Airwars assessment
In the early morning of Sunday, September 1st, 2024, 11 civilians were killed and dozens more injured in three airstrikes on the Safad School located near the Imam al-Shafi’i Mosque in the Al-Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City. The school was reported to be sheltering displaced people. The IDF declared the strike, claiming that they were targeting a Hamas command and control center embedded in the school.
Airwars was able to find the names of six of the 11 civilians killed. According to eyewitnesses, the Civil Defense and ambulance crews arrived at the school shortly after the strike, but left when the Israeli military warned that additional strikes were coming. Two additional strikes allegedly killed all of the wounded who remained in the school building after the first strike.
At 03:44 AM, a Safa correspondent reported one death and a “number of injuries.” This report was followed by a second report, nine minutes later, which stated that three individuals had been killed. Safa adjusted the count again at 04:10, writing that four people had been killed. By 05:22, Safa announced six deaths, and by 07:19, Safa reported 11 deaths and dozens of wounded at the Safad School.
Citing the Civil Defense Service in Gaza, Alarby.com said that 11 Palestinians were killed, and and dozens injured, as a result of “the Israeli bombing of Safad school.” By late that night, sources were reporting that people were still missing under the rubble.
Social media tributes by family members and friends helped Airwars to identify the names of the six male civilians who were killed in the strike: Hammad Abdel Hamid Muhammad al-Harazin, Moaz Hisham Abu Halima, Rajab Khamis Rushdi Mushtahi, Khaled Bulbul, Muhammad Arhaim, and Walid al-Ja’al. Safa news agency also mentioned Abu Alaa Azzam among the victims, but it is not clear whether he was killed or injured.
According to Ahmad Khader al-Ziyat, photographer Omar El Aattaa, and other sources, the school was bombed three times. Facebook user Ahmad Qanawi shared images capturing the first strike, showing huge clouds of orange smoke.
Ahmad Khader al-Ziyat wrote: “Any ambulance was prevented from approaching to rescue those alive under the rubble. Then it was bombed again twice, completely annihilating everyone who was in it.”
Twitter/X user @F24online shared a video with a watermark from Palestine online, showing the moment of the alleged second strike. The 26-second video, begins with a view of men and children making their way down a road. The road is shaded by the skeletal remains of at least partially destroyed buildings, which stand on either side. A buzzing sound is heard at 0:08, followed by the sound of an explosion and a huge cloud of grey/yellow smoke at 0:09. The frame drops as the person filming appears to duck behind a plastic water tank. At 0:25, the person filming comes comes back out from behind the water tank, assuming the original framing. The road that, some fifteen seconds earlier showed clearly through to a building situated at the intersection of the road, is now filled with smoke, dust, and a small mass of people yelling and crying out.
Facebook user Ali al-Husseini reposted an 18-second video shared by Alarabytv. The video shows two buildings situated in what is likely the school yard. In the video, the building to the back left is struck. Orange flames and debris explode out of the first building, and for a moment, the video shows dust and debris engulfing the second building. Then, the force of the blast arrives at the film site, and the individual holding the camera seems to take the device and run for safety.
Posting to Facebook, a journalist, Abedalrahman M Sobaih, shared a video allegedly capturing the third Israeli strike where huge clouds of smoke can be seen and people loudly screaming can be heard. He wrote in the comments of the video:
“The moment the third missile was targeted at Safad School in the Al-Zeitoun neighborhood, east of Gaza City. The beginning was by bombing the school with at least one missile, which led to the death of a large number of people and many injuries. Civil defense and ambulance crews arrived at the site and were surprised by a call from the Israeli occupation army. They were threatened to evacuate the school in preparation for bombing it again. As a result, civil defense crews were forced to leave the school and leave the injured and stranded under the rubble. Then, the occupation forces bombed the school with two more missiles, leading to the martyrdom of everyone remaining there.”
Facebook user Laial Ashour shared his testimony of what happened, describing how people were anxiously waiting for the second and third strikes:
“The school is in front of my balcony. The school was bombed and the Civil Defense recovered martyrs and wounded from it. While they were working, the army called and said that the entire neighborhood was evacuated because they wanted to bomb Safad and Al-Hurriya. Civil defense, ambulance, the press, and all the people who were retrieving the martyrs evacuated the area. Those under the rubble are calling for someone to pull them out.
But no one can come close, because at any moment it will be bombed again. And now we are waiting for the school to be bombed.”
Facebook user Mahmoud Jamal al-Shareef also reported the third strike at the school.
A video shared by “Al-Zeytoun neighbourhood official” on Facebook allegedly showed a young man who was in contact with Israeli forces to evacuate the area to prepare for the third, very powerful strike.
