Airwars assessment
A preacher affiliated with Hamas, Dr. Wael Mohieddin Sayed al-Zard, died due to injuries sustained in an alleged Israeli airstrike on his home, which occurred on October 13th, 2023. He was found under the rubble and initially reported to have only moderate injuries. However, he was hospitalised and died days later, on October 16th, 2023. Shehab Agency reported that there were numerous other injuries and potential other deaths in the incident, but this was not corroborated by other sources nor have other victims been named.
Al-Zard was born on Dec 24th, 1972, and reportedly had eight children. His son, Baraa, had been killed the previous month allegedly by Israeli forces during border protests.
Al-Zard obtained a masters in Hadith from Islamic University in 2001. His dissertation is reported to have been titled: “Manifestations of Pre-Islamic Time as Depicted by the Sunnah Texts.” He would later be granted a doctorate from the joint program between Gaza’s al-Aqsa University and Egypt’s Ain Shams University.
Al-Zard taught at The University College of Applied Sciences, and had previously worked for the al-Quds Open University and the Islamic University of Gaza. He was the imam of the Grand al-Omari Mosque in Gaza City, as well as the al-Mahatta Mosque in the al-Daraj neighborhood.
Al Jazeera reported that he was the director of the Fadhila Women’s Forum Center, which worked with women in education as well as providing social and cultural support. The Center also provides a Qur’anic teaching center for girls. Outside of this, al-Zard also worked as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Tayseer Marriage Association.
He was also engaged in Islamic activities outside of his professional life: he had represented Palestine in 1997’s “Holy Quran Memorization Competition” held in Mecca, after reportedly memorising the holy book in 1992.
Al-Zard was affiliated with Hamas, though the strength of this affiliation is not entirely clear. Though Reuters named him as a “well-known” Hamas cleric, The New York Times claimed he was a “less senior” figure within Hamas, and reported he was “a preacher affiliated with the group.” The Extremist Monitoring Analysis Network stated that he was also aligned (whether by ideology or tangible affiliation) with the Muslim Brotherhood.
He was known to have made highly antisemitic statements, often in his sermons. Evidence of hate speech can be seen in the Extremist Monitoring Analysis Network report.
Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strike to Israeli forces.
Where possible, Airwars has matched names with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of nearly 7000 victims’ names and ID numbers released on October 26th.
Due to the scale and urgency of Airwars’ assessment process, all images have been automatically uploaded to each assessment with the graphic filter applied to protect users. We have also included all images identified from the sources, which may also include any imagery of combatants.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Summary
Sources (23) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (18) [ collapse]
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Source: Ashraf Kharilla facebook -
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Source: Ashraf Kharilla facebook -
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Source: Ashraf Kharilla facebook -
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Source: Sam Ali facebook -
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Source: Ayman Amer facebook -
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Source: Lubna Ali facebook -
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Source: Lubna Ali facebook -
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Source: Moihammed Halaika facebook -
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Source: @ShehabAgency -
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Source: @ShehabAgency -
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Source: @QudsNen -
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Source: Extremist Monitoring Analysis Network Report -
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