At least two civilians were killed and at least 13 were injured following an alleged Israeli drone strike on a Gaza City municipal car near Al-Rimal Clinic and Bashir Al-Rayes School, where internally displaced people were sheltering, on Al-Wahda Street on Monday, September 2, 2024.

The names of those confirmed to have been killed in the strike are Mohammad Salman Shallah Abu Salman and 36-year-old Jalal Saeed Abu Diya.

The strike was first reported by the Palestinian Press Agency (Safa) on the morning of September 2, who went on to confirm that two people were killed and a ‘number’ were injured following the alleged Israeli strike. Later reports citing Gaza Civil Defense placed the number of those killed in the strike as three, with others suggesting up to four or six civilians may have ultimately been killed, among them children. However, their names have not been identified or confirmed.

The car hit in the strike was a municipal car, according to reports, and was at Bashir Al-Rayes School to serve water to those sheltering in school. A video shared by the account Gaza Notifications on Twitter/X showed the immediate aftermath of the strike. One man is seen injured and lying on the ground and the car is seen on fire. A man carries a little girl in his arms and close up behind him is another man carrying a small body. Shortly after, a group of men are seen running and carrying the body of another person injured in the strike, followed by three more groups doing the same and another group carrying the body of a man on a stretcher. There are repeated screams of “Al-Shifa” in the background – purportedly referring to the hospital. Another video posted by the same account shows at least four more bodies lying on the ground, including a man with a bloodied face and a child. Airwars has included these people in maximum casualty ranges.

According to eyewitness testimony shared by Gaza Notifications, “4 people, most of them children, were killed in the attack, and 13 others were injured.”

The Municipality of Gaza confirmed that one of its employees, Jalal Saeed Abu Diya, aged 36, was killed in the attack and “demanded” the protection of municipal employees in a press release. The Municipality also confirmed that Abu Diya was killed while on duty, “performing his national duty in serving the citizens of Gaza City.”

Among those mourning Jalal Abu Diya’s death was his colleague Mohanad Abu Shaban, who posted a photo of his “dear colleague” on Facebook accompanied by a graphic explaining that he was killed “on his way to work at the Gaza Municipality Emergency Committee.” One of his nieces, Heba Abu Diya, made a post remembering her “dear” and beloved” uncle from whom she “could not bear to be away from.” Heba’s post included a photo of her uncle smiling in a red shirt and another of him standing in a park. With this loss, Heba wrote, she was “going through […] more than all of humanity can bear.” According to another social media post which showed photos of them side by side, Abu Diya’s brother, Jalal Abu Diya, had been killed in the months prior to his death.

The death of Mohammed Salman Shallah in the strike was confirmed by his nephew Professor Ahmed Gendia who posted a photo of his uncle’s lifeless and bloodied face. He was also remembered by his nephew Osama Shallah Abu Anas, who posted a photo of his uncle in a polo shirt and making a face at the camera. According to the post, Salman Shallah left behind a wife and children. He was a “kind-hearted” person according to Mohammad Abu Anwar, another nephew who said Salman Shallah was the grandfather of his children. Accompanied by a photo of his uncle wearing a black jacket with a fur hood, Abu Anwar wrote that Salman Shallah had a “cheerful face and good manners” and was someone who “never harmed anyone in [his] life, neither by word nor deed. He died with a pure heart.”

Several sources have referred to the incident as one carried out by a “reconnaissance missile” with video footage confirming its immediate aftermath, as well as the civilian harm caused. Therefore, this incident has been given a civilian harm grading of Fair and has been graded as a Likely airstrike.

The incident occured in the morning.