Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

PALIS016

Incident date

May 12, 2021

Location

عسقلان, Ashkelon, Israel, Israel

Geolocation

31.666667, 34.566667 Note: The accuracy of this location is to City level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

A building sustained damage and dozens of injuries were reported, including up to 7 children, due to alleged Hamas rockets fired from Gaza at a hospital in the city of Ashkelon on May 12th, 2021, according to media reports.

Haartz reported that 19 people were treated for injuries at Barzilai Hospital due to rocket strikes within the city. It was unclear how many of these injuries were linked to the strike in question. In total 35 people were treated at the hospital (including seven children) according to Haaretz, 16 injuries were related to incidents that took place outside the city.

Multiple Arabic language sources, including @OMN_4 and @alosbou, put the toll of injured at 26.

On May 12th Al Mayadeen reported that the Al Quds Brigade, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, had released a statement saying it had targeted cities and towns including Ashkelon with dozens of heavy rocket salvos. Al Mayadeen reported that prior to the targeting of these areas the group had announced that it would surprise the settlements with a red night at 9 pm.

TRT Arabic was the first outlet to publish images from the scene of the strike at 9:57 PM local time.

The incident was first reported on May 12, 2021 at 9:57 pm by .

Summary

  • Strike status
    Declared strike
  • Strike type
    Artillery
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    Unknown
  • Civilians reported injured
    19–26
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Fair
    Reported by two or more credible sources, with likely or confirmed near actions by a belligerent.
  • Known attacker
    Palestinian Militants

Sources (16) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (8) [ collapse]

  • Damage to buildings from shelling of Ashkelon on May 12, 2021. (Image posted by @TRTArabi)
  • Rescue workers search through debris from shelling of Ashkelon on May 12, 2021. (Image posted by @TRTArabi)
  • Rescue workers search through buildings from shelling of Ashkelon on May 12, 2021. (Image posted by @TRTArabi)
  • Rescue workers search through debris from shelling of Ashkelon on May 12, 2021. (Image posted by @TRTArabi)
  • Rescue workers search buildings following shelling of Ashkelon on May 12, 2021. (Image posted by @qudsn)
  • Rescue workers search homes following shelling of Ashkelon on May 12, 2021. (Image posted by @qudsn)
  • Rescue workers treat the wounded following shelling of Ashkelon on May 12, 2021. (Image posted by @qudsn)

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention a building being struck in the city of Ashkelon (אשקלון), for which the generic coordinates are: 31.666667, 34.566667. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.

Palestinian Militants Assessment:

  • Known belligerent
    Palestinian Militants
  • Palestinian Militants position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Original strike reports

Palestinian Militants

19:05
Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades
21:00 Al-Qassam Brigades again launched a missile strike on Ashdod and Ashkelon with dozens of missiles.

Summary

  • Strike status
    Declared strike
  • Strike type
    Artillery
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    Unknown
  • Civilians reported injured
    19–26
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Fair
    Reported by two or more credible sources, with likely or confirmed near actions by a belligerent.
  • Known attacker
    Palestinian Militants

Sources (16) [ collapse]