On Saturday, July 5, 2025, in the early morning hours one civilian was killed and another civilian was injured while fishing at sea allegedly by the Israeli navy near Al-Shati Refugee Camp outside Gaza City.
Based on numerous posts by private social media users, including family members of the deceased, as well as reports from local media, the fisherman Hajj Khader Khalil Ibrahim Abu Odah (Abu Nidal, over 60) was killed in the early morning hours while fishing, as he did every day, to provide a livelihood for his family.
According to two family sources, his grandson Khader Nidal Khader Abu Odah, who had accompanied him, was moderately to seriously injured.
Several family members, including Osama Abu Foul, Khaled al-Sabbah, Mohammed Tabash, Haitham Abu Odah and Haneen Khalil, took to Facebook to express their grief and condolences over the loss of their beloved uncle and cousin. They described Abu Nidal as a resilient, generous, and kind man who “did not bow down despite his wounds,” having endured the loss of three sons who had also been killed in the Gaza Sea and later taking in his orphaned grandchildren. Despite hardship, he refused to be displaced and remained in Gaza City, where he worked as a fisherman to provide for his family’s livelihood
Most social media posts included his Facebook profile picture, showing Abu Nidal, a grey-bearded man with cropped grey hair wearing an elegant brown suit and a black shirt underneath his jacket, proudly standing in front of a silver car decorated with a red ribbon and a bouquet of red flowers on the hood, looking directly into the camera as the sun sets near the coast. Another photograph depicts him sitting on a patterned blue couch, wearing a dark coloured shirt, looking softly into the camera
The incident was covered by local journalists, including Muthanna al-Najjar, and media outlets, including @PalinfoAr and Ramallah News, and fishing expert Zakaria Baker. The incident was further shared by private social media users and local community groups on and Facebook, that are covering incidents in and news in their respective areas, such as the Fisherman’s Syndicate / Gaza Strip and Beach Camp Page PS.
Almost all sources located the incident in the Gaza Sea off the coast of Gaza City, an area he had previously refused to leave behind. His nephew Haitham Abu Odah further stated that he was a resident of the Al-Shati (Beach) refugee camp .
Available sources described the incident as a bombardment, with some further specifying that the bombing was conducted from a naval vessel operating in the Gaza Sea. Abu Nidal’s cousin Osama Abu Foul stated on Facebook that the attack was carried out by a quadcopter launched from the naval ship that had dropped two bombs on the deceased.
Where sources identified the belligerent, all attributed the airstrike to the Israeli military.