Shortly after 1:30 PM on Thursday, 2 November 2023, a 66-year-old woman* Hayat Abdel Fattah Abu Lashin (Abu Tabikh) (Umm Ibrahim) and her 42-year-old son, Ibrahim Muhammad Ibrahim Abu Tabikh (Abu Muhammad) were killed when an alleged Israeli strike hit a Mitsubishi jeep transporting displaced people from northern Gaza to the south. The incident happened on the al-Rashid road between Zahraa City and the Nuseirat refugee camp. Hayat’s 32-year-old  daughter, Aisha Abu Tabikh, sustained moderate injuries, and her grandchildren sustained serious injuries: 15-year-old Ahmed Abu Tabikh was hit in the neck, and 16-year-old Sujoud Abu Tabikh suffered from fractures and a shattered arm.

Ibrahim Abu Tabikh was the only son of Hayat Abu Lashin. Both were reportedly killed in the attack.

On November 23, 2023, Hayat’s 48-year-old daughter, Ghada Abu Tabikh, told B’Tselem field researcher Olfat al-Kurd about the circumstances of the deadly incident, shedding light on some details.  According to her, a week after the war began, Hayat, along with her son Ibrahim and his children, moved to the Shati refugee camp, to the home of her sister Duaa (37 years old). According to Ghada, in Al-Shati’ camp, the situation was extremely dangerous: “The shelling there was constant. At one point, the Israelis bombed a mosque next to where we were. ” Although Ghada repeatedly asked her mother to leave the camp, she was refusing this, saying, “Whatever God has written for us, will happen.”

At some point, when the shelling intensified, the family decided to leave. Ghada said, “On November 4, 2023, my mother, along with my brother and his family, my sister Aisha (32 years old), her husband, and their children, decided to leave. They all crammed into one car that took them to Al-Shifa Hospital, where they found other cars transporting displaced people to the shelter here in Khan Younis. “

She continued, “That same day, my husband called Aisha to check on my mother and brother Ibrahim. As he spoke, I noticed that his eyes had turned red and his voice was choked up, leaving him unable to speak. I asked him, “What happened?!” I started screaming, “What happened?! Tell me, what happened!” Then he said, his voice choked up, “Your brother and mother were martyred.”  I felt my soul leave my body. I had what felt like a nervous breakdown and lost my ability to see and concentrate. I started screaming, “Oh God! Why did you take my mother and brother?! Why did they die and leave me alone? My back is broken by their departure. I can’t live without them!”

Ghada added that her mother, her brother and her niece Sujoud, who were sitting in the front seat, were hit by shrapnel, while Ahmed, who was sitting in the back, was also injured. According to her, the deceased were evacuated in an ambulance, while the wounded were evacuated in civilian cars. She finished her story, telling the researcher that Ahmed was transferred to a hospital in the United Arab Emirates for treatment, as his injuries were serious, and her niece, Sujoud, who was sitting next to her father, was still being treated in a hospital in Deir al-Balah, suffering from fractures and a shattered arm.

The B’Tselem article featured the images of the late Hayat and Ibrahim. Hayat was a middle-aged woman wearing a white hijab and a red flowery dress, gently smiling at a camera. Ibrahim was a young man dressed in a light-blue shirt. He had dark hair, large brown eyes, a dark trimmed beard, and a wide smile.

Thu al-Fiqar Sweirjo, a 60-year-old pharmacist from Gaza City, gave his account of the shelling of the Abu Tabikh’s family’s car to B’Tselem as he witnessed it with his own eyes. On that day, at 1:30 PM,  he was driving home from work in his jeep along with my dog. Thu took a-Rashid Road, and when he got to the neighborhood of a-Sheikh ‘Ajlin, he saw a horse-drawn cart with bodies next to it. He drove away quickly, and other cars overtook him on the way. After he went about two kilometers, he heard a huge blast to his left, from the east. The shock wave was so strong that he thought that he had been hit, but he was safe. Thu told the B’Tselem researcher what he saw in the car:

“A Mitsubishi jeep driving about 100 meters ahead of me was hit by a shell and veered right. I pulled over behind it and saw a man get out. I got out of my car and ran over to them. Inside the car, I saw some injured people and a man and a woman who were dead. I found out later they were from the Abu Tabikh family. They were covered in blood. I moved the woman and the injured children to my car. The man I first saw stepping out of the car also got in. They were very frightened, and I tried to calm them down. The bodies of the man and woman stayed behind. I couldn’t take them. 

I drove them to Shuhadaa al-Aqsa Hospital. On the way, the woman and the girl blacked out. I slapped the woman on the face to try and wake her, while calming the others down. Her hand was almost severed, and she was bleeding badly. I tried to stop the bleeding. I was afraid she wouldn’t make it alive to the hospital.”

Apparently, Thu was telling about Sujoud, who had a severe hand injury, and about Aisha and Ahmed.

According to B’Tselem report, travelling in the jeep were also Nidaa and Ibrahim’s cousin, Muhammad Abu Tabikh (41), and his children: Muhammad (15), Malek (13), and Adam (5), all of whom were not injured safely removed from the jeep by other people.

Some posts from family and friends suggested that Ibrahim’s children were travelling in the car at the time of the attack, with one Facebook post from Abo Nemer originally suggesting that the children were missing. However, a post from Abu Hussam Abu Lashin wrote, “We thank God who saved the children,” suggesting that they survived the alleged Israeli attack.

Ibrahim’s cousins Amjad Abu Tabikh, Souzan Ramzi, and Abu Hussam Abu Lashin, Hayat’s grandchildren Hamada Saleh and Haya Abu Amra, and Ibrahim’s neighbour and friend Dawoud M. Maqdad all posted heartfelt condolence messages to Ibrahim and Hayat, and Dawoud posted his last conversation with Ibrahim. Mohammed Abu Ahmed Alhalees posted an image of what appear to be Ibrahim, his mother Hayat, and five children ranging in age from toddlers to teenagers, possibly the children of Ibrahim mentioned by multiple sources.

A Facebook post from Haya Abu Amra attributed the airstrike to Israel.

Hayat’s and Ibrahim’s names were also matched with the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH) lists, which include national ID numbers. Since October 26, 2023, the MoH has released six lists, along with an additional list of medical professionals, which was released on September 15, 2024. In regard to this incident, the name was matched to the second Palestinian Ministry of Health List of Fatalities in Gaza list, which was released on January 7, 2024.

*According to the testimony of Hayat’s daughter Ghada, Hayat was 67 years old, but according to the MoH list, she was 66.