Geolocation
Airwars assessment
One man, a civilian, was killed and as many as two other civilians were injured in an alleged Israeli strike on the town of Khuza’a, southern Gaza on May 18th 2021, according to local reports.
At 17:00 on May 24th, a medical source in Khan Younis announced the death of Osama Ashraf Abu Reda, according to Al Mezan. The 23-year-old resident of the town of Khuza, located east of Khan Younis, died from wounds he sustained at approximately 14:35 on Tuesday the 18th of May 2021, according to the source. Al Mezan reported that Abu Reda sustained serious injuries during an attack by an Israeli aircraft that targeted agricultural land near his home.
On May 24 th 2021, the Facebook site of The Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah) Eastern Province, created a post acknowledging Abu Reda’s death and his membership of the organization’s youth wing.
Amad Media said that a child had been injured in the strike.
Local journalist, Leila. R. Farra, said: “A young Palestinian man was hit by a reconnaissance rocket on his camp next to the house of Osama Abu Rida (Awakel), who works in the municipality of Khaza’a.”
Khabar 24 reported that smoke and incendiary artillery shells fired at the town resulted in fires. The Palestine Civil Defense posted images it claimed showed crews tackling fires at a location they called Abu Rida Street.
Local journalist, Diaa Mahmoud, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights both said a drone was used in the attack. The consensus among sources was the Israel was responsible for the strikes.
The incident occured at approximately 2:35 pm local time.
The victims were named as:
Summary
Sources (29) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (7) [ collapse]
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"Her son and one of the activists of the Fatah youth, the martyr hero, Osama Ashraf Abu Rida, bled. It reaffirms the continuation of the footsteps of the righteous martyrs, led by the founding leader, the martyr Al-Khalid Abu Ammar." Image courtesy of Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah) Eastern Province Facebook page
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"Civil defence crews are able to control a fire that started, today in Caravan in an agricultural land, the end of Abu Raida Street in the town of Khaza, east of Khan Younis." Image curtesy of the Palestine Civil Defense Facebook page (May 18th 2021)
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Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the village of Khuza’a (خزاعه), for which the generic coordinates are: 31.30620200, 34.36150100. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.