Killing of Sidra Hassouna | |
---|---|
Part of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war | |
Location | Rafah, Gaza Strip |
Deaths | 8 |
Perpetrators | ![]() |
Sidra Hassouna was a 7-year-old Palestinian girl from the northern Gaza Strip who, along with her family as well as over 75 others, were killed during a series of airstrikes in Rafah carried out by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on 12 February 2024. As a result of the attack, Hassouna, her twin sister, 15-month old brother, parents, grandparents and uncle were killed after the IDF bombed the building they had been sheltering in Rafah, where she had been forcibly displaced.
Her killing received major attention on social media, as an image began circulating showing her mutilated body. Both of her legs had been torn off by the airstrikes, leaving her lifeless body hanging from the higher point of a destroyed house. Hassouna and her family members were identified by Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, as her relative.
The attacks by the IDF occurred during an operation to free two hostages held by Hamas, held 1.7km away from where her family was killed. [1] Israeli government sources linked the airstrikes to its hostage rescue operation, Operation Golden Hand, describing the airstrikes as a diversion or "covering fire." [1] [2] [3]
On 12 February 2024, an airstrike assault was launched by the Israel Defense Forces on Rafah, a city in the southern Gaza Strip, where an estimated one million Palestinians, [4] including Hassouna and her family, [5] had been seeking refuge. [4] Hassouna, along with her twin sister, 15-month old brother, parents, grandparents and uncle, who had been forcibly displaced from northern Gaza, were killed during the airstrikes when the building they had been sheltering in was bombed. [5]
Hassouna's story gained international attention after a graphic image of Hassouna's mutilated body began to circulate on social media, [6] including Instagram. [7] As a result of the attacks, both of Hassouna's legs had been torn off by the airstrikes, [8] [6] which left her lifeless body hanging from a higher point of a destroyed house. [9] Hassouna was identified by Husam Zomlot, the Palestine Ambassador to the United Kingdom, as the cousin of his wife. [5] He made an additional post on Twitter, sharing an image of Hassouna as well as the image of her lifeless body, as well as images of additional relatives killed in the attack. [10] Zomlot received condolences from MPs Zarah Sultana and Nadia Whittome as well as former shadow chancellor John McDonnell. [5]
During the 2024 pro-Palestinian campus protests at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, high school protesters renamed Massachusetts Avenue in reference to Hassouna. [11] [12] On 10 May 2024, Harvard College protesters on Harvard Yard additionally renamed multiple dormitories, including Holworthy Hall to "Hassouna Hall", to honor killed Palestinian children and journalists. [13]
The International Solidarity Movement is a Palestinian-led movement focused on assisting the Palestinian cause in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. ISM is dedicated to the use of nonviolent protests and methods only. The organization calls on civilians from around the world to participate in acts of nonviolent protests against the Israeli military in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The Popular Resistance Committees is a coalition of a number of armed Palestinian groups opposed to what they regard as the conciliatory approach of the Palestinian Authority and Fatah towards Israel.
Rafah is a Palestinian city in the southern Gaza Strip. It is the capital of the Rafah Governorate of the State of Palestine, located 30 kilometers (19 mi) south-west of Gaza City. In 2017, Rafah had a population of 171,889. As a result of massive bombardment and ground assaults in Gaza City and Khan Yunis by Israel during the Israel–Hamas war, about 1.4 million people are believed to be sheltering in Rafah as of February 2024.
The United Kingdom does not recognise Palestine as a state. The UK has a non-accredited Consulate General in Jerusalem that "represents the UK government in Jerusalem, West Bank, and Gaza", and works on "political, commercial, security and economic interests between the UK and the Palestinian territories". Husam Zomlot became head of the Palestine Mission to the United Kingdom in 2018. The State of Palestine was represented in London by Manuel Hassassian, the Palestinian General Delegate to the United Kingdom between 2005 and 2018. Another former Palestinian General Delegate to the UK was Afif Safieh, who began in that role in 1990.
Kerem Shalom border crossing is a border crossing at the junction of two border sections: one between the Gaza Strip and Israel, and one between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. It is used by trucks carrying goods from Israel or Egypt to the Gaza Strip.
Husam Said Zomlot is a Palestinian diplomat, academic and economist. He was appointed Head of the Palestinian Mission to the United Kingdom in October 2018. Before his posting to the UK, he served as head of the PLO mission to the United States that was closed by President Donald Trump's administration.
The year 2023 in Israel was defined first by wide-scale protests against a proposed judicial reform, and then by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, which led to a war and to Israel invading the Gaza Strip.
Events in 2023 in the Palestinian territories.
An armed conflict between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups has been taking place chiefly in the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023. Clashes have also occurred in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and with Hezbollah along the Israel–Lebanon–Golan Heights border. The fifth war of the Gaza–Israel conflict since 2008, it is part of the broader Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and the most significant military engagement in the region since the Yom Kippur War 50 years earlier.
On 27 October 2023, Israel launched an invasion of the Gaza Strip with the stated goals to destroy Hamas, a military and political movement that led an attack on Israel earlier in the month, and to free hostages it took. The effort is ongoing. Before the invasion, dubbed Operation Swords of Iron, Israel declared war, tightened its blockade, and ordered the evacuation of the northern Gaza Strip.
Events of the year 2024 in Israel.
Events in 2024 in the Palestinian territories.
The following is a list of events during the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in 2024.
Operation Golden Hand was an IDF operation in cooperation with the Shin Bet and Yamam for the rescue of two hostages who were kidnapped to Rafah during the Nir Yitzhak attack on 7 October, 2023. The operation commenced on February 12, 2024, at 1:49 AM during combat in the Gaza Strip during the Israel–Hamas war, and ended successfully with the rescue of the hostages, along with a soldier who was lightly injured during the operation. The coordinated early morning airstrikes that were used as cover for the operation reportedly caused the deaths of at least 94 Palestinians according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between military and civilian casualties.
The rescue of Ori Megidish was an Israel Defense Forces military operation on 30 October 2023 during the Israel–Hamas war in Gaza that led to the rescue of Israeli soldier Uri Magidish from Hamas imprisonment in Gaza to Israel. Megidish was rescued in a joint operation between the IDF and the Israeli Shin Bet, based on specific intelligence of her whereabouts. Two Hamas militants were killed during the operation.
On 12 February 2024, Israel Defense Forces launched an assault on Rafah, a city in the Gaza Strip, killing over 83 people. The airstrikes destroyed at least one mosque and multiple inhabited homes, killing most or all of their occupants.
Before the Rafah offensive, Israel conducted airstrikes and threatened to invade the city as part of its invasion of the Gaza Strip during the Israel-Hamas war which began with the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Intentions to invade were declared in February, meeting backlash from the international community because of the estimated 1.4 million refugees sheltering in the city.