Around 15:00 on September 26, 2024, at least 16 people, including at least three children and six women, were killed and dozens more were injured in a declared Israeli airstrike on the Shadiya Abu Ghazala School located in the Al-Falouja neighbourhood of the Jabalia Refugee Camp in the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces claimed that they were targeting a Hamas command and control center embedded in the school compound.

Muhammad Nahed al-Shanbari and his sons Nahed Muhammad Nahed al-Shanbari and Jamal Muhammad Nahed al-Shanbari were killed in the Israeli strike, along with Masada Issam Sabri Abu Tabaq, Maha Jamil Darabiyah, Ayoub Sami Saeed Ghaban, Islam Sabry Mohammad Abdul Nabi, Hassan Ghassan Shaban al-Khalidi, Jihad Ahmed Ismail al-Masry, and Jihad Hamid. The Electronic Intifada also spoke with Asil Almanssi who provided additional names: Souad Abu Tabaq, Muhammad Ghraib, Ahmed Kutkut, Sahar Abu Traish, Ismail Abed al-Rahman and Reham al-Saqa – one of those killed was a teacher.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Telegram that day: “A short while ago, with the direction of IDF and ISA intelligence, the IAF conducted a precise strike on terrorists who were operating inside a command and control center embedded inside a compound that previously served as the ‘al-Faluja’ School in the northern Gaza Strip.” Airwars was unable to find any corroborating evidence through open sources that those killed in the strike had links to militant groups.

Palestinian Press Agency (Safa.ps) reported on “Martyrs and wounded in the bombing of Hafsa School in the al-Faluja neighborhood in Jabalia camp.” They later updated their previous reporting, announcing “seven martyrs according to medical sources in the initial toll.” By the afternoon the outlet quoted the Civil Defense forces, reporting that the death toll had risen to “15 martyrs, including children and women, and dozens of injuries, including serious cases. [A] search is underway for missing persons.” The highest death toll was provided by @TheCradleMedia as 18 killed.

Writing on Twitter/X, Al-Jazeera reporter @AnasAlSharif0 offered a similar account, writing about tweeting that “a large number of martyrs and wounded as a result of the [Israeli] warplanes targeting Hafsa School in the al-Faluja area west of Jabalia camp in north Gaza, which houses thousands of displaced people.”

Photos and videos from the aftermath of the attack show horrific devastation to civilian life.

On the afternoon of September 26, Quds News tweeted a video from “the moment the Israeli military bombed Hafsa al-Faluja School, which shelters displaced people in Jabalia, north Gaza Strip.” A screaming crowd can be heard in the background of the clip, which shows plumes of smoke and dust rising from the camp.

Reporter Anas al-Sharif tweeted a video of rescuers frantically combing through debris. Screams can also be heard in the background of this clip.

Twitter/X account @inpic0 and others shared a graphic video of a young man carrying a parts of a face in his hands as others searched through the wreckage.

The editor-in-chief of Khaber News shared a longer version of the clip, which showed Red Crescent workers carrying at least two other bodies, including the dust-covered body of a boy who appears to have lost both of his legs in the strike.

Facebook user Reem Emam shared graphic images of a Red Crescent rescuer retrieving a detached hand from the wreckage alongside assorted, charred body parts that were found after the attack on the Hafsa School.

The Electronic Intifada spoke with Asil Almanssi, a writer based in Gaza who was in their family home next to the Hafsa School when the strike occurred, explicitly stating that the strike occurred without warning. Asil said that “I heard a loud noise and I saw dense smoke nearby and shrapnel flying at our roof. At first I was paralyzed with fear, then I ran inside…I rushed to the school, located just 30 meters from our home, to see what had happened and to see if I could help.” Asil then described the aftermath of the strike as “The air was filled with screams and people crying out for their loved ones. Blood was everywhere. Rescuers shouted over and over again, “The injured first, then the martyrs.” Young men gathered body parts, wrapping them in blankets. The remains of children were placed in a small cooler that had been used to store water. I saw severed heads, limbs and burned bodies that were beyond recognition. Grieving women were screaming, desperate to identify their children and husbands. Men, too, searched for their wives, who had been baking bread in the courtyard, only to find them soaked in blood, with the bread tainted as well.”

Many loved ones shared their grief on social media.

Facebook user ‘Face w koora’ posted a video of a procession of men carrying a number of shrouded bodies, with only their faces exposed. The video’s caption refers to some of those killed, reading “The rise of the moons (martyrs) Muhammad Nahed al-Shanbari (Abu Nahed) and his two sons, Nahed and Jamal, to join the constellation of Beit Hanoun moons.”

