Airwars assessment
At around 3pm on Thursday, August 8th 2024, a declared Israeli airstrike struck the Abdul Fattah Hamoud School, resulting in the deaths of at least six people, including four members of the Al-Fayoumi family and a 9-month-old baby. The attack also left dozens of others injured, among them six children. The school, located on Yaffa Street, in the Tuffah neighbourhood east of Gaza City, was being used as a refuge by “hundreds” of displaced people, according to some sources, and appeared badly damaged in photos and videos taken at the scene the day of the attack.
Shortly after the strike the IDF posted an “operational update” on its official X/Twitter account, stating that the Israeli Air Force had targeted “Hamas terrorists who operated from command and control centers embedded in the areas of the ‘Abdelfattah Hamouda’ and ‘Al-Zahra’ schools in Daraj Tuffah”.
Ahmed Ziad Al-Fayoumi was killed alongside his brother, Mahmoud Ziad Al-Fayoumi. Their cousins, Khalidiya Mazen Al-Fayoumi, who was only 17 years old, and Alaa Mahmoud Al-Fayoumi, also lost their lives in the attack. Sobhi Sheikh Khalil was another victim. Ibrahim Al-Fayoumi, who witnessed the attack, lost his 9-month-old cousin, although Airwars has not been able to identify her by name.
The IDF argued that several steps were taken to “mitigate the risk of harming civilians” including measures such as the “use of precise munitions, surveillance, and additional intelligence”.
The Washington Post cited the Civil Defense Force, reporting that at least 37 people were wounded in this strike and another strike at another school close by that day; this incident has been assessed separately as ISPT080824n. To account for ambiguity, Airwars has classified the injury toll as 12-24.
In videos shared on social media in the aftermath of the strikes, Airwars was able to identify at least 11 injuries, six of whom appear to be children under the age of ten. A Facebook post from Samir Barghouthi mentioned that at the time, they were “trying to rescue about 40 people from under the rubble in Abdul Fattah Hamoud School”.
Several news organisations and social media accounts reported the strike, initially setting the death toll from the attack on the Abdul Fattah Hamoud School at five, along with “dozens” of injuries.
Eyewitnesses at the scene who spoke to Mondoweiss declared that the school was at “one of its most crowded hours in the middle of the day when the bombs hit”. Kamal Hamada, a 20-year-old who lives in the school and witnessed the attack, remembered the “shrapnel, stones, and scattered pieces of human flesh fell on the heads of the displaced people” in the moments after the missile hit. He argued that the Israeli army “directly bombed” a well that provided water for “more than 300 families inside the school”.
Mondoweiss also spoke with Muhammad Hamada, 14, who was playing with his peers at the time of the bombing, which threw him to another area of the school, allegedly cutting off his hand and leg: “After I opened my eyes, I went to the place where the bomb hit. A man was sitting on a wooden chair. Shrapnel had entered his chest and penetrated him and the chair. The man was sitting in a position as if he was alive, but he was dead. Suddenly, the missile hit the school. We saw fire after the bombing. Shrapnel was flying in the air and falling on people’s heads. We were terrified. We started running and trying to escape. We did not know where we would go, but we wanted to get out of danger. At that time, people were collecting the remains of the martyrs scattered on the ground… I started running and screaming and crying; I could not bear the sight of the torn martyrs and the blood and smoke; I was running without seeing in front of me; I wanted to get as far away as possible from the school. Women were also running to get out of the school, falling to the ground with their children in panic, and here we are, too, trying to move our belongings and go to another place to evacuate.”
Witness Jamil Al-Fayoumi told Mondoweiss that he was at the hospital receiving treatment for an injury at the moment of the strike. His cousins Ahmed Ziad Al-Fayoumi and Mahmoud Ziad Al-Fayoumi were killed. “The missile fell among my relatives. When I arrived at the bombing site, I found the bodies torn apart and the limbs scattered. It was a scene I will never forget in my entire life”.
