Around midnight between March 8th and March 9th, 2026, two girls and a young woman were killed and from 10 to more than 15 civilians, including three children, were injured in an alleged Israeli strike on a tent for displaced civilians at Abu Shamas camp in the Al-Sawarha area, west of Al-Zawaida in the central Gaza Strip. A 16-yer-old girl named Nour Saleh Al-Shalalfah, a 46-year-old female journalist named Amal Muhammad Ahmed Shamali, and 11 or 12-year-old girl Salsabeel Anwar Mahmoud Faraj were killed. Salsabeel’s mother, 36-year-old Saloum Abdul Rahman Muhammad Faraj, wife of Anwar Mahmoud Muhammad Faraj, and Salsabeel’s six-month-old brother and son of Saloum and Anwar, Salama Anwar Mahmoud Faraj, were injured, as were Amal’s three children and two other family members.

At 11:53 p.m. on March 8, Shehab News reported that “Al-Awda Hospital – Nuseirat received three martyrs, including two girls and body parts, in addition to 10 injuries, including three children, as a result of the [Israeli military] targeting the tents of displaced people in the Al-Sawarha area in the middle of the Gaza Strip.” Shams Al-Haq reported “more than 15 injuries, most of whom are children and women.”

According to Facebook user Rania Alkhodary, “five Israeli shells suddenly struck. They led to a massacre in the stillness of the night in the Al-Sawarha area of central Gaza. Ambulances are still transporting the victims.” Other news outlets such as Al-Araby Al-Jadeed and Alwtan TV attributed the attack to Israeli “artillery shelling” as well; however, other sources, including PalpostN and Roya News described the nature of the incident as an “air strike” or “air force bombardment.” The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights published the most detailed statement available to date regarding the nature of the strike. The report states that “according to information gathered by the Center’s researchers, Israeli artillery stationed east of the Central Governorate fired several shells  between 00:00 and 00:05 on Monday, March 9, 2026. The shells landed in the Al-Sawarha area, southwest of the Nuseirat refugee camp, where tents housing displaced people are located.” However, the incident is likely to have occured earlier than reported, with Shehab Agency reporting about casualties at 11:53 p.m.

According to Facebook account ‘Here is Gaza – Hona Ghazza,’ “the Ministry of Health announced the deaths of three Palestinians…According to medical sources at Al-Awda Hospital, the bodies of Nour Saleh Al-Shalalfah, Salsabeel Anwar Faraj and journalist Amal Muhammad Shamali were brought to the hospital [and] several other Palestinians sustained injuries of varying severity.” In its detailed record of the attack, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights reported that Israel’s “shelling killed journalist Amal Hammad Ahmed Shamali, 46, a correspondent for Qatar Radio, who was struck in the head by shrapnel. Five members of her family were also injured, three of them critically, when their tent was directly hit.” The report went on to explain that “the shelling also killed 11-year-old Salsabeel Anwar Mahmoud Faraj, who was struck in the head by shrapnel while sleeping in her tent in the area. Two other family members were injured, one critically.” Finally, it reported that “16-year-old Nour Saleh Mohammed al-Shalalfah was killed by shrapnel that caused a head injury. Three other family members were injured, two critically.”

According to sources including @Abasan al-Kabira and @Islam Bader on Facebook, Nour Saleh Al-Shalalfah was 30 years old at the time of her death, However, given that the initial reporting mentioned “two girls” among the “three martyrs,” and also the testimony of 22-year-old Nasma Adnan Suleiman Abu Shalouft who told the researcher from Palestinian Centre for Human Rights that Nour was a “16-year-old wife” of her 17-year-old brother Mohammed whom he had married about two months prior, Airwars has recorded her age as 16 and quantified her as a child until further information is found.

