Between eight to nine civilians, including four children and two women, were killed and 33 others, including eight women and 10 children, were injured in alleged Israeli strikes on the Sheikh Zayed area of Beit Lahia on May 13, 2021.
Al Mezan reported that at 1:10am on 13 May 2021, the Israeli air forces fired 20 missiles at eight residential buildings on the main street in the middle of Beit Lahia City. Abdulrahim Mohammed Abdullah Al-Madhoun, 63, and his wife Halima Ali Mohammed Abu Sharakh (Al-Madhoun), 66 were both killed in the attack. In addition, thirty-three persons were injured, including eight women and ten children. At the time of reporting a number of people’s remains were thought to be under the rubble.
A Facebook post, by the Gaza Women’s Forum, reported that Dr. Taher Abdul Rahim Al-Madhoun was in intensive care after being pulled from the rubble. His mother and father, Abdulrahim and Halima, were both killed in the strike.
Hamza Abu Eltarabesh, Taher’s friend, wrote that Taher had recently started a job at the intensive care unit of the Indonesian Hospital, his sister and two brothers were studying medicine at Ain Shams University in Egypt. Hamza wrote: “A cousin of mine, Muhammad, who lives in the area [of the strikes], told me people could be heard screaming under the rubble of some of the targeted houses. Nine relatives who would normally have been there [with the Al Madhoun family] were spared, having spent the evening at a brother’s house.” Taher had been unable to open his eyes for two days. Upon his recovery, he told Hamza that his parents had rushed to his side when the strikes started and that he had watched them take their last breaths.
B’Tselem provided testimony from Taher al-Madhun, 28, whose father and his first wife were killed in the incident: “On 13 May 2021, at around 11:30 P.M., I was sitting in my room. My mother and my sister Maryam were at my sister Hanin’s. She’s also a doctor, and she was due to give birth. About an hour later, I heard people shouting outside and unusual movement on the street. I went to the window overlooking the main street of Beit Lahiya from the south, and saw men, women and children running along the street. Some of them were carrying clothes, and it looked like they were running from home. I went and woke my father up right away. I was about to go outside to see if we needed to evacuate, too. As soon as I opened the door, there was a strong blast and the stairs crashed. I went back inside immediately. My father and his wife Halimah were standing behind me. We were trapped in the apartment. I thought the bombing had ended, but a few minutes later, another missile landed on the house. The concrete and the walls fell on top of us. We recited the Shahadatain prayer. The door fell on me and shielded me from the debris and the concrete. My father and his wife were next to me, completely covered in rubble. At first, I could hear my father’s voice, but after two minutes, he fell silent. His wife Halimah told me he had been killed. I managed to call my cousin, and he called the Civil Defense and told them our house had been bombed. They arrived about half an hour later. I heard them ask if anyone was alive. I answered yes and that we were having a hard time breathing because of the rubble, smoke and dust. It took an hour until they managed to pass an oxygen tube to me, which helped me breathe, and another three hours before they managed to get me out. They took me to the Indonesian Hospital, where I had tests and X-rays. It turned out I had four fractured ribs, a tear in the right lung, and hemorrhaging in the lung membrane. I also had contusions, bruises and scratches all over my body. The tests showed I had torn muscles, too. I was in the ICU for a week….I was supposed to get married after ‘Eid al-Fitr. I had already fixed up the apartment. I worked every day with my father to get it ready and prepare for the wedding. Now, I’ve now canceled the marriage ceremony…We lost everything. The apartment I built cost 20,000 USD. The value of the rest of the apartments that were destroyed comes to about 150,000 USD.”
@andlusy reported that prior to the strikes, Abdul Rahim and his wife Halima were celebrating Eid together and had just laid out their laundry on the roof.
In the same series of strikes, Raafat Al-Tanani, his four-month pregnant wife and their four children were killed in their home located in the vicinity of Sheikh Zayed Towers, east of Beit Lahia. Anadolu Agency reported that their dream was to buy a house.
The body of an unidentified girl was also recovered from the rubble. At the time of reporting, rescuers were searching for four possible victims thought to still be under the rubble.