Ahmed Wael Al-Fayoumi mourned the death of his relatives Ahmed Ziad and Mahmoud Ziad, sharing a photo of the two brothers, smiling at the camera with a brightly lit stage behind them in what appears to be a concert.
Ibrahim Al-Fayoumi survived a previous attack on the school on June 25th, during which he suffered fractures in his ribs and pelvis. His 9-month-old cousin, who had sustained burns to her face and body that day, was just beginning to recover but was killed in the August 8th attack. “I am 25 years old, but I feel like I am 100 years old from all of these horrible things we have witnessed.”
Mazen Al-Fayoumi, 49, shared his account of the day of the strike with The Washington Post. A father of 13, he was taking a nap in the classroom he had been using as refuge with his family since December when the missile struck. He found his 17-year-old daughter, Khalidiya Mazen Al-Fayoumi, dead at the door, and then discovered the bodies of his son-in-law and niece in the schoolyard. Mazen Al-Fayoumi said that the classroom targeted, opposite to the one he was using as shelter, was rumoured to have been used by Hamas police and “detectives” but did not know if this was true.
Facebook user Noor expressed her grief over the death of the “martyr” Khalidiya Mazen. In another post, she was praised by Ahmed Mohammed for having “memorized the book of God.”
The Washington Post also obtained testimony from Youssif Saudi, a 22-year-old freelance videographer, who witnessed and recorded a man collecting body parts. “These are remains…Look, these are human remains!”
Graphic videos like this were shared widely on social media the day of the attack. Bodies covered with bed sheets transported in donkey carts, a young man hugging the remains of his mother, and children in shock being treated for their wounds. Photos shared by Al Jazeera and Alarabiya Palestine also show serious damage to the school building and a completely burnt vehicle.
Social media users who survived the attack shared their accounts of the event. Sameer Rasheed wrote that he had “narrowly escaped death” while mourning the death of his “colleague” Sobhi Sheikh Khalil and wishing Mahmoud Al-Masry a speedy recovery.
Noor Khalil posted a message on Facebook saying farewell to her cousin, her other cousin’s husband, and his brother (could be Sobhi, Ahmed Ziad, and Mahmoud Ziad). She also noted that another cousin had his hand amputated and his leg set in a cast with a plate. A tweet from @Ahmed3276711775 reported that a child named “Akram Al-Fayoumi suffers from serious injuries….he suffered burns and amputations as a result of the Israeli raid” along with a video of Akram with an amputated hand and a leg in a metal cast, making it likely that Akram is Nour’s cousin. Noor added that her uncle was also shot, and two other relatives were injured. She reported that at the moment of the strike, several people, mostly children, were forming a line to get water and that most of them were killed. She recalled limbs torn apart and remains that were “collected with brooms”. “Imagine what happened because of a single missile!”, she wrote. “Imagine, people, how many months have they been firing missiles at Gaza every few minutes!”
Although the strike was declared by Israeli forces, there was no reported death toll of targeted Hamas militants by either Israeli officials or other sources. The belligerent range will be updated as further information comes to light.
The incident occured at approximately 3:00 pm local time.
The victims were named as:
Family members (5)
The victims were named as:
Summary
Sources (43) [ collapse]
Media
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Source: Alarabiya Palestine -
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Source: Alarabiya Palestine -
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Source: Alarabiya Palestine -
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Source: Ahmed Wael Al-Fayoumi -
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Source: Al Jazeera - Palestine -
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Source: Al Jazeera - Palestine -
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Source: Al Jazeera - Palestine -
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Source: Al Jazeera - Palestine -
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Source: Ahmed Mohammed -
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Source: Ahmed Mohammed -
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Israeli Military Assessment:
Original strike reports
Schools are meant for education, not to be used as terrorist hubs.
Hamas terrorists who operated from command and control centers embedded in the areas of the 'Abdelfattah Hamouda' and 'Al-Zahra' schools in Daraj Tuffah were targeted in an intelligence-based IAF strike a short while ago.
Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, surveillance, and additional intelligence.
Hamas systematically violates international law, exploiting civilian structures and their population as human shields for its terrorist attacks against the State of Israel.