On the afternoon of June 21st, 2024, an alleged Israeli strike on the tents hosting internally displaced persons in the Al-Mawasi refugee camp located west of Rafah in the Gaza Strip killed at least 16 civilians, including one woman and two children. Other sources put the death toll as high as 30. At least 34 civilians and possible more than 50 civilians were injured in the incident.

The incident was initially reported by the Palestinian News Agency (Safa News) at 16:04, which first reported eight “martyrs” but continually increased the death toll — citing a “medical source” from Al-Jazeera and the Palestinian Ministry of Health— to 25 over the following hours, and the number of injured was reported as more than 50. Safa News had previously stated that people in the area were injured “as a result of gunfire and shells from Israeli tanks.” According to Facebook user Siham-Haifa Daoud, 30 people died in the alleged attack.

Social media tributes by family members helped Airwars to identify the names of 16 of the victims who were killed.

29-year-old Omar Hassan Khalil Al-Najjar was killed along with his 18-year-old brother Abdel Razzaq Hassan Khalil Al-Najjar.

A video circulated on social media that day showing the mother of Abdel Razzaq Hassan Khalil Al-Najjar and Omar Hassan Khalil Al-Najjar, as reported by Facebook user Adly Abuta. “My children will be married in the paradise,” said the grieving woman, as she caressed the lifeless bodies of her two sons.

30-year-old woman Bisan Mahmoud Hussein was killed alongside her 12-year-old sister-in-law Salma Nidal Khalifa. According to the post by Siham-Haifa Daoud, Bisan was breastfeeding her infant daughter Siwar when she was killed. There was no indication in the sources that Siwar was either killed or injured.

Nidal Ismail Khalifa shared photos of his daughter, Salma Nidal Khalifa, and his daughter-in-law, Bisan Mahmoud Hussein on Facebook. “Martyrs, God willing”, he wrote in a post. A smiling Bisan can be seen wearing a graduation robe and a hijab in a black-white photo, while Salma was pictured standing in a colorful shirt, black trousers and a black hijab.

29-year-old Mahmoud Ahmed Ismail Azzam and his brother 32-year-old Ismail Ahmed Ismail Azzam (Abu Ahmed) (age unknown) were also among the victims of the attack. Mohammed Azzam stated on a Facebook post that his cousin Ismail Ahmed Azzam had died “as a result of his wounds”, a week after his brother Mahmoud was killed. Karam Afana wrote that Rafah was “bidding farewell to its best men”, referring to the Azzam brothers. Abu Amir shared an image of the smiling Ismail, a bald bearded man in his 20s or early 30s, wearing an orange sweater, gray jacket and a Palestinian scarf.

Sue Sue Ahmed wrote a tribute to the deceased brothers on Facebook: “Goodbye, Ismail, my love. You went to meet your brother Mahmoud. You cannot leave him, at the same hour and on the same day. Last Friday we said goodbye to Mahmoud, and today we said goodbye to Ismail. May God give us patience in parting from you, and give patience to my uncle, your mother, your sisters, and your wives, and give patience to Muhammad, your brother.” The author of the post added:  “Parting with you is difficult, and it is still too early for you. Your children need you.” An image of Mahmoud, a young man with a beard dressed in a black T-shirt, was also added to the post.

Mustafa Al-Maghir (Abu Khalil) was killed alongside his four sons –  the eldest son, 34-year-old Khalil Mustafa Al-Maghir, Ahmed Mustafa Al-Maghir, 31-year-old Kamal Mustafa Al-Maghir and Amin Mustafa Al-Maghir.

Emad Hader wrote a tribute to his late cousin Mustafa and his sons: “We belong to Allah and to Him we shall return. I bring to you the news of the martyrdom of my great cousin Mustafa Al-Mughir (Abu Khalil). The martyr Khalil Mustafa Al-Mughir. The martyr Ahmed Mustafa Al-Mughir. The martyr Kamal Mustafa Al-Mughir. The martyr Amin Mustafa Al-Mughir. Oh God, reward us for our misfortune and replace it with something better.“

Three men – 38-year-old Ahmed Fawzi Hafez Shaat, Adel Jabr (age unknown), 38-year-old Fadi Sami Muhammad Al-Aloul, and a 17/18-year-old girl named Fatima Khaled Awadallah lost their lives in the incident.

Cve Abdullah Ahmed Shaat mourned the death of his “beloved, kind and gallant cousin”, Ahmed Fawzi, by sharing a photo of him – a young man with curly hair, thick eyebrows and full lips dressed in a Nike T-shirt – on Facebook.

46-year-old Ahmed Saeed Mohammed Zorob was also among the victims of the deadly attack. Lamia Hassan mourned the death of his father-in-law, posting a photo of him with a little boy and a kitten.

Al Jazeera Palestine posted a video on Facebook showing dozens of people surrounding a body covered in a sheet, with some of them crying inconsolably. A woman can be seen uncovering the face of the deceased in disbelief. According to Al Jazeera, they were mourning the victims of Israeli “bombing” on the “tents of the displaced” in Rafah.

Adly Abuta also shared three photos of what were, according to him, scenes from the aftermath of the “Al-Mawasi massacre.” In the set of pictures, the bodies of at least three adult men can be seen, along with what appear to be two badly wounded survivors.

One of the social media tributes for the victims mentioned the location of the attack as in the Al-Shakoush area of the Al-Mawasi camp.

Most sources mentioned civilian damages were caused by “bombing”, and Adly Abuta mentioned artillery shelling. Numerous other sources referenced the presence of Israeli tanks in the area.

Where possible, names have been matched with the Palestinian Ministry of Health lists of fatalities in Gaza released on July 24, 2024.

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

The incident occured in the afternoon.