At around 7 AM local time on May 30th, a teenager was reportedly killed, and at least eight others injured, when the Israeli military reportedly opened fire on a group of people traveling to and from an aid distribution centre in the Al-Shakoush area, northwest of Rafah. Airwars identified those harmed as 17-year-old Rateb Ayman Jouda, killed in the attack, while his brother, Abdallah Ayman Jouda, was reportedly injured.
Facebook user Mohammed Abed filmed a video from what appears to be a medical room. In the video, Mohammed prays for Rateb, who had been killed, and his brother Abdallah, who was injured.
At 7 AM on the day of the incident, @PalinfoAr posted to Twitter/X, announcing that “Rateb Ayman Joudeh was killed by Israeli occupation forces while trying to reach an aid center in the Al-Shakoush area.”
Within a few minutes of the @PalinfoAr post, Alyamnews posted to Facebook, writing that Rateb Ayman Joudeh was “martyred by Israeli occupation forces fire while attempting to reach an aid center in the Shakoush area, northwest of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.”
30 minutes after their first post, @PalinfoAr shared another update, writing that one person had been killed and eight injured as a result of an Israeli military strike on a group of civilians in the Al-Sharkoun area. The post included a video, filmed by the emergency medical services unit in the Rafah Governorate and affiliated with the Abu Youssef al-Najar Hospital. In the video, at least two men and two children sit on a cart and are transferred onto stretchers and moved into an ambulance. One of the injured men, wearing dark jeans and a yellow long-sleeved shirt, appears to have lost part of his right leg. Screams are heard throughout the video.
At 7:50 AM, @qudspressagency posted to Twitter/X, writing that “One martyr and several others injured by Israeli army fire in the Shakoush area, northwest of Rafah.” Twitter/X users @Almasirahbrk, @newsnajah, @AlQastalps, and others reiterated the message minutes later, though some of the posts said that the injuries resulted form “the occupation forces’ shelling”, rather than “fire.”
Moments later, Osama Al-Kahlout announced that Rateb had “ascended” after being shot by “army bullets while trying to reach the aid center in the Al-Shakoush area.” Osama added that “The army opened fire on Palestinians in the Netzarim axis while they were heading to receive aid.”
Shortly after 8 AM, a relative of Rateb and Abdallah’s, Shery Jouda, posted to Facebook to offer a prayer for Rateb, asking him to “Send [her] regards to [her] father and mother.”
An image shared later in the afternoon by Sameh Waleed on Facebook showed a white shroud being held back, and Rateb’s lifeless face, eyes closed.
Ahmed G Jouda, likely a relative of Rateb and Abdallah, shared the same image of Rateb, and wrote “We bid farewell to our young son, Rateb Ayman Joda.. a martyr” before praying for Rateb and the family.
The same image of Rateb was later shared by the Canada Camp account, which expressed condolences for the “honorable Jouda family”.
Posting to Facebook the next day, Raja Abu Saloum also expressed condolences for the Jouda family. Raja shared a different image of Rateb, taken before he was killed. In the image, Rateb, clearly a child at the time of the capture, wears backpack and a navy hoodie under a black jacket. He smiles toward the camera. Facebook user Adly Abu Taha, and others, also circulated the photo.
At around 12:45, @PalpostN wrote that some injured people had “arrived at the Red Cross Hospital west of Rafah city”. The post specified that the individuals were injured “as a result of gunfire directed at citizens in the Al-Shakoush area northwest of Rafah.”
Twitter/X user @HamlaKaddour also wrote that injured people had arrived at the Red Cross Hospital, west of Rafah, and attributed the injuries to shootings carried out by a quadcopter drone.
Two days after the incident, on June 2, a Facebook post, shared by Abu Mostafa Al-Shami, said that “His family had nothing to eat.. The young man, Rateb Ayman Joda, went to receive aid from the American company in Rafah and returned as a martyr after the occupation forces opened fire on the starving Palestinians.” The post included a video. In the video, a group of people crowd around a shroud, crying and praying. The shroud is not very big, and the face peaking out is blurred. While described as a ‘young man’, Airwars was able to identify his name among the Ministry of Health list of fatalities, where his age is listed as 17 years old.
In an interview, a man says that the Jouda brothers had nothing to eat at home, “not even flour”, so they went to the aid site, but they were told to turn back because there was no aid left. “On their way back, a grenade was thrown at them.” Rateb was the first to be killed, “and his brother is in the hospital.” At this point in the video, a clip of Abdallah, lying on a hospital bed in a medical tent appears.
The video also includes an interview with Jihad Shaath, Rateb and Abdullah’s uncle. In the video, Jihad said that Rateb’s dream was very simple, “to be a good building block in society, to be among its elite. His dream became just a loaf of bread, to feed his family’s hunger.”
A facebook post shared by Mohammad Omar expressed a similar sentiment regarding Rateb’s hopes and dreams for the future. Mohammad wrote: “He was always striving to earn a lawful living by selling drinks and cold water in the hottest summer days. He was always striving to provide his daily sustenance and that of his brothers. Today he departed while also searching for his sustenance and that of his brothers and family.” Mohammad’s post was accompanied by the image of Rateb wearing the backpack, hoodie, and jacket which was also circulated by others online.
Where possible, names of victims were cross-checked against fatality records released by the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH). Airwars’ researchers matched Rateb’s name to an entry in the 9th MoH lists released on June 23, 2025, respectively.
Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the attack to the Israeli military.
Geolocation indicates GHF proximity.