On Monday, October 23, 2023, an alleged Israeli bombardment on the Al-Zatma family home in the al-Shawt camp of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, resulted in at least three people killed, and dozens of injuries.
Mahmoud Ahmed Shaat (also referred to as Mahmoud Muhammad Shaat by local sources) was killed alongside his wife, 39-year-old Lina Adnan Hassan Shaat. Mahmoud’s father Abu Haidar Shaat was injured, as was his aunt Umm Haidar and her grandchildren.
Alarabiya Palestine reported that strikes on the Al-Zatma family home resulted in a number of deaths and “dozens of injuries”. A post from Azza Ali put the number of killed at four while Samah Tawfiek reported that three people were killed.
The home was located near a school–identified in posts as both the al-Kuwaiti school or the Rabaa school–in which many people were sheltering. A report from source Samah Tawfiek stated that a displaced child, currently residing in the school, was also killed. No information regarding the child’s name or age was made available.
Family members and friends of the Shaats shared prayers on social media, asking that “God give patience” to the surviving family. A Facebook page for the al-Shaat family emphasized that “the entire Shaat family in Palestine and abroad mourns” the loss of the couple.
Photographs and videos shared on social media exemplified the destruction wrought by the alleged strike. The official Facebook account of Rafah city shared several videos of rescue attempts, including one in which a man carried an elderly woman on his back, away from the wreckage. Many photographs show at least six different children receiving medical care, with the posts clarifying that the children were injured in the school.
Where possible, Airwars has matched names with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of nearly 7000 victims’ names and ID numbers released on October 26th.
Where the sources identified the belligerent, sources attributed the strikes to Israeli forces.