Hamza Al-Aqrabawi Drowns After Falling from a Boat in the Nile "Palestinian Culture" Mourns "Palestine’s Storyteller" Amid Prayers for His Mercy

The Palestinian Ministry of Culture on Tuesday mourned the Palestinian researcher and storyteller Hamza Al-Aqrabawi, known by the title "Palestine’s Storyteller," who passed away in Egypt in a tragic incident that caused widespread grief in the Palestinian cultural community.

Al-Aqrabawi drowned in the Nile after falling from the boat he was riding during nighttime hours while visiting Egypt, and his body was retrieved, according to media reports.

Sources close to him stated that Al-Aqrabawi fell suddenly from the boat, and his companions could not rescue him before he drowned, leading to his death before help could arrive.

Hamza Al-Aqrabawi in Brief Hamza Al-Aqrabawi was born in 1984 in the town of Aqirba, south of Nablus in the northern West Bank. He grew up in a rural environment closely connected to the land and collective memory, forming the foundation for his intellectual project in collecting stories, documenting Palestinian folk heritage, and linking place with narrative.

Al-Aqrabawi was known for his fieldwork, organizing educational tours in Palestinian villages to introduce visitors to the origins of daily life, customs, and traditions. He collected historical archives, photographs, and documents reflecting daily Palestinian life, contributing to preserving cultural identity and transmitting it to future generations in a critical and methodical way.

His passing represents a major loss for the Palestinian cultural scene, as he was considered a bridge between popular memory and contemporary documentation. His role in preserving and transmitting folk heritage in a vivid and authentic way was widely appreciated. Thousands of social media users expressed grief and admiration for his contributions to heritage documentation.