Killing of Sidra Hassouna

Sidra Hassouna (Arabic: سيدرا حسونة) 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 1.7 kilometres (1.1 mi) away from where her family was killed. Israeli government sources linked the airstrikes to the 2024 Rafah hostage raid, describing the airstrikes as a diversion or "covering fire."

Killing

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, including Hassouna and her family, had been seeking refuge. 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. As a result of the attacks, both of Hassouna's legs had been torn off by the airstrikes, which left her lifeless body hanging from a higher point of a destroyed house. In total, the airstrikes killed over 83 people.