A view of the street where the attack on a group of fleeing people took place. 16 persons were killed mostly from the Al Mahmoum and Hammad families, including eight children and six women
05-08-2015
Al Mahmoum family, Rafah (also with victims of Hamad family)
The Al Mahmoum family was attacked while they ran down the street as a family, in Rafah. The attack took place at 10:53am on 1 August 2014; the first day of the launch of the so-called 'Hannibal Directive' by the Israeli army, now described as “Black Friday”. Massive airstrikes and indiscriminate shelling by tanks and artillery took place in the Rafah area over the weekend. On the days 1 – 4 August, during which the Hannibal Directive was still in place, at least 255 people were killed, mostly in their houses and while fleeing eastern Rafah. The 16 people were killed when the Abu Shawareb building in Al Tannour was attacked with a large bomb dropped by an Israeli warplane.
The Al Mahmoum family and their neighbours decided to flee when the shelling and bombing intensified near their houses. The Al Mahmoum family first moved to the house of Nazmi Hammad where they stayed for a short while. But the shelling resumed, injuring some of the men of the family. The women and children were in a room at the back of the house, and they tried to escape quickly. A large group, with many women and children, then moved and walked in the street. They intended to run to another relative,s house; the home of Fathi Al Mahmoum, but they were attacked on the way.
The 16 extended family members who were killed in that attack :