon was destroyed.

Mr. Makke stayed with Mr. Jawad’s sister in Dearborn several years ago. Mr. Makke’s father was also friends with Mr. Jawad and completed the hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, with him.

Hamzah Raza, another friend of Mr. Jawad’s who is living in Maryland, described him in a statement on social media as someone who loved people and loved helping people.

Mr. Raza, 27, a religious studies Ph.D. student, recalled in his post how, a week before Mr. Raza went to Lebanon, he told Mr. Jawad that he wanted to buy some books there.

Mr. Raza wrote that Mr. Jawad told him, “Just send the names of the books and I will get them for you. I want you to have as much time as you can seeing the country.”

As the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah escalated, so, too, did Mr. Jawad’s efforts to help people in Lebanon, Mr. Makke said.

He added that during a recent series of Israeli airstrikes, Mr. Jawad saved his nephew, who was one of Mr. Makke’s students at a seminary in southern Lebanon. Mr. Jawad’s nephew did not have any family in the area, and Mr. Jawad drove to him and took the nephew to Beirut, perhaps saving his life, Mr. Makke said.

Mr. Makke said that a video taken from that experience shows Mr. Jawad laughing and smiling, even though the two were driving under airstrikes.

“He made it into an action movie,” he said. “He knew how to keep morale high, to not feel scared.”

But while Mr. Jawad also could have flown home, he chose to remain behind: “In his last days, he chose to stay near the main hospital in Nabatieh to help the elderly, disabled, injured and those who simply couldn’t financially afford to flee,” the statement from his family said.

His family noted in the statement that Mr. Jawad’s death was one of many across the Middle East.

“The fact that he was an American citizen should not make his story more important than others,” his daughter wrote.

According to a fund-raiser in Mr. Jawad’s memory, he sent a voice note to his children before his death.

“Peace be upon you,” he told them. “Everything is OK, but if something happens to me, your duty is to the poor.”

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5606792&forum_id=2\u0026mark_id=5310684",#48165784)