(Previous Incident Code: ISPT190 )

On the morning of May 12, 2023, a rocket from the Israeli Iron Dome system allegedly fell on a house in the Al-Qobbeh area, east of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, injuring up to two civilians including a six year old child, who sustained a shrapnel injury to her head.

Local sources told Shehab on May 12 that a six year old girl in Rafah had sustained a shrapnel injury to her head from Iron Dome rockets. A correspondent for Sanad announced the same day that the child had arrived at Abu Youssef Al-Najjar Hospital. PalToday reported on May 12 that the incident had occurred in the morning and specified the location as “al-Qubbah in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip.” The Palestinian Information Center recorded the incident at 11:30 local time.

AL24 News, Al Nahda, Al-Sahira, and Sky News Arabia all corroborated that two people were injured by an Iron Dome rocket falling on their home east of Rafah on March 12, but none of these reports provided further information about the identities of the victims or their injuries. None of these reports explicitly stated that one of the victims was the six year old child mentioned by other sources, and conversely none of the sources describing the injury of the child mention any additional injuries. However the 24-hour live report produced by the Palestinian Information Center recorded only one incident involving Iron Dome rockets near Rafah on May 12 and attributed the injury of a child to this incident.

Israel has not publicly commented on this incident.