Eleen Muammar
Three-year-old killed in the al-Mawasi tent massacre · c. 2021–2024 · Al-Mawasi, Khan Younis
Eleen Muammar, three, was killed when Israeli missiles struck tents sheltering displaced families in al-Mawasi — an area Israel had designated a 'humanitarian zone'; her father dug his wife and daughters from the sand, and footage of the family mourning her small shrouded body spread around the world.
Eleen Muammar, three, was asleep beside her parents and her six-month-old sister in a tent in al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis, when a series of Israeli airstrikes hit the encampment around 1 a.m. on September 10, 2024. The area, dense with the tents of displaced families, lay within what the Israeli military had designated a “humanitarian zone.” The strikes left craters up to nine meters deep, and rescuers and relatives dug through the soft sand with their hands; Gaza officials reported dozens killed, wounded or missing, and Airwars identified at least 15 civilians killed by name, among them seven children.
Eleen’s father, Raed Muammar, told the Wafa news agency that he was buried under the sand himself and came out searching for his family: Eleen was killed, her mother Samar wounded, and her baby sister pulled out alive but injured. Videos of the family carrying Eleen’s small body, kissing her cheeks and praying over her, were shared widely. “We were in humanitarian areas that are supposed to be safe, yet these are the Israeli targets,” her father said. “They told us to go to Al-Mawasi, so we went there. We have been displaced many times.” The Israeli military said the strikes targeted three senior Hamas militants operating in the zone; Hamas called the claim a “blatant lie.”
Sources
Open questions
The Israeli military said it had targeted three senior Hamas figures in the strike; Airwars found no open-source confirmation that any of the three were killed.