Footage shows strike hitting group of Gazans trying to help stranded, wounded boy

Footage taken last Friday by a Gaza journalist shows a wounded boy lying in the street waving his hands in distress after an apparent strike caused a small scorched crater nearby on the edge of the Jabaliya Refugee Camp.

“He’s a child,” journalist Wafaa Thaher can heard saying. “In pieces. Why did they strike him?”

As the child — 13-year-old Mohammed Salem — pleads for assistance, roughly a dozen men begin approaching him before grabbing their heads in disbelief, throwing their hands up and yelling for help

Two of the men try lifting the boy up when a second strike targets the area, sending all of them flying back.

Salem went on to die from his wounds, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent, which said that a 14-year-old boy whose feet were severed by the second strike was also pronounced dead after being taken away by an ambulance.

Thaher provided the footage to The Washington Post, which verified its authenticity.

Asked to comment on the incident, the IDF told the Post that it “is working to dismantle the military and administrative capabilities of Hamas,” and that it takes “possible precautions to reduce harm to civilians.” The Israeli army did not say why it launched the strikes or what was being targeted.

את הווידאו הזה שפורסם בוושינגטון פוסט כל אזרח ישראלי צריך לראות. זה קשה לצפייה וזה קורע לב, אבל חובה. בעזה יש בני אדם שחיים בכל יום תחת פשעי המלחמה שאנחנו מבצעים. אסור לעצום עיניים. ילד הופצץ על ידנו, והוא פצוע וזועק לעזרה, ומה הצבא עושה? מפציץ את מי שבאו לעזור לו. למה? פשוט למה? pic.twitter.com/EUr32hP0Hq

— Alon-Lee Green – ألون-لي جرين – אלון-לי גרין ???? (@AlonLeeGreen) October 23, 2024

Earlier this month, the IDF ordered the evacuation of Jabaliya and surrounding towns in northern Gaza where several hundred thousand Palestinians are believed to still reside. The IDF has been operating to prevent Hamas from regrouping in northern Gaza.

While tens of thousands have fled, many more have remained either because they are unwilling or unable to evacuate. Some have claimed that the IDF has been targeting those trying to flee — a charge the army denies. There have also been reports that Hamas has been preventing civilians from evacuating north Gaza.

The US has expressed concern that Israel is implementing the so-called General’s Plan aimed at laying siege to northern Gaza. The IDF has denied that this is the case and began allowing some aid into the area after two weeks of blocking assistance at the beginning of the month.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting yesterday to publicly clarify that Israel is not implementing the General’s Plan, but the premier balked at the idea, according to a US official familiar with the matter.