Shortly before 11 PM on July 31, 2024, a civilian vehicle on Salah al-Din Street, near the northern entrance to the Al-Maghazi camp in the central Gaza Strip, was hit in an alleged Israeli airstrike, killing at least six civilians, all of them men, and injuring a number of others.
Initial reports on the day, most of them quoting Civil Defense spokesman, Major Mahmoud Basal, noted that two people were killed in the incident with one injured. By the early hours of August 1, 2024, a Safa News Agency correspondent reported that the death toll had risen to six. In the post, it was noted that the individuals were residents of Camp 1 in al-Nuseirat; they were 46-year-old Raafat Ahmed Hamad, Muhammad Jamal Abu Abdo, Magdy Abu Abdo, Marwan Abu Abdo, 25-year-old Majid Hamed Abu Abdo, and 38-year-old Rami Nasser Matar. According to a later post by the Wafa Agency, medical sources tallied eight citizens as having been killed in the incident with others having “sustained various injuries”. Those who were killed in the incident were taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Reports suggest the men were trying to organise trucks for a local merchant when they were hit in an airstrike. Mohammad Abu Isam noted that they “arrived from Nuseirat Camp, Camp 1, on a mission to secure trucks specifically for one of the merchants” when they were hit in the airstrike.
Twitter/X user @tamerschmot and others shared a video where two young men were bidding farewell to their father, kissing a white shroud with his body and saying that he became a “shaheed”.
Following the news of the incident, friends and family took to social media to mourn the loss of their loved ones.
Mazen al-Tawil expressed his grief about the death of Rami Nasser Matar (Abu Nasser), who was a driver of the vehicle who had already lost his daughter in one of the previous bombings, writing, “What a heart-wrenching morning, what a heartache, enough of the pain, enough of oppression and loss. I extend to you my brave and honourable brother, and friend, Rami Matar. May God have mercy on him, my friend.” Similarly, Mohammed M. Zreed reflected on the loss of his relative, writing, “Today we bid farewell to one of our dear relatives, Rami Nasser Matar. He joined his daughter, the martyr, who was killed in a previous bombing of the new camp. May God have mercy on him, forgive him, and place him in your spacious paradise. God is sufficient for us, and He is the best disposer of affairs.”
Rami’s cousin Khaled Wael Nofal also mourned his death, sharing an image of his deceased relative – a young man with a black beard wearing a red jacket. Mohammad Jawdah expressed his condolences to the wife of the late Rami and his family, calling him “kind-hearted”.
Among those mourning the deceased was the sports community in Gaza. Raafat Ahmed Hamad (Abu Ahmed), once a football star and captain of the Ahli Nuseirat Youth Club, had been promoted to the Premier League’s first team in 1999, where he distinguished himself as a skilled right defender. In a post shared by Yaser Yousef, it was noted that he was “a new martyr of the sports movement.”
Raafat Hamad was remembered as “a beloved neighbour and a sincere friend” with “a beautiful smile, a sense of humour, and a good heart.” His cousin, Samar Hamad, shared a poignant prayer, asking, “Oh God, make us steadfast when affliction befalls us, with hearts content with God’s will and destiny. My dear cousin Raafat Ahmed Hamad was martyred. Oh God, forgive him and make his grave a garden of paradise and bind the hearts of his family. There is no power to meet him except with God. We belong to God and to Him we shall return.”
In the wake of his father’s death, Mohammed Raafat Hamad shared a tribute to his father. In the post, he described his father as a pillar of strength and a guiding force throughout his life.”I spent all my life in this world with my father, every step of the way, in peace, danger, suffering, and everything, but my heart was never tired,” Mohammad wrote. Grieving the loss of his father, Mohammad sought solace in his faith, quoting a verse from the Quran: “Do not think that those who are killed in the cause of God are dead, but rather they are alive and provided for by their Lord.” In another post, Mohammed stated that his father “made him a man” and that he will continue to follow his father’s “good conduct, his morals, his good reputation… and the light of his way in this world.”
Many social media users shared images of the late Mohammed.
The death of the four young brothers and/or cousins, Muhammad, Magdy, Marwan and Majid, was mourned in a post by Ali Abed who extended condolences for the Abu Abdo family. Abu Alnamr Abdo wrote about the deceased men: “Your good memory will remain in our words, hearts and eyes”. He shared that Majid was planning to give a ring to his fiancée and make her “happy” while Muhammed used to bring food to feed his wife and children. Marwan was a Bedouin who used to work as a fisherman; his “livelihood was cut off” due to the “occupation” and his displacement.
Rafat Abdo shared an image of Muhammad, a man in his 30s dressed in a three-piece grey suit and holding the hand of his small daughter who was holding the hand of her young brother.
The death of Majid was mourned by the Facebook account “Al-Bureij gathers us” which added an image of a young man with a camouflage style t-shirt.
Where possible, names have been matched with the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH) lists, which include national ID numbers. Since October 26, 2023 the MoH has released six lists, along with an additional list of medical professionals, which was released on September 15, 2024. Airwars is matching individuals to the first list where their name appeared. In regard to this incident, names are matched to the sixth ‘Palestinian Ministry of Health List of Fatalities in Gaza’ list, which was released on September 15, 2024.
Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strike to Israeli forces.