(Previous Incident Code: ISPT144 )

On August 6th 2022 an artillery shell fell in front of the Al-baraka supermarket, located east of the Terns junction in Jabalia refugee camp, in the North Gaza governorate, in the Gaza Strip. There were reports that five to nine civilians were killed, including four children. Between fifteen and up to 43 people were reported injured, including 26 children. Local sources are conflicted as to whether Israeli forces or an Islamic Jihad rocket were responsible for this incident.

According to local sources citing the Palestinian Ministry of Health, seven people were killed in this attack, including four children. 43 people were reported injured, including 26 children.

Names in local sources of the individuals reported killed were as follows:

Khalil Iyad Abu Hamada, aged 19

Hazem Ahmed Mohamed Salem, aged 9-12 (or Hazem Mohamed)

Moumen Mohammed Al-Nairab, aged 11

Ahmad Muhammad Al-Nairab, aged 5 (brothers)

Muhammad Walid Al-Fram, aged 17 (or Ahmed Walid Al-Faram, reportedly an eleventh grader at Khalil Al-Rahman Secondary Governmental School for boys)

Nafez Muhammad al-Khatib, aged 50

Muhammad Muhammad Zaqout, aged 19 to 20

Ahmed Mohamed Afana, aged 33, was reported killed on August 7th, identified as a member of Al Quds

Hassan Mansour, aged 27 (identified by just one source @jalestinian2)

Yahya Mazen Abu Odeh, aged 5 (identified by just one source Hisham via Facebook)

Names in local sources of those injured were as follows:

Khalil Ibrahim Al-Najjar, aged 30

Fatima Khalil Ibrahim Al-Najjar, aged 3

Abdulaziz Rami Abu Shakyan

Mayar Rami Abu Shakyan

Tamer Rami Abu Shakyan

Muhammad Jalal Abu Shakyan

Mohamed Hussein Mansour

Lama Hussein Mansour

Nasser Adnan Al-Jakhbir

Jihad Youssef Abu Ghabeed

Ahmed Mohamed Jadallah

Muhammad Khalil Salman, aged 13

Rahaf Khalil Salman, aged 11 mentioned as seriously injured

Saeed Hassan Al-Daifi, aged 20

Ahmed Mohamed Salem

One child, a young girl, Rahaf Salman, aged 11, was photographed with amputated feet and right hand after the incident.

A Facebook post by Nafez Alkahlout identified Nasser Adnan Al-Jakhbir’s condition as being “dangerous”.

Sobhi Khalil posted on Facebook that Muhammad Jalal Abu Shakyan underwent surgery after being injured in the chest and abdomen while the rest of the children of the Abu Shakyan family were transferred to Al-Shifa Hospital.

Mondoweiss reported that Muhammad Muhammad Zaqout was one of seven family members and was injured at age 5 by live ammunition during Gaza’s Great March of Return and due to his injury was inspired to study nursing. “Muhammad’s brother, Alaa, hurried into the street after he heard the bomb, and found Muhammad lying injured in the street, saying his final shahada, a testament of faith that Muslims profess before they die. Alaa said that Muhammad tried to say his name, but couldn’t get the words out before he passed away.”  Muhammad was killed alongside his friend Khalil.

According to local sources, Khalil Iyad Abu Hamada was the only son of Najwa and Iyad, who waited 16 years to finally have a child. His mother, Najwa “bid farewell to him with tears and with the words “oh my life.” @palinfo tweeted that Khalil’s father Iyad works as a taxi driver and his mother Najwa got a job in the government of Gaza. Marwa Abu Hamada, the aunt of Khalil told “Al-Sharq” that “After many tube-growing operations, God honored her again with a test-tube baby named Khalil, who was her soul, her spirit and all her life, but the joy of her birth was incomplete because of the martyrdom of our mother, Khalil Khadra Abu Hamada, three months before his birth in 2003, and she was the one who counted the days hour by hour. Waiting for him to come and bring gifts to him. My sister worked on raising Khalil in the best way, lavishing him with love and the greatest feelings, and for him she stayed up at night and completed her studies and studied a Bachelor of Nursing at the age of 40, while her husband was kind-hearted and worked as a driver who could barely provide for his day.”

Mondoweiss reported that Muhammad Walid Al-Fram was the eldest son in a family of seven and his father, who works as a day laborer in Israel and was stuck in checkpoints the day his son was killed, told Mondoweiss “there is deep sadness and pain in my heart, but I must stay as firm as I can to give my family strength. It is really painful that I could not see him before he was buried.”

Mondoweiss also reported that Nafez Muhammad al-Khatib was a father of seven and was a taxi driver who often struggled to make ends meet for his family. Nafeth’s father Muhammad, 77, told Mondoweiss “He worked only to bring food to his family, and always did”. Following his death his wife and children are struggling to find a way to carry on financially.

The father of Moumen and Ahmad Muhammad Al-Nairab told Mondoweiss ““Everything they asked for, the two boys got,” said Muhammad, the boy’s father, adding that he always wanted to spoil his kids and give them the best things in life that he could.” Moumen was getting ready to go to school for the first time and “Ahmad died one day before his birthday. He was waiting to get a bicycle for his present, and I was going to bring him one. They both died in front of my eyes.” Muhammad said he had gone out with the boys to get some falafel for dinner for the family when the bomb exploded: “The bomb turned everything black. For more than 10 minutes no one could move. After the smoke disappeared, I found Mo’men laying down on his face on the ground. He had died immediately due to shrapnel in his neck,” Muhammad recounted, adding that he saw an injured Ahmad lying a few meters away from them. “I was screaming unconsciously, holding my bleeding sons in my arms, trying to get him to a hospital. I ran for a whole kilometer before I found a car carrying many of the injured to a hospital.”

Hazem Salem (Hazem Muhammad Ali Salem, Hazem Ahmed Mohamed Salem) was identified by Mondoweiss as being an active boy in his neighborhood and was beloved by his neighbors in the camp. At the time of the strike, he was sitting in the street with some of his friends and all of his friends were injured but survived.

@ranaahmed292 tweeted that all of those killed were residents of Jabalia and that the incident occurred near the Imad Aqel Mosque. Aljadeed News reported that all of the killed and wounded were taken to the Indonesian Hospital.

Militant, Ahmed Afana, a member of Al-Quds brigade was also reported killed in this attack, although there is only one source confirming this, “@adham922” which says “Al-Qassam Brigades celebrates the martyrdom of the Mujahid / Ahmed Afana, who was martyred in the targeting of a house for the Abu Jasser family in Jabalia camp.”

Local Israeli sources, including Jerusalem Post, attributed the incident to Islamic Jihad, quoting the Prime Minister’s Office International Spokeswoman Keren Hajioff who said “Tonight, Islamic Jihad terrorists fired a rocket towards Israel, which fell short inside Gaza, hitting a Palestinian home in the Jabaliya neighborhood and tragically killing at least four children.” However, some local sources referred to the bombing as being carried out by Israeli planes, with Aljadeed News reported that “occupation planes” bombed a car with drones and after those inside the car managed to escape it, the Israeli planes fired a number of missiles toward the car and the densely populated area near the mosque.