(Previous Incident Code: ISPT055)

A six-year-old girl was killed by shrapnel while outside her house in Jabalia on May 14th, 2021, multiple sources reported. The majority of sources said the shrapnel resulted from nearby Israeli shelling, but Defence for Children International – Palestine and NGO Monitor reported that it came from a rocket-propelled grenade. Rocket-propelled grenades are commonly used by Palestinian militants.

The girl was named as Buthaina Mahmoud Issa Obaid. She was reported to have had a disability, which a source identified as cerebral palsy. The shrapnel struck her head and although she was rushed to hospital, she was unfortunately pronounced dead on arrival.

Defence for Children International – Palestine noted it had not yet been able to confirm the source of the rocket-propelled grenade and said it was continuing to investigate the incident. NGO Monitor, a group based in Jerusalem, alleged that “this incident is the result of Palestinian munitions: Either one of the RPGs fired by Palestinians towards Israel misfired, or an Israeli strike on a weapons cache led to secondary explosions.”

There were no other reports of harm as a result of this incident.