Majdi al-Tatar
Amputee champion swimmer and coach killed in the al-Taba'een school strike · c. 1980–2024 · Al-Taba'een school, Gaza City
Majdi al-Tatar, 44, a member of the Palestinian Paralympic swimming team who lost a leg at age ten and became one of Gaza's best-known swimming coaches, was killed in the Israeli strike on the al-Taba'een school shelter during dawn prayers.
Majdi al-Tatar, 44, lost a leg in an accident when he was ten years old and went on to become a champion swimmer: a member of the Palestinian Paralympic Swimming Team who represented Palestine in international competitions and ran a swimming school in Gaza, according to tributes documented by Airwars. A father of five, he had lost his eldest son in a bombardment at the beginning of the war, the Palestine Chronicle reported; the outlet had interviewed him in 2022 about his work training Gaza’s swimmers.
On August 10, 2024, al-Tatar was among the roughly 2,400 displaced people sheltering at the al-Taba’een school in Gaza City’s al-Daraj neighborhood when Israeli missiles struck the school and its prayer room shortly after 5 a.m., during the dawn Fajr prayers. Gaza officials said more than 100 people were killed; Airwars identified at least 79 fatalities by name, including at least seven children. The Israeli military said it had targeted a Hamas command post and published the names of 31 alleged militants; Airwars found no open-source evidence linking most of them — including two academics and a deputy mayor — to militant groups.
Sources
Open questions
The Israeli military published a list of 31 people it said were militants targeted in the strike; Airwars found no open-source evidence linking most of those named — among them academics and a deputy mayor — to any militant group.