On Facebook, Ola Nahed wrote a tribute to “my big brother, my support and my soul / the martyr Muhammad Nahed al-Shanbari “Abu Nahed” and his two sons Nahed Muhammad al-Shanbari and Jamal Muhammad al-Shanbari ??.” She wrote “To Muhammad, my soul, my support, my consolation and my family ?? and to my dear Nahed who is more precious than life, O soul of your aunt, O my support, my prince, my brother and my friend, oh Muhammad, how I miss seeing you, oh, how I missed hugging you and embracing you after you, Nahed, and Jimmy [Jamal] leave… Who will keep asking me, what do you need? Do you want something, my sister? Oh, my brother, oh, your separation broke us and broke our hearts and left a fire burning inside us…We cry a lot, but only over your separation. We have always been proud of you, in your life and in your death, you are the most honorable, purest, kindest, and most generous of creation. By God, my soul… Jimmy [Jamal], you have beautiful eyes and beautiful eyelashes. The older you get, my life, the more beautiful you become. You are beautiful in this world, but when you meet the Lord of the Worlds, God willing, you are moons. Thursday 9/26/2024.”

Facebook user Taleb Naim mourned the “martyrdom of [his] dear neighbor Muhammad Nahed al-Shanbari “Abu Nahed” and his sons Nahed and Jamal as a result of targeting (Hafsa) School in Jabalia Fallujah Camp” and shared smiling photos of the three victims.

Saeb Abu Amsha shared the same photo collage, writing “Yesterday we bid farewell to the best of our youth, my cousins: the martyrs Muhanna Nahed al-Shanbari “Abu Al-Walid” and Ibrahim Nahed al-Shanbari “Abu Omar”, and today we bid farewell to a new moon with his sons: the martyr Dr. Muhammad Nahed al-Shanbari “Abu Nahed” and his sons the martyrs Nahed and Jamal.”

Nader Al Masri shared a photo of Nahed al-Shanbari smiling at the camera and wrote “Those who are dear to my heart have departed: the martyred hero, Nahed al-Shanbari Abu Muhammad.” Anwar Ashraf shared four photos of Nahed, and wrote “I announce to you the passing of a friend, a beloved and a dear one ??, the martyred friend (Nahed Muhammad al-Shanbari). Our hearts ached for your departure, my beloved Badri, my brother ???. May God have mercy on you and grant you the highest paradise. Our consolation is that you are in heaven ??.” Yassin Marwan shared a tribute video to Nahed.

Alaa al-Hisami shared a video showing a group of men carrying two bodies wrapped in blankets through a street covered in wreckage and described the clip as “snapshots from the recovery of the bodies of sister (Masaja Issam Sabry Abu Tarish) and sister (Maha Jamil Darabiyah) who were victims of the [Israeli] bombing of Al-Faluja School in the northern Gaza Strip. May God have mercy on our martyrs and we, the Al-Haisami family in the homeland and diaspora, offer our last condolences and sympathy to our honorable neighbors (the Abu Tabaq family) and especially the brothers (Ahmed and Nasser Muhammad Abu Tabaq) for the martyrdom of their wives and we ask God that they be among the righteous martyrs.”

Ramy Abdlqader announced that “the Abdul Nabi family mourns with great sadness and sorrow the martyr, God willing, Islam Sabry Muhammad Abdul Nabi, who was martyred this afternoon as a result of the [Israeli] bombing of Al-Faluja School in Jabalia, which caused a bloody massacre that claimed the lives of a number of martyrs.”

Hussam al-Masri and Abd Msre shared a smiling photo of a boy wearing a baseball cap and wrote “The eyes indeed shed tears, the heart indeed grieves, and over your departure we are truly saddened: the martyr, al-Fallujah School massacre, my cousin (Jihad Ahmed al-Masry)…Pray for him with mercy, may our Lord accept you, my cousin, you have captured our hearts.”

Echoing Hussam, Yousef Sami Ghaben shared a photo of a little boy in an orange t-shirt and wrote that “the eyes surely shed tears, the heart surely grieves, and over your departure, we are truly saddened: the martyr of the Fallujah School massacre, my brother (Ayoub Sami Ghaban). Pray for him with mercy, may our Lord accept you, my brother, you have captured our hearts.”

Sources mention that the strike hit the Hafsa School in Fallujah, Jabalia. Based on visual evidence, the incident was geolocated to the exact coordinates for the strike, but the school where the visual evidence shows the strike and resulting civilian harm is named Shadiya Abu Ghazala School and not Hafsa school (Hafsa school is the name of another school in proximity but not close vicinity). The statement from the Israeli Defense Forces mentions Falujah school, which is right next to/part of the same compound as the Shadiya Abu Ghazala School.

Where possible, names have been matched with the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH) lists, which include national ID numbers. Airwars is matching individuals to the first list where their name appeared. In regard to this incident, names are matched to the eighth ‘Palestinian Ministry of Health List of Fatalities in Gaza’ list.