On Facebook, Hamla Kaddour reported that “Palestinian journalist Amal Hamad Al-Shamali (46 years old), a correspondent for Qatar Radio, was killed as a result of [the] Israeli bombing.” The account shared smiling photos of a woman with three small children as well. Basil Abu Tawhina shared a photo of a woman wearing a dark blue, bulletproof ‘PRESS’ vest and mourned the journalist’s passing. However, with regards to the photos mentioned, the Kashef Observatory “investigated the authenticity of the photos and found them to be inaccurate.” According to the Observatory, “the first photo is of Amal Abu Shakshak, a teacher who lives with her family in Canada and is alive and well.” Another investigation by the Palestinian Observatory “Tahqiq” clarified that this woman is the wife of Amal Al-Shamili’s brother. According to the Kashef Observatory, “the second photo is fake and was generated using artificial intelligence.” A different photo that circulated in the aftermath of Amal Al-Shamili’s killing, which shows the journalist sitting in a radio studio while wearing a pink hijab and purple clothing, has been verified by the Kashef Observator to be a “correct photo of the martyr.”

On Twitter/X, Al Resalah (@net_resalah) shared a powerful statement from the Democratic Journalists’ Assembly as it mourned the “martyrdom of our colleague Amal while performing her humanitarian and professional duty.” The organization described Amal’s death as “a bloody message aimed at silencing the voice of truth represented by Palestinian women journalists in the field.” Noting the particular timing of Amal’s killing, the statement explains, “this occurred as the world celebrates International Women’s Day (March 8th), and this Palestinian journalist offered her life as a price for freedom of expression, embodying the highest meaning of sacrifice on her international day.” Snd News Agency (@Snd_pal) also quoted the Democratic Journalists’ Assembly, stating that “the martyrdom of our colleague raises the number of Palestinian female journalists killed to 38, in one of the bloodiest crimes against women journalists worldwide.” Al Jazeera Palestine (@AJA_Palestine) posted four photos of mourners gathered around Amal’s shrouded body and press vest as they bid “farewell to the martyred journalist.” F24online (@F24online) shared another photo of a shrouded body draped with a press vest and helmet and quoted the “Journalists’ Bloc [as it] mourns the martyred journalist Amal Shamali and affirms: the message of truth cannot be assassinated.”

On Facebook, various loved ones mourned the passing of Nour Saleh Al-Shalalfah. An account called ‘Al Shalouf Family Gathering’ announced that “the Al Shalouf family, represented by Mukhtar Abu Jalal, extends its deepest condolences on the martyrdom of Nour Saleh Al Shalalfah.” Mahmoud Sh shared the heartbreaking news that “our dear cousin, the wronged and righteous Noor Saleh Al-Shalalfah, was killed in an attack in the Al-Sawarha area.” The ‘Diwan of the Abu Shallouf family’ account wrote, “tith patient and resigned hearts, the Al-Shalalfah clan, both at home and abroad, announces to the heights of glory and eternity the martyrdom of their righteous daughter, the unjustly killed, God willing: Nour Saleh Al-Shalalfah, a resident of the Al-Sawarha area, who was martyred in a treacherous attack, joining the ranks of our righteous martyrs, patient and resigned on the pure soil of this homeland.”

Facebook users Randa Abu Swerih and Educational point: “The Shadow of the Myrtle” grieved the death of Salsabeel Anwar Mahmoud Faraj, writing that “the administration, teachers, and students of Dhil Al-Rand School mourn the passing of student Salsabeel Anwar Faraj from the sixth grade, who passed away after fasting her day, completing her fast with her Lord and being granted Paradise, as a result of the bombing of the tents.” The post further stated that “Salsabeel left a beautiful memory and deep sorrow in the hearts of her teachers and classmates” and included a portrait of the little girl.

According to the testimony of Anwar Mahmoud Muhammad Farajm Salsabeel’s father, to Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, ” shrapnel was scattered throughout the camp, damaging a large number of tents, causing cries for help to be heard throughout the area. The shelling resulted in other deaths and injuries.” Nasma Adnan Suleiman Abu Shalouf told the center’s researcher that she “had heard approximately five consecutive explosions within five minutes, causing shrapnel to fly towards the tents in the area.”

On Facebook, @Islam Bader shared an image showing three shrouds, noting that they were the bodies of “a journalist, a mother and a child”, and lamented, ” There’s so much to say… For example, we could say that Israel celebrated International Women’s Day by killing three women! Or perhaps we could make a different point and say that Israel is exploiting the world’s preoccupation with the war with Iran and continuing its favorite pastime of killing Gazans!”

Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strikes to Israeli forces.