Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Up to three civilians, including at least one child, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on an apartment building in Gaza city on May 14th, 2021, multiple sources reported. Up to ten injuries were also reported.
The child was identified as 12-year-old Abdullah Ashraf Abdullah Jouda. A second individual, named as Adam Mohammed Al-Farawi, was also reportedly killed. One source recorded him as 18-years-old, another as 20, but Al Haq recorded him as just one-years-old. A photo shared on social media by someone describing themselves as a friend of Al-Farawi however indicates that the Al Haq age could be inaccurate.
B’Tselem collected testimony from Muhammad al-Far’awi, 63, a father of eight including Adam: On Friday, 14 May 2021, at 8:30 P.M., I was at home with my family. We lived on the third floor. I was sitting in bed with my wife Sahar, and our daughter Dina, 15, was in her room. In the room next door, our son Adam was lying on his bed on the left side of the room. The rest of our kids – Dima, 17, Mahmoud, 12, and Lina, 10 – were in the living room. Suddenly, there was a huge blast. I later realized there had been two missiles. One hit the apartment below us and started a fire that reached our apartment. Our room and Adam’s caught fire. The other hit Adam’s room directly, but didn’t explode. My wife and I tumbled out of bed onto the floor. I got up immediately and went towards the door, trying to put out the flames. I left the room and found Adam standing in his doorway. His whole body was going up in flames. He looked like a ball of fire. His sister Dima was standing in front of him, screaming for us to help him. I started putting out the flames and wrapped him in blankets to save him. I was terrified were would be another bombing while I was trying to save him. I managed to get him to the entrance to the house, covered him and told him to rest. A few minutes later, ambulances came and took Adam to hospital. Sahar went with him and told him everything would be okay. He told her he was in a lot of pain. I went home to check on the other kids. There were fire trucks putting out the fire in the building from the outside. I tried to put out the flames inside the apartment. Our apartment, especially Adam’s room, was in ruins. We can’t live there anymore. Then I went out of the apartment and fainted. My neighbors and the building’s security guard came over to me, and an ambulance took me to a-Shifaa Hospital. My daughters Dina and Lina went to the neighbors’ house, and my sons Mahmoud and Dima went to the hospital to be with Sahar. Adam had burns on 95% of his body. The doctors tried to treat him at the hospital’s trauma unit until 11:00 P.M., but they couldn’t help him. He was transferred to the ICU, and my wife and I weren’t allowed to see him. We went to stay with my wife’s aunt, who lives near the hospital.At night, at 2:00 A.M., the hospital informed us that Adam had passed away. That was the hardest moment of my life….Adam was a Taekwondo athlete and was famous in the sports community. The club he trained at was preparing him for competitions in France.”
Confusingly social media user @walaa23zaki, while not disputing three deaths from the incident, listed different names for the deceased; Said Hamdi Al-Rifi, Mahmoud Alaa Al-Rifi and Nasser Yahya Qazat. None of the reporting around this incident notes these names.
Amad News reported that ten injuries were taken to the local hospital, while @Issam4Gaza noted eight injuries with two of those serious.
The apartment building hit was called Al-Rabea Tower. According to Al Mezen Centre for Human Rights, it contained 27 apartments, three of which were completely destroyed while the rest were considerably damaged. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights reported that Jouda was killed on the second floor, and Al-Farawi on the third.
The incident occured at approximately 8:00 pm local time.
The victims were named as:
Summary
Sources (34) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (10) [ collapse]
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Translated caption reads: #Urgent Shehab Reporter: The number of martyrs as a result of the occupation's bombing of a residential apartment in Al Rabie Building in Al Thalatini area in Gaza City has risen to 3. (Image posted by @ShehabAgency)
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12-year-old Abdullah Ashraf Abdullah Jouda was killed in an alleged Israeli airstrike on May 14th, 2021. (Image posted by Haytham Joud)
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Image shared of Adam Mohammed Al-Farawi was was killed by an alleged Israeli airstrike on May 14th, 2021. (Image post by Moaid Khalil)
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Children stand next to the body of 12-year-old Abdullah Ashraf Abdullah Jouda, who died after his apartment building was hit by an Israeli airstrike, multiple sources reported. (Image posted by @paltimes2015)
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Image from the funeral of Abdullah Ashraf Abdullah Jouda who was killed on May 14th, 2021. (Image posted by @paltimes2015)
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The funeral of 12-year-old Abdullah Ashraf Abdullah Jouda. (Image posted by @paltimes2015)
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Image of Abdullah Ashraf Abdullah Jouda, who was killed after an Israeli airstrike reportedly hit his apartment building at around 8pm of May 14th, 2021. (Image shared by his family with Defence for Children International - Palestine)
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Damage caused by strikes on the Al Rabie Building, south of Al Saraya, on May 14, 2021. (Image posted by @msdrnews1)
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Rescue crews arrive following strikes on the Al Rabie Building, south of Al Saraya, on May 14, 2021. (Image posted by @msdrnews1)
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Image from the funeral of Abdullah Ashraf Abdullah Jouda who was killed on May 14th, 2021. (Image posted by @paltimes2015)
Geolocation notes (2) [ collapse]
Reports of the incident mention the Al Rabie building (عمارة الربيع), behind the Zafer Tower (برج الظافر) in the Al Thalatini (الثلاثيني) neighbourhood of Gaza (غَزَّة). Analyzing visual material from sources, we have narrowed down the location to these exact coordinates: 31.511259, 34.448628.