Airwars assessment
On Saturday, August 3rd 2024, at least 16 civilians, including three women and at least four children, were killed and at least 60 others injured in a declared Israeli airstrike on the Hamama School located in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City, Gaza Strip. Israeli forces confirmed the strike, claiming they were targeting a ‘command and control center’.
Various news sources announced the Israeli attack on the Hamama School, with many describing a succession of bombings over the course of the day. Quds News reported “today, Saturday, the Israeli [military] forces committed a new massacre at the Hamama School, which houses a large number of displaced people in Gaza, and the death toll rose to more than 16 martyrs, according to the latest statistics issued by the Civil Defense in Gaza.” The same article noted that, “the Civil Defense Service in the Gaza Strip said…that its crews had recovered a number of martyrs and wounded from the “Hamamah” Sheikh Radwan School, and that its attempts to recover others were facing difficulties after renewed bombing of the place and its surroundings.”
An article on PBC.ps described the series of strikes including strikes carried out while rescue workers were attempting to evacuate the school. Télévision Algérienne also reported that “the building was bombed by warplanes with more than one missile”. According to Alaraby News, “the Gaza Civil Defense Service announced…that 10 Palestinians were martyred and a number of others were injured in an Israeli bombing that targeted the Hamama School” but that “later, the agency said…Israeli planes again bombed the same school and its surroundings with 3 missiles, for the second time in less than an hour…[and] that the new bombing led to the death toll rising to 16 Palestinian martyrs, in addition to a number of wounded, some of whom were injured “seriously””. The casualties from the second strike have been assessed separately by Airwars in ISPT030824f.
CNN reported that “Israeli airstrikes on two school buildings in the north of Gaza City killed 17 Palestinians, most of them children, and left at least 63 injured according to Gaza Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal on Saturday.” Alhurra News reported the bombings and resulting casualties as well and noted that “[the Israeli] army confirmed that it had launched air strikes targeting members “in a Hamas command and control complex that was used in the past as the Hamama School in Gaza City.””
Testimonies posted online helped Airwars identify the following victims by name:
Samia Yahya Dababesh and her son Wael Omar Wael Dababesh were killed, along with Asma Hashem Dababesh and her daughter Ghana Ahmed Dababesh. Asma’s son Mo’ath Ahmed Dababesh and daughter Aisha Ahmed Dababesh were injured in the strike. Hamza Muhammad Dababesh was killed and his brother, whose name was not found on open sources, was injured. Ashraf Ziad Dababesh was killed as well. Ahmed Deeb al-Bahlou and his brother-in-law Ramadan Othman al-Dagour were killed, as was Ramadan’s cousin Mahmoud Suleiman Kullab. Sobhi Younis Awad, Farah Osama al-Arashi, Samah Mohsen al-Arashi, Samah’s son Muhammad al-Arashi, Abdul Rahman Osama Radwan, Angham Ahmed Dababesh, and Mahmoud Khalil Farhat were also killed in the Israeli airstrike. The names have also been highlighted in bold below to help navigate testimonies posted by families.
Photos and videos from the aftermath of the Israeli strikes indicate a high death toll. Journalist Jihad Taha shared a series of photographs of the casualties, explaining that “There are difficulties in identifying the identities of the majority of martyrs who died in the [Israeli military’s] massacre against the “Hamamah” school in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza, due to the bodies of a large number being transformed into body parts.”
A video by Al Jazeera Palestine shows rescuers collecting bodies – and body parts – from the rubble of the school. Part way through the clip, the crowd of medics, journalists and others frantically flee from the site, as the Israelis once again strike the school. The crowd then races back towards the burning school building on foot, in ambulances and on bicycles, with a number of the injured and dead pictured at the school when they arrive.
A graphic video shared by Facebook user Ibrahim Qannan shows numerous body parts of the dead strewn among concrete fragments and personal belongings. A video posted to Facebook by Umm Sami al-Masry shows a man holding up a container he claims to be filled with pieces of human remains of those killed, “including children.” Sharing a close-up photo of the same metal platter in the man’s hands, Facebook user Maisaa Shanan wrote “This is not edible meat and is not spoiled meat due to its strange color. These are the body parts and flesh of Gaza children, whose bodies were burned by Israeli missiles a short while ago in a new massacre committed inside a shelter center in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood (Hammama School) in the northern Gaza Strip. 17 martyrs in pieces until this moment.”