Omar El Aattaa posted a video of the destroyed building where a huge cloud of smoke can be seen.
The account “Al-Zeytoun neighborhood official” on Facebook posted photos depicting the aftermath of the airstrikes and lots of people searching the debris, with the caption, “…there are a number of people missing under the rubble…”
Additionally, on Twitter/X, @AFYemini posted similar photos of the destroyed school, also confirming the location in the caption: “… the Safad School in the Al-Zeitoun neighborhood, which houses displaced people southeast of Gaza City.”
Sources on Twitter, such as @khaberni, @AFYEmini, and @qudsn circulated videos of the wounded, depicting men and a child being transported in the back of trucks or ambulances as well as a child with a head injury in the hospital as a result of the bombing.
A video by Alaanews on Facebook showed the airstrike’s impact on the school, followed by videos of two men visibly injured under the rubble being hauled out and taken away, one of them with a head injury.
Facebook user Mohammed Abu Hajar shared another graphic video showing attempts to rescue a survivor from the rubble where only his hand, covered in dust between two concrete slabs can be seen. Wafa News shared a video showing the devastating effects of the strikes and the rescuing of an elderly man from the rubble.
One of the videos filmed by Fadi Alhwidi showing a survivor of the strike was shared by multiple social media users, including @salehabuizzah and @abualihussein19. An elderly man with an injured arm whose face was still covered with white dust was shouting while lying on a hospital bed: “We will die standing and we will not kneel.”
The victims of the strike were remembered in the numerous tributes posted by family members and friends on Facebook.
Friends of the deceased Hammad Abdel Hamid Muhammad Al-Harazin, one of the named victims, shared a photo of him on Facebook, showing a man with short dark hair and a trimmed beard, wearing a black jacket. The caption accompanying a photo reads, “… the martyrdom of the beloved and kind brother…” and another reads “ you are my heart and my soul. I miss the days when we used to have fun and laugh, and life was full of fun and happiness…my heart tasted the true meaning of pain that will remain with me until I throw it into my grave. Martyrdom is a pride unlike anything else, but my heart is filled with sadness over your departure, a sadness that cannot be described.”
Additionally, friends of Moaz Hisham Abu Halima (Abu Tayeb) shared various photos of him with friends, showing a smiling young man in his 20s with styled dark hair and a beard. Many captions shared similar condolences and prayers, some also describing his character, “he was kind-hearted. A cheerful face and good manners. And I have seen nothing but good from you.”
Rajab Khamis Rushdi Mushtahi (Abu Al-Haytham), an older man with dark hair and a greying beard, was shown at the beach in one photo, wearing a grey shirt. Another showed him smiling at the camera wearing a dark tuxedo, with captions from friends and family of prayers and sorrow. Mohammed Raeb Mushtaha wrote in his tribute to the late Rajab that he would join his son, “the martyr Ahmed.”
The death of the young man, Muhammad Arhaim (Abu Diya), was mentioned in a tweet by @Qadeyah1 where an image of a very young smiling man with styled hair and a short beard wearing a beautiful suit and sitting in a garden can be seen.
Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strike to the Israeli military.
Israeli Defense Forces acknowledged the strike in a Telegram post at 15:24 on September 1, 2024, claiming that it bombed the Safad School because members of the Hamas movement were using a command and control center inside of the school to carry out attacks against Israel. The statement read: “IDF: A short while ago, with the direction of IDF and ISA intelligence, the IAF struck Hamas terrorists who were operating within a command and control center embedded inside the area that previously served as the “Safad” school in Gaza City. The command and control center was used by Hamas terrorists to plan and carry out terror attacks against the IDF and the State of Israel.”
The military continued, saying that “prior to the strike, several steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harm to civilians, including the use of precision munitions, aerial surveillance, and obtaining additional intelligence.” At the time of publication, no evidence of a Hamas presence – personnel or infrastructure – was found through open source review, and the Israeli military has yet to acknowledge the civilian harm resulting from the attack.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Summary
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Israeli Military Assessment:
Original strike reports
IDF: A short while ago, with the direction of IDF and ISA intelligence, the IAF struck Hamas terrorists who were operating within a command and control center embedded inside the area that previously served as the “Safad” school in Gaza City.
The command and control center was used by Hamas terrorists to plan and carry out terror attacks against the IDF and the State of Israel.
Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence.
The Hamas terrorist organization systematically violates international law and operates from within civilian infrastructure and shelters in the Gaza Strip, brutally exploiting the Gazan civilian population for its terrorist activities.
The IDF will continue to firmly operate against the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip, who systematically exploit schools and additional civilian infrastructure for their terrorist activities.