Shortly before 3:47 PM on Thursday, 13 February, 2025, fourteen-year-old boy Salem (Hamouda) Alaa Badr Sauod was killed when in the Block C area of al-Nuiserat camp in the center of the Gaza Strip and/or east of al-Bureji camp, killing the teenager. Some sources reported that Salem was killed when a piece of unexploded ordnance was triggered or ‘war remnant’, left by the Israeli military, was tampered with and accidentally launched.

Airwars’ researchers are also identifying potential names of victims for each of our incidents using Shireen Monitor, an organisation that has a list of “Martyrs of Palestine” from 2023 onward and includes thousands of names.  Although a number of social media sources referred to his name as Hamouda Alaa Sauod, the Shireen monitor listed him as 14-year-old Salem Alaa Badr Sauod killed on February 13, 2025, and the Twitter/X account of Snd news agency (@Snd_pal) reported that “a child, Salem Alaa Sauod, was killed as a result of an explosive device left behind by the Israeli occupation in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip.”

Shebab agency reported the incident on its Twitter/X account at 3:47 PM, marking it as “urgent information.” Several News outlets, including Al Arabiya TV, Althawrah, and PNN Network, also reported on the incident, citing the child’s death as a consequence of an “explosion of an explosive device left behind” in the Nuseirat camp by the Israeli army.

Discourse in a Telegram thread shared in “Nuseirat News Channel #Gaza” on February 13, began with a post at 4:16 PM local time said that “An explosion was just heard in East Bureij”. Four minutes later, the account wrote that “A rocket launched and fell in”, followed by a post that said “A burning object fell in Block C”. The thread continues, and includes an image of smoke rising from the area where the rocket supposedly fell, along with a video showing the path of the projectile, on a sharp upward and then downward arc. A post at 4:25 PM says “While dismantling war remnants, a missile came out of the warehouse and fell without exploding. Thank God, the incident ended.” However, 15 minutes later, the account posted another update, saying that a ‘martyr’ was transported from the place [where the rocket fell] by Red Crescent ambulance crews, and that they were on their way to Al-Awda Hospital. The account went on to share images of the rocket that reportedly fell in Block C, along with an image of a body bag in what appears to be a hospital hallway, accompanied by the caption “The arrival of the martyr to Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat from the explosion of an suspicious object in East Bureij”.

The Twitter/X account @MiddleEastBuka shared this Telegram thread, along with a post shared by Twitter/X user Ihab Hassane. Ihab’s post, shared in English, said: “Salem Alaa Saud, a 14-year-old boy, was killed today when a Hamas rocket misfired and fell back into the central Gaza Strip.” From this, the @MiddleEastBuka account concluded that Salem was killed by a misfired Palestinian rocket. However, Airwars’ methodology does not cite sources which do not appear local to the explosion or incident under review. As Ihab seemed to be sharing from outside of Gaza, his post is not evaluated as a source which informs Airwars’ record of this incident. The @MiddleEastBuka account cited Ihab’s post alongside the “Nuseirat News Channel #Gaza” Telegram channel, but the Telegram thread does not say that a Palestinian rocket misfired, but rather that “while dismantling war remnants, a missile came out of the warehouse and fell without exploding”. This report is in line with that shared by other sources, outlined below, which said that a war remnant fell and killed Salem. As such, in line with Airwars methodology, this incident has been graded as a ‘Likely strike’, attributable to the Israeli military, as was reported by local sources. This will be updated should additional information become available.

There was some inconsistency as to the specific location of the object and the location of Hamouda’s death. All news sources, including PNN, reported that the object was left behind “in the Nuseirat camp”. However, Al Madhoum Mohammed Mohammed, quoting the Ministry of Interior, reported the death of the child, Hamooda, occurring “east of al-Bureij camp”.

Facebook user Maysoon Awad Diab reported that it was not an unexploded ordnance but a rocket “launched from al-Bureij camp and fell in Block C area in al-Nuseirat camp”. Mohammed alHour reported that the incident occurred ​​east of al-Bureij, not specifying whether this was where the device exploded or where Hamouda was killed. He also attached an image of a shroud with the body of the victim.

Facebook user Al Madhoum Mohammed Mohammed, quoting The Ministry of Interior, reported that the device exploded “as a result of tampering with war remnants”. The Ministry encouraged Palestinians to take care “not to tamper with any war remnants or suspicious objects” to avoid any more dangerous incidents.

X user @kamal_abo_taleb reported that “a rocket” was left behind, and it “launched and fell while being dismantled in Block C in the #Nuseirat camp”. A video shared alongside the post depicted a lone rocket flying through the sky over a residential area. It eventually fell, hitting a building, which began to billow up in smoke. Ahmed abo Al Amreen also reported that the “suspicious object” left behind by the Israeli army was being “dismantled” when it exploded and fell on the Block C area, killing Hamouda.

Several social media users referred to the object as a “rocket”. However, news sources did not identify the device specifically, referring to it simply as either an “object” or an “explosive device”.

Mohammed al Hour, posting on Facebook, reported that Hamouda was taken to Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat, where he was pronounced dead. The Ministry also noted that it was “Medical sources” that announced Hamooda’s death.

Friends and Family mourned the death of Hamouda in posts on social media.  A comment written by Alaa Abo Hujer, a friend of Hamooda’s father reads “Our thoughts in this painful event are one for the loss of the dear one in our hearts, the precious Hamouda.”

Social media users reported on the incident, mourning the death of Hamouda, sharing photos of his life. In one image shared on Twitter by @Qadeyah1, Hamouda was pictured as a young boy, standing in a garden outside, smiling toward the camera, in sunglasses, blue jeans, and a dark navy jumper.

Where possible, Airwars is matching the names of those killed with the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH) lists, which include national ID numbers. Airwars is matching individuals to the first list where their name appeared. In regard to this incident, Salem was matched to the eighth ‘Palestinian Ministry of Health List of Fatalities in Gaza’ list, which was released on March 23, 2025.

Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strike to the Israeli military. However, it was not clear from the sources whether it was a missile that fell or an explosive object left behind from a previous Israeli military actions.