Facebook users such as Umm Khaled, Alshati Today, and Mohamed Awad reiterated the difficulty of identifying casualties that had resulted from the strike. After listing 11 “names of the martyrs of the Hamama School massacre,” they explained that “there are still a number of other martyrs whose identity is unknown because they are body parts.”
Online, various friends and relatives mourned the loss of their loved ones following the Israeli attack.
Maryam Basel Dababesh posted on on Facebook that there had been “17 martyrs and 60 injured in the Israeli raids on Hamama School…a number of them were martyrs from the Dababesh family, but for this moment the numbers have not been counted, but not less than three martyrs.” Mustafa O Dababesh listed the names of four of his family members who were killed in the strike – Samia Yahya Dabash, Asma Hashem Dabash, Hamza Muhammad Dabash and Ashraf Ziad Dabash, writing “It is with great pride that we mourn for you our loved ones who were killed in a new bloody massacre in which some of my family were killed.” Airwars has identified seven people from open source accounts bearing the Dababesh surname who were killed and three who were injured.
Sharing a video of a dead child with family members mourning the body, Elafia Tour Official and others wrote about the “the child martyr, Hamza Dababesh, after the [Israeli military] targeted a school in Sheikh Radwan, where he was on his way to a session to memorize the Holy Qur’an.” Laith al-radwan prayed “ May God accept you, my joy of heart and soul, Hamza Dababesh.” Somaya Dababesh described how “Hamza, a child like the moon, came to his family after many years of suffering. He was martyred, and his brother was seriously injured.”
Abdelrahman Abu Atef mourned his friend Ashraf Dababesh, writing “May God have mercy on your soul, Ashraf, may God have mercy on your soul, my love: Ashraf Dababesh” and sharing a smiling photo of the young man. Ibrahim Mohammad shared the same smiling photo of Ashraf and prayed “may God have mercy on you, Ashraf Dababesh.” Ahmad al-Dalu Abu Khaled posted another cheerful picture of Ashraf, writing that “the brother and friend Ashraf Ziyad Dababesh (Abu Hamza) has passed away to God’s mercy.” Sherif el Shobaky shared photos of Ashraf doing community service work and wrote that “Our beloved and the crown of our head, “Ashraf Dababesh,” today ascended to the gardens of eternity.” Husseiny Elsunhawy also shared a photo of Ashraf working, and explained that “the picture is of our colleague, the martyr Ashraf, who was martyred during the bombing of Sheikh Radwan 4 days ago. This scene happened on the same day, Glory be to God. His last work in this world was to help and do good and try to alleviate people’s suffering and hunger..”
Mohammad Shams Aldeen posted “I offer my condolences to myself, my brothers, my beloved cousins, and the honorable Dababesh family with the martyrdom of my cousin, Umm Wael.”
Somaya Dababesh shared a number of reflections on her loved ones who were killed in the strike. Describing “Samia Dababesh, or “Samia Qusa,” who was “the mother of three good-natured, polite children who love her very much.” Somaya explained that “she tries as much as possible to meet their requests and desires in the midst of all this scarcity that we are living in.”
Somaya also wrote about Sobhi Awad, who had survived another strike where more than 60 members of his family were killed. Somaya described him as “a child in the seventh grade. More than 60 members of his family were martyred in the Dar Awad massacre, including his twin brother, whom he loved very much. Every time he saw a plane, he would say, “Oh God, it will hit me. Oh God, I will die. Oh God, catch up with my brother.” Somaya then described “Asmaa Dababesh, Samia’s husband’s brother’s wife, mother of 3 children, including “Ghina.” Her husband was a prisoner from the beginning of the war. Throughout the war, she was responsible for her children with a broken heart and miserable eyes longing for her husband, Ahmed, who was on the news that these two days they would release him from captivity. She was martyred. And her daughter, Ghina, a 3-year-old girl, who is cute, beautiful, and who always, when she sees me from a distance, even from half way through school, calls me: “Samaaaaal” when I stop and she comes to say hello to me, she asks me where I am going? And I want to come to you, with her moon smile that never left her. She and her mother were martyred before she saw her husband, and the two children, Aisha, 8 years old, Mo’ath, 4 years old, suffered the loss of their father and mother at the same time!”. Aisha and Mo’ath were recorded to have been injured in the strike.
