On the evening of Wednesday, October 18th, 2023, a 14 year old child was killed and four other civilian members of the Abu Shaaban family were injured, including a 9 year old child and a young man who is a US citizen, in an alleged Israeli airstrike on the Tel Hawa residential neighbourhood in the vicinity of the University College and the Salah Badawi Mosque, in west Gaza City.
According to the Guardian and Ultra Sawt news, the Abu Shaaban family, one of whom is 18 year old Yousof Abu Shaaban, a citizen of the USA and born in Michigan, fled their home in Gaza City to the southern regions on 14 October 2023 in an attempt to evacuate via the Rafah border, designated as “the only exit point out of Gaza into Egypt.” After waiting for several days at the crossing which remained closed, the family were left with no choice but to return to their home in Gaza – after this, the 14 year old Joud Abu Shaaban was killed in the bombing on their neighbourhood, which a source on social media described as “insane and indiscriminate bombing.”
Joud’s father, Abedalazeez Abu Shaaban (45) who is visually impaired, her mother Jamila (42), and her older brother, Yousof Abu Shaaban, sustained heavy injuries, while her younger sister, 9 year old Jihan Abu Shaaban, lost an arm in the bombing. Sources on local and social media corroborated this information, including Shehab Agency, al Arabiya Palestine, Gaza News Now, Gaza Live, the Palestinian Information Center and al Jazeera, with images of the injured Yousef shared holding his American passport. Sources also posted videos of the bombings, with Gaza Live sharing footage of a house bombed “near al-Quds hospital”, and al Jazeera revealing footage of an explosion near the hospital. It is unclear whether this was the home of the Abu Shaaban family.
The family was treated at al-Shifa hospital where they remained for close to two weeks, before moving to al-Ahli hospital, where Jamila had shrapnel removed from her leg and the rest of the family underwent surgery. A surgeon who treated Jihan there is quoted by the Guardian as describing her arm “like a shark took a bite out of it and took the bone and nerves and tendons.” Yousof recorded a heart-rending video of himself and posted it to social media, asking, “Where is this country that should protect me?” His interview with Al Jazeera has him confirming the death of his sister and the injuries of his family, saying, “What did we do to deserve this? We are civilians, everyone here is civilians.” Yousef’s father Abedalazeez “studied at Western Michigan University and worked in the state for several years” according to Ultra Sawt. Yousef’s cousin Bahjat Abushaban in Michigan said he received news from other family members that doctors weren’t sure if they could perform surgery necessary to save Yousof’s injured arm.
The Guardian reported that the surviving family has since traveled to Rafah once again to await evacuation, during which they “had to carry a white piece of flag saying we are defeated” according to Abedalazeez. Yousof’s US citizenship allowed for Jamila and Jihan to travel to the USA in December after the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund offered to treat Jihan’s hand injuries at the Shriners hospital in Philadelphia. Abedalazeez and Yousef remained for now as the former is “afraid to travel without health insurance given the US healthcare system’s out-of-pocket costs.”
Airwars has matched Joud’s names with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of nearly 7000 victims’ names and ID numbers released on October 26th.
Where sources identified the belligerents all sources attributed the strikes to Israeli forces.