May 09, 2023: Mervat Saleh Mohammad Khaswan, 44, was killed in Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip targeting several areas in the besieged coastal region.
The airstrikes led to at least thirteen deaths, including women and family members, and at least twenty injuries.
Mervat was killed along with her husband Dr. Jamal Saber Khaswan, 52, a Dentist and the Chairperson of the Administrative Board of Al-WAFA Hospital, and their son Yousef Khaswan, 19, when an Israeli missile targeted their apartment on the sixth floor of an apartment building in the Remal neighborhood in Gaza.
They were among many Palestinians, including four children and four women, who were killed by Israeli missiles targeting the fifth and the sixth floors of an apartment building in the Remal neighborhood in Gaza.
The slain Palestinians have been identified as:
- Tareq Ibarhim Ezzeddin, 51.
- Ali Tareq Ibrahim Ezzeddin, 9.
- Mayar Tareq Ibarhim Ezzeddin, 7.
- Khalil Salah Al-Bahtini, 45.
- Hajar Khalil Salah Al-Bahtini, 5.
- Laila Majdi Mustafa Al-Bahