Incident Code
Incident Date
Location
Geolocation
Geolocation
Airwars Assessment
Shortly before 5:19 a.m. on 18 March 2025 it was reported that alleged Israeli airstrikes and shelling hit a building near the Al-Tabwah Mosque in Al-Zahour neighbourhood east of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, killing from two to four civilians, including children, and injuring a number of other civilians.
Twitter/X user Qudsn_Brk reported the incident at 5:19 a.m., marking the information on deaths and injuries as “urgent.”
SayfAlqudss shared on Twitter/X that up to four people were killed, with others being injured as a result of “the [Israeli] bombing” of the neighbourhood. Other sources indicated that mainly children were killed in the incident, with others being injured.
Palestine Today spoke of “[Israeli] aircraft” leading the attack on the neighbourhood, whilst other sources spoke more generally of “shelling” and “bombing”. Following the incident, raghd909 shared on X a distressing video and photograph; in the video, which was also shared by the Palestinian Information Center and other social media users, a group of men is shown running up to a man who is holding the limp body of a young girl. The men are saying, “We need an ambulance here. See, the ambulance is coming.” In the photograph, an infant child is pictured with head injuries. In the post, they lament the death of the children and appeal to God to “make things easy for our people in Gaza, grant them victory, and secure their lives. Peace be upon Gaza, with all that is in it and with everything in it.”
Where sources identified a belligerent, all sources attributed the strike to Israeli forces.
Assessment Updates
Key Information
Geolocation Notes
Reports of the incident mention the vicinity of Al-Tawbah Mosque (مسجد التوبة) in the Al-Zahour area (حي الزهور) to the north of Rafah (رفح), for which the generic coordinates are: 31.293812, 34.258904. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.