A Facebook post, by the Association of the Sons of the Beit Lahia, provided the name of Raafat’s wife, Rawiya Fathi Hassan Al-Tanani, and their children, Ismail, Adham, Amir, and Mohammed. @saedswerky_RT provided the ages of those killed: Raafat Muhammad Ismail Atta Al-Tanani (39), Rawya Fathi Hassan Al-Tanani (35), Ismail Raafat Muhammad Al-Tanani (7), Adham Raafat Muhammad Al-Tanani (6), Amir Raafat Muhammad Al-Tanani (5), Muhammad Raafat Muhammad Al-Tanani (4).
According to @WeAreNotNumbers, Rafaat Al Tanani had worked hard at a series of part-time jobs in order to support his family, despite his struggles he was optimistic for the future. His last words to one of his relatives were “things are going to be okay so soon”.
B’Tselem also provided testimony from Hatem a-Tanani, 30, father of two who lost his brother, sister-in-law and four nephews in the incident: On Thursday, I was visiting friends at Jabalya Refugee Camp. A friend of my brother Raafat’s called me a little before midnight and asked me to call Raafat. There were bombings all over the Gaza Strip at the time, and he was worried something might have happened to him. I called my brother right away. Raafat answered, and I heard him shouting, “Help!” I got up and ran towards his house. I kept talking to him as I was running. I told him: “Don’t worry, I’ll be there in seconds.” He said, “Help!” again. Halfway there, I heard a several very strong blasts. The call with Raafat got cut off. I tried calling him again, but he didn’t answer. I got to a-Ribat Mosque, which is 500 meters away from Raafat’s home. There was dust everywhere. I took my shirt off and wrapped it around my face so I could go on. When I came close, I saw his building was nothing but rubble and stones. I went towards it. People were running away from there, and I passed by them. I stood on the rubble and couldn’t recognize my brother’s building, because everything was in ruins. I heard voices below me. Then, some paramedics and Civil Defense people came. Everyone who was there tried to help, and we all tried to find survivors under the rubble. I started looking. We found the al-Malfuh family. There were six of them. We got them out, and they were okay. I heard another voice. I felt relieved because I thought it might be Raafat and his sons. It turned out to be the al-Madhun family. There were two martyrs there. At 3:30 A.M., we stopped searching and walked about ten meters away from there. I spoke to the Civil Defense people and told them my brother, his wife and their sons were still under the rubble. I started looking for them in the fields near the house, but I couldn’t find anyone. I went to three hospitals in the area. I thought I might find my brother and his family there, but they weren’t there either. I talked to my parents and told them everything was okay, that Raafat was next to me and that he was okay. At around 5:00 A.M., I went to my sister Asmaa’s (36). Her house is close to Raafat’s. When she saw me, she hardly recognized me, I was exhausted and covered in dust and dirt. I didn’t tell her Raafat had been killed, but just told her to pray for him and for his family. In the morning, I went back to the wreckage of Raafat’s house and looked for them everywhere, but to no avail. I went home to my parents. I still didn’t tell them we couldn’t find Raafat and his family. We had breakfast, and then I went to Raafat’s house again and met some relatives there. I was physically and mentally exhausted. I sat down far from the house and called the Civil Defense. They came with special equipment for locating bodies and started working. I was there with friends and neighbors, and we looked for the bodies.
We were there all day, and we didn’t find the bodies until the middle of the night. They took out the body of my nephew Amir. I picked him up and put him in the ambulance. Then we pulled out Muhammad, then Isma’il, and in the end, Adham. When we found them, Raafat had his arms around Isma’il and Amir, and his wife Rawyah had her arms around Muhammad and Adham. Then we took out Rawyah’s body. It was dismembered. I got a tarp, and we got her out. She was three months pregnant. I carried her to the ambulance. Finally, we got Raafat out. His body was removed in two stages, because it was also in pieces. Everyone was taken to the Indonesian Hospital. The next day, I went to the hospital with my father. The medical team there prepared the bodies of Raafat and his family. I wanted to help them. I took the pieces of Raafat’s body and wrapped him up. I did the same with the little kids. My father gathered Rawyah’s body parts and wrapped her. I held the pieces of the martyrs’ bodies and recited, “Allah Akbar”. We put the wrapped bodies in an ambulance and drove home. I laid the bodies of Rawyah and the children in front of my mother and sisters, but I couldn’t place Raafat’s body in front of them. I left him in the ambulance. I took my mother to say goodbye to him. She screamed and cried. Her state was indescribable. In those moments, I stayed strong so my family wouldn’t fall apart, especially my father and mother. I went to the cemetery. The family stayed home. I put Muhammad’s body next to his mother, and Adham’s next to his father, and Isma’il and Amir together. I went home shrouded in sadness. I was hoping I would cry, but I couldn’t. We lost a whole family that did nothing. The Israeli army bombed them, and they turned into dismembered bodies.”