D. Amid Oud also mourned that “Sobhi Younis Awad, my sister’s son, is a martyr in the gardens of eternity.”
In describing another victim Samah Al-Araishi, Somaya pointed out “how afflicted and patient she is in her life” as Samah’s “husband was a martyr in 2014, and her eldest son, Fadi, was their support after her husband was martyred in this war, and oh God, how affected she was by his martyrdom.” Her son Muhammad al-Arashi was also killed.
She said “Ahmed is the friend of my brothers, a person who thanks everyone who knew him. All of his family were martyred before him from the beginning of the war. All that remained was a married sister. She was coming, shocked, and crying for her brother before she discovered that her husband (Ramadan Othman Al-Dagour) was also martyred in the same blow.” Somaya ended her post by saying “And if I were to continue talking for years to come, I would not be able to summarize their journey or the path of any of the martyrs in a few lines.”
Ali al-Wazeer shared a smiling photo of Ramadan Othman al-Dagour, writing “Even you, Ramadan, have gone.. come to you, Lord.” Mahmoud el-Kairy and Amin Abdelrahim mourned the deaths of both Ramadan and Mahmoud Suleiman Kullab.
Othman al-Dagour grieved that “three moons have passed to the mercy of God Almighty and joined the convoys of martyrs: my son Ramadan Othman al-Dagour, my nephew, Mahmoud Suleiman Kullab, and my son’s brother-in-law, Ahmed Deeb al-Bahloul” and shared photos of all three men.
Mustafa Saleem wrote, “Our righteous martyrs are not just numbers. These young men in the prime of their lives had dreams, hopes and a family. They were and still are dreaming of the future, but in the shadow of this genocide, everything in their lives was killed today. In a horrific massacre, my nephew, the love of my heart, the son of the martyr, the brother of the martyr, the last of my brother’s children, the martyr Deeb, in Gaza, passed away. Ahmed Deeb Al-Bahlol passed away with him. His sister’s husband and the husband of my martyred niece, Ramadan al-Dagour, also passed away with him. The husband of my martyred niece, Amna, the martyr Mahmoud Suleiman Kulab, passed away with them. They lived together and passed away together after ten months that they lived steadfast in Gaza in the shadow of a war of extermination and starvation. My martyred cousin, Asma Hashem Badawi (Dababesh), also passed away.””
Abu Khaled al-Ameed shared a photo of Mahmoud Kullab in his graduation robes and wrote that “the martyr Mahmoud recently passed away. Dogs bombed Sheikh Radwan today. We ask God to accept him and have mercy on him. He joined the convoy of our sixty martyrs from the day the war broke out. Within 10 months an entire family – 35 people – removed from the civil registry.” Mahmoud Abu Zanadeh shared another photo of Mahmoud wearing his graduation robes and mourned “the death of the martyr Mahmoud Suleiman Kullab in the bombing of Gaza today”. Ibrahim Kullab shared a commemorative video honoring his relative, “my cousin, the martyr Mahmoud Suleiman Kullab, who was killed in an Israeli bombing of a shelter for the displaced.” Relatives Saleh Kareem Abu Sameer and Yasser Albahlool mourned the young man as well.
Mohammad al-Bahloul described the complicated feelings of loss, writing “I don’t know what to do. Should I mourn you and congratulate you on your martyrdom for the sake of God, or should I continue lying to myself and wait to hear your voice, my beloved.. I mourn to you, my brother and my [friend] Ahmed Deeb al-Bahloul Abu al-Deeb, may he join those who preceded him in heaven from my family.”
