Geolocation
Airwars assessment
On December 2nd 2023, hundreds of civilians are reported to have been killed and injured by a declared Israeli airstrike on a residential square in the Shujaiya neighbourhood of the Gaza Strip. The exact number and names of victims is not known at this time; however, 50 homes were destroyed in the strike, resulting in hundreds of reported casualties.
Airwars has been unable to identify the victims further, though due to local reporting has estimated a casualty range of at least 300 civilians, though some reports put the toll to more than 500. This is based on identified consensus among local reporting.
In the aftermath of the attack that day, the Palestinian Civil Defense (PCD) shared a video of the destruction on Facebook, writing in the caption that “The Israeli [military] commits a new massacre in the [Shujaiya] neighborhood…Civil Defense crews in Gaza Governorate recovered a large number of martyrs and wounded from under the rubble of a residential square that was targeted by Israeli [military] aircraft in the [Shujaiya] neighborhood, east of Gaza City. Search operations are still continuing by Civil Defense crews at the place.” In the video, rescue crews and other residents comb through the expansive field of debris from crushed buildings, with many piles of rubble still smouldering.
An article by Sky News Arabia reports that “Mahmoud Basal, spokesman for the Civil Defense in Gaza, told Sky News Arabia the details of what happened to the [Shujaiya] neighborhood in the morning, saying that the Israeli forces targeted an entire residential square in the [Shujaiya] neighborhood inside Gaza City that was inhabited by displaced people, with live bombardment. In his estimates, the number of victims reached 500, including at least 300 dead, in addition to the destruction of entire buildings.”
On December 4th 2023, Le Monde reported that “The Israeli army razed an entire housing block to eliminate one Hamas commander on Saturday, December 2, in Shujaiya, a district of Gaza City, causing carnage among the population. According to the Palestinian enclave’s Civil Defense, the death toll from this operation is in the hundreds, making it possibly the deadliest bombardment in almost two months of war.” The article also reports that “Gaza’s Civil Defense, which was dispatched to the scene, initially cleared “around 60” bodies, according to spokesman Mahmoud Basel, before having to withdraw to protect themselves from further gunfire. The teams had great difficulty in navigating the “10 craters, each around 25 meters long and 15 meters deep” left behind by the explosions, he said. Based on the number of missing residents, Basel estimated that over 300 people were dead, most of them still trapped in the rubble. Shortly before dusk, his men heard voices. “We pulled out a woman who was nine months pregnant. The teams were still searching for survivors when they themselves were targeted by a strike. Four of us were injured and taken to hospital,” said Basel.”
Le Monde also spoke with Abou Nafez, a former Palestinian Authority police officer, who was at his home with his wife and their children when a part of his house “fell on him”. He described the aftermath as “For an hour, you couldn’t see anything, everything was shrouded in dust and smoke was billowing from the ruins.” 45-year-old Abou Nafez sustained minor injuries from the attack, adding that “I haven’t seen anything like this since the war started. We don’t know whose bodies we’re finding, they’re all mixed up, the houses have collapsed one on top of the other.”
Numerous social media users posted about the strike, with many sharing photos and videos as well. On December 2, Facebook user Adel Samarah shared two videos apparently showing airstrikes on the residential square, with smoke and dust billowing from numerous buildings after being hit. The accompanying caption says, “In [Shujaiya], a very serious massacre…The [Israeli forces] fired dozens of missiles and destroyed more than 50 homes above the heads of their residents. God is sufficient for us, and He is the best disposer of affairs. Urgent: More than 300 martyrs in the [Shujaiya] massacre up to this moment after the [Israeli] aircraft bombed more than 50 residential buildings above the heads of its residents a short while ago.”
The same day, Facebook user Jenin Jenin wrote “A very large massacre in Shujaiya…An entire square in [Shujaiya] has 50 houses…More than 1,000 injured and martyred. All of the homes are displaced.” Mahmoud Younis shared two photos of the aftermath of the strikes, writing “50 houses were bombed at once in a residential square in the [Shujaiya] neighborhood in northern Gaza…The numbers of martyrs are not known yet. It exceeded 500 martyrs in the [Shujaiya] neighborhood only!!! There is still a lot under the rubble. You can imagine the numbers and imagine that they are human beings, right!!” On December 3, @karineomar143 posted a video of the destruction on Twitter/X, writing “A residential square containing at least 1,500 people, half of which are children, in the Shujaiya neighborhood in Gaza was completely flattened by the Israeli [military]. Barely any survivors.” On December 4, 2023, Mahmoud Alasouli shared a video on Facebook of the strike site with the caption “A view of the effects of heavy bombs and missiles and the massive destruction they caused in a residential square in the Shujaiya massacre yesterday in Gaza.” In the video he posted, people can be heard screaming as they navigate deep craters and mounds of shattered concrete. Facebook user Hatem Sakr shared a video of “The moment two children were rescued from under the rubble after an Israeli bombing targeted a residential square containing more than 50 inhabited homes in the Shujaiya neighborhood.”
Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari announced that Wissam Farhat, battalion commander in charge of Shujaiya, was killed during this attack. According to the IDF, Farhat “planned and sent terrorists on October 7 to the Nahal Oz kibbutz and army post, in the cruel massacre that was carried out”. The IDF also released aerial footage of the strike which killed Wissam.
The names of the victims are currently unknown.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Geolocation notes (1) [ collapse]
Reports of the incident mention the Shujaiya neighborhood (الشجاعي) in Gaza City (مدينة غزة). Analysing audio-visual material from sources we have narrowed down the location to these exact coordinates: 31.502621, 34.471002.
Summary
Sources (35) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (21) [ collapse]
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Source: Mahmoud younis -
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Israeli Military Assessment:
Original strike reports
2.12.2023
eliminated
Wissam Farhat
Shajaiya battalion commander
- led the battalion in the "Tzuk Eitan" operation, during which he commanded the terrorists in the battles in the neighborhood
Among them the APC disaster, as a result of which six IDF soldiers were killed and the late Sergeant Oron Shaul was kidnapped.
- Took part in planning the brutal attack on Israeli territory on October 7 and sent the Nakhaba terrorists
that same day towards the kibbutz and Nahal Oz outpost.
- He was one of the masterminds of the attack at the 'Atsmona' pre-military training center in 2002, as a result of
which five Israelis were killed.
- He directed the anti-tank fire at the bus in Nahal Oz in 2011, as a result of which an Israeli
child was killed.