Geolocation
Airwars assessment
At least 25 civilians, including at least two women and three children, were killed and a number of civilians were injured in an alleged Israeli airstrike on Al-Tabi’in School, which hosted hundreds of displaced people at the time of the strike in the Al-Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City around 2 am on Tuesday, March 18, 2025.
Most of the sources, including news agencies Safa, Al Jazeera Palestine, and Alarabiya Palestine, reported that the airstrike killed at least 25 civilians. Al Jazeera Palestine also added an image taken in a morgue, where dead bodies can be seen.
Social media users, including Twitter/X user @OsamaDmour5 and Facebook user Tha’b b bani Suhila, reported more than 30 deaths in the attack that hit the third and fourth floors of the school.
Other social media users also described the devastating effects of the attack on the civilians. Facebook user Fedaa Sh wrote, “The force of the explosion tore bodies apart and scattered the remains of the martyrs, while airstrikes continued in other parts of Gaza.”
Airwars researchers found the identities of some of the victims of the airstrike through testimonies online, including an 11-month-old infant Mohammed Abo Sha’aban who was killed alongside his mother whose name and age were not reported. Twitter/X user @DaoudHamdi29435 posted an emotional video showing a grieving Palestinian man holding Mohammed’s small, lifeless body wrapped in a white cloth in his hands and weeping. According to an article by The Journal, the man holding the infant’s body was his uncle, and Mohammed was only 11 months old at the time of his death.
The article “Gaza awakes to a ‘bloody suhoor’ as Israel stages Ramadan massacre” by the Middle East Eye mentioned a young Palestinian man, Muhammad al-Shawish, who lost his sister and her children in the attack. “My sister’s husband was killed at the start of the war. Today, they bombed the [Al-Tabi’in School] where she and her children had taken refuge,” Shawish told Middle East Eye. “They bombed a classroom next to the one where my sister stayed. She was killed along with her children. Only a boy and a girl survived. Among those killed was a baby whose father never got to see him.”
A video posted on Twitter/X by Quds News Network, Palestinian Media Center, and other media outlets showed a young boy who survived the attack. He was filmed amidst the rubble left after the attack and told about the shocking aftermath, emphasizing that everybody was terrified: “We were sitting peacefully in classrooms. We were sitting when we suddenly heard a very loud explosion. We went outside to see where it happened. We found it on the fourth floor of [Al-Tabi’in] Al-Shariya school. This happened at 2 AM. Around 30 people were killed in this massacre. I swear the scenes were full of blood, body parts, and panic. We were terrified – body parts, blood everywhere. Dismembered people and several heads and hands were scattered in the courtyard. Blood covered the ground. I swear, we were terrified.”
Other eyewitnesses also gave their accounts of what happened that night in a video posted by Waleed Aplhade on Facebook, who reported that the airstrike killed 30 civilians. Suzan Masri, a displaced woman, described the explosion and scenes of the aftermath: “No words to explain the scenes – the martyrs all around, blood, body parts, and injuries, people lifted from underneath the rubble. Many lost their loved ones. Imagine five floors falling down on people’s heads, imagine how many martyrs. We were asleep at 2 am. We woke to prepare Suhoor as it’s Ramadan. We woke up to a huge explosion. We went out to see what happened. It seemed like a judgment day – rubble, dust, and destruction. People screaming everywhere, people crowded, stumbling and bumping into each other. We realized that that was an airstrike that hit the fourth floor of the school. “
Another eyewitness, Fadi Naser, said in the video that it was not the first attack on the school, “Before they hit us while praying in the school. They claimed there were resistance fighters then. That’s all nonsense. Now they hit us again in a sheltering school. Children were killed.”
Facebook user Ethat sawt Falsten shared a video of a Palestinian man bidding a sad farewell to his brother, who had been killed in the airstrike. The man was sitting near the lifeless body of his brother and caressing his face. The victim was a young man, but his identity is unknown. Two more corpses are seen near them.
Another video posted by Ashraf Hajaj showed a Palestinian woman who was screaming and calling out to God after losing her family in the attack. Ashraf Hajaj wrote, “By God, we still don’t miss the return of these scenes. God is sufficient for us, and He is the best Disposer of affairs. Her family was lost in the bombing of the [Al-Tabi’in School] this morning. A cry of pain and oppression.”
Twitter/X user @livequds and other social media users posted an image of the school, where it was evident that the fourth floor was severely damaged, with a collapsed ceiling.
The news company Metras, reporting on Facebook, stated that some injured suffered severe burns and had to undergo amputations.
Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the responsibility for the strike to the Israeli military.
The incident occured at approximately 2:00 am local time.
The victims were named as:
Family members (2)
Family members (3)
Geolocation notes (2) [ collapse]
Reports of the incident mention the Al-Tabi’in School (مدرسة التابعين) in the Al-Daraj neighbourhood (حي الدرج) in Gaza City (مدينة غزة). Analysing audio-visual material from sources, we have narrowed the location down to the following exact coordinates: 31.518775, 34.464331.
Summary
Sources (42) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (31) [ collapse]
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Source: @livequds -
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Source: Om Ghomoud -
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Source: Habib Qaddoura -
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Source: Alarabiya Palestine -
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Source: Al Hadath Palestine -
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Source: Suzy Mahmoud -
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Source: Adnan Ghunimi Abo Adham -
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Source: Falsten post -
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Source: Al Khalil Asfaa -
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Source: Metras -
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Source: Ps.24 -
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Source: Rayhanat Al Aqsa -
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Source: Rayhanat Al Aqsa -
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Source: Soulaiman Akayour -
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