Khaled Al-Malbouh, who lived in the same building as both the Al-Tanani family and the Al-Madhoun family, told Teller Report how two large pieces of concrete had formed a dome over her six family members, preventing debris from falling on them. Khaled, 25, had just gone to the balcony to fetch his clothes when the strikes occurred. He told Al-Jazeera Net: “Without thinking I threw myself at my mother and hugged her to protect her, my sister and her children were next to us, we all sat in the corner of a room. When the rockets were falling profusely my mother said – and her arms were barely expanding for all of us – “Let us die with some of the best.”
Shortly after the strike, ambulance and civil defense crews rescued the Al-Malbouh family. Khaled was injured in the back, not seriously, his mother [Umm Khaled Al-Malbouh] suffered fractures to her legs, his sister Alaa and her children Muhammad (3 years) and Zina (2 years) were also injured. They were admitted to the Indonesian Hospital for treatment.
Khaled told Teller Report that just before the strikes: “I met my neighbor Raafat [killed in the strikes] who was afraid of the “frenzied Israeli targeting” of residential homes. He was reassured and we parted, and I did not know that he smelled death and breathed his last breath in life.”
Rabah al-Madhoun, the owner of the building that the al-Madhoun and Al Tanani families lived in, told The National that there had been no time to evacuate. “My neighbour received a call telling him that the building would be targeted,” Mr. Al Madhoun said. “He came to warn us but the air strikes started immediately – people didn’t have time to evacuate.”
Mr. Al Madhoun told AI Monitor: “I buried my cousins [Abdul Rahim and his wife Halima], and I am now searching for the other bodies under the rubble.” According to @mariamelrass, it took 17 hours for rescue crews to exhume the bodies of the Al-Tanani family. The funeral of the Al-Tanani family took place on Friday morning at the Al-Qassam Mosque in the Beit Lahia, the day after they were removed from the rubble. Al Jazeera reported that at the funeral the grandfather looked down at his grandchildren and said: “Who will go to school and answer his books and notebooks?”
Hatem Al-Tanani, the brother of Raafat, who was killed in the strikes, told Anadolu Agency: “My brother’s house was directly targeted, with a number of missiles, and without warning.” He added that during the strike he was on the phone with his brother, whose final words had been: “Hurry me, brother, catch me, brother.”
Damage from the strike resulted in the complete destruction of nine buildings, including; residential units, commercial shops, corporate offices, the offices of Faten – Palestine for Credit and Development, the offices of a legal practice and an educational center. The attack also caused damage to road networks and infrastructure, including electricity and communication, water and sanitation. A significant number of adjacent houses also sustained damage, including substantial damage to six residential buildings.
A tweet by @hstons2 included a list of families whose homes were affected by the strikes (Al-Sharafi, Al-Azraq, Al-Zara’a, Al-Madhoun, Abu Safiya, Felfel, Al-Maflouh) and the headquarters of Palestine University.
Maan News quoted an aunt of the Al-Tanani family as saying: “Airplanes bombed insanely, the bombing is very intense”. According to the relative, the family had wanted to flee but weren’t able to.
CBS News reported that Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesman, said the operation involved tank fire and airstrikes. The aim of the strikes had been to destroy a tunnel network beneath Gaza City, refers to as “the Metro”, used by militants to evade surveillance and airstrikes. “As always, the aim is to strike military targets and to minimize collateral damage and civilian casualties,” he said. “Unlike our very elaborate efforts to clear civilian areas before we strike high-rise or large buildings inside Gaza, that wasn’t feasible this time.”
B’Tselem reported that “A Hamas military operative lives in a nearby building. He was not home at the time. It is not known whether that was the reason for the strike on the building.”
The incident occured at approximately 1:10 am local time.