He also shared a smiling photo of himself and Ahmed dressed in formal attire. Yasser Albahlool also mourned his relative Ahmed, announcing that “I bring to you the news of the martyrdom of my cousin Ahmed Deeb Al-Bahloul Abu Deeb to join his heroic father, mother, sisters, and all my family, may God have mercy on them.” Mohamed Harb emphasized the scale of loss experienced by this family, writing “I mourn to you the son of the martyr, Deeb Al-Bahloul, the son of my cousin, Ahmed, who today joined his father, mother, brother, sister, grandfather, grandmother, and uncles His aunt is on the path of martyrs.” Adnan Elsahar shared another smiling photo of Ahmed, writing “The martyr of my heart and my heart, my brother, I long for the days when we used to have fun together and life was rosy with nothing but fun. On the day of your martyrdom, my brother, I tasted the true meaning of pain that will remain with me until I enter my grave.#My friend and brother, Ahmed Shahid 💔.”
Hani Elhalab shared a slideshow of photos of himself and Ahmed and described their time together, saying “302 days of fierce war on Gaza. He never left me for a moment or even a fraction of a second. We lived it together and next to each other, we slept on the ground and [used] the sky as a blanket for dozens of days. He was for me the little and wise advisor; he was the steadfast support that never wavered. My back was broken by your departure; but my consolation is that you are a martyr, God willing, for you delivered the message and fulfilled the trust. Beloved of the heart, companion of the path, and joy of the eye, Ahmed Deeb.”
On August 9th a Facebook account called ‘Free Palestine’ shared a photo of the young Wael Omar Wael Dababesh wearing sunglasses and announced that “the child…died as a result of his injury a few days ago during the [Israeli] targeting of Hamama School in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood.” Haya a Abd also posted about “the martyrdom of my cousin (Wael Omar Dababesh)” and explained that “affected by his injury, he joined his mother [in death] a week after the Hamama School massacre.” Abdelrahman Abu Atef, Mahmoud Abu Zanadeh, Abu Mosaab, and others also announced that Wael had succumbed to his injuries following the attack on the Hamama School.
In a Facebook post, Sameh Hasan wrote, “I mourn the heroic martyr who memorized the Book of God, my nephew Abdul Rahman Osama Radwan, following his martyrdom in the Hamama School massacre in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood.” Islam Hassan shared a smiling photo of Abdul Rahman wearing his graduation robes and wrote that “To God’s mercy and satisfaction; my cousin Abdul Rahman Osama Radwan was a martyr to join his brother Ahmed. May God give you patience and strengthen your heart, my sister, Umm Abdul Rahman.”
Othman Matter grieved the death of Mahmoud Farhat, sharing a smiling picture of the young man and praying “peace be upon your fragrant soul, Abu Malik…the very dear beloved Mahmoud Farhat is a martyr. Your memory will remain engraved in the heart forever.” Khalil Mohammed also honored Mahmoud, announcing that “the hero Mahmoud Farhat was martyred. I will not know if my words are enough to talk about you, hero, but I remember the days when I was young. You taught us to pray and you taught us about religion. God bears witness that you were for your country and the youth of your country. You taught us and understood us. May God gather us together [with you] in the highest paradise. You lived as a resister, defending Your land and you were martyred as a resister while defending your land. May God have mercy on you.” Ibrahim Mohammad shared a smiling photo of Mahmoud and mourned his “brother, friend, lover and friend Mahmoud Farhat “Abu Malek.””
A number of sources posted lists of the dead, including Emad awkal on Facebook – in addition to those mentioned above this included the names of Farah Osama Al-Arashi, Angham Ahmed Dababesh.
The incident occured in the evening.
The victims were named as:
Family members (10)
Family members (3)
Family members (3)
The victims were named as:
Summary
Sources (149) [ collapse]
Media
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Israeli Military Assessment:
Original strike reports
Hamama School Compound Used as Command and Control Center Struck
03.08.24
With the intelligence direction of the IDF and ISA, the IAF struck terrorists operating within a Hamas command and control center. In the past, the compound was known as the Hamama school in northern Gaza.
The compound was used as a hiding place for Hamas terrorists, and various terrorist attacks against IDF soldiers and the State of Israel were planned and carried out from there.
Additionally, Hamas weaponry was manufactured and stored within the compound, where terrorists were subsequently trained to use these weapons against the security forces 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, surveillance and additional intelligence.
The Hamas terrorist organization systematically violates international law by operating from within civilian infrastructure, brutally exploiting the civilian population and institutions as human shields for their terror activities.