Reem Ali Khalil Badwan
ريم علي خليل بدوان
Three-year-old whose grandfather's farewell moved the world · 2019–2023 · Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza
Palestinian records identify her as Reem Ali Khalil Badwan, widely reported as Reem Nabhan. She and her five-year-old brother, Tariq Ali Khalil Badwan, were killed in an Israeli strike in Nuseirat in late November 2023; published accounts disagree on the precise day and whether the family home or a neighbouring building was struck.
Palestinian records identify her as Reem Ali Khalil Badwan, born on 23 December 2019, and her brother as Tariq Ali Khalil Badwan, born on 7 April 2018. Many news reports called her Reem Nabhan while identifying her through her grandfather, Khaled Nabhan. The archive’s earlier “Reem Nabhan” address permanently redirects here so old citations continue to resolve while the canonical record uses her documented name.
Reem, three, and Tariq, five, were killed in an Israeli strike in Nuseirat in late November 2023. Published accounts disagree on the precise day and on whether the strike hit the family home or a neighbouring building; the archive does not collapse that disagreement into a false certainty.
Photojournalists Ashraf Abu Amra and Yusuf al-Saifi described documenting Khaled’s farewell. The authenticated footage shows him cradling Reem, kissing her face and calling her روح الروح (rūḥ al-rūḥ) — literally “soul of the soul,” commonly rendered “soul of my soul.” CNN later interviewed him amid the ruins during the November truce. The footage was seen around the world, but it is not republished here: the archive has no licence to copy it.
Reem’s story drew renewed attention when her grandfather was himself killed in an Israeli strike on Nuseirat camp on December 16, 2024.
Sources
- Ministry of Health-derived Gaza casualty registry, through 20 May 2025 — Iraq Body Count (PDF)
- Verification of the authentic grandfather-and-granddaughter footage — Kashif
- Interviews with photojournalists Ashraf Abu Amra and Yusuf al-Saifi — Al-Masry Al-Youm
- ‘I kissed her but she wouldn’t wake up.’ Grandfather grieves for 3-year-old granddaughter killed as she slept in Gaza — CNN
- “Soul of my soul”: Khaled Nabhan killed in Nuseirat — Al Jazeera
Open questions
Her grandfather Khaled Nabhan was himself killed in an Israeli strike on Nuseirat on December 16, 2024; no investigation into either strike is known.
Sources
- https://www.iraqbodycount.org/pal/moh_2025-05-20.pdf
- https://kashif.ps/real-video-of-a-grandfather-kissing-his-killed-granddaughter-in-gaza-is-re-published-with-the-claim-that-the-child-is-a-doll/
- https://lite.almasryalyoum.com/main/330072/
- https://edition.cnn.com/2023/11/29/middleeast/gaza-truce-israel-grandfather-returns-home-intl-hnk/index.html
- https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/16/soul-of-my-soul-israeli-shelling-kills-gaza-grandfather-who-moved-world
Cite this page
Every claim above carries its sources — citation is the point.
- Chicago
“Reem Ali Khalil Badwan.” Gaza, FALASTEEN.AI. Accessed 22 August 2026. https://falasteen.ai/gaza/reem-ali-khalil-badwan.- MLA
“Reem Ali Khalil Badwan.” Gaza, FALASTEEN.AI, 2026, https://falasteen.ai/gaza/reem-ali-khalil-badwan. Accessed 22 August 2026.- BibTeX
@misc{falasteen-reem-ali-khalil-badwan, title = {Reem Ali Khalil Badwan}, howpublished = {\url{https://falasteen.ai/gaza/reem-ali-khalil-badwan}}, organization = {FALASTEEN.AI — A Living Archive for Palestine}, year = {2026}, note = {Accessed 2026-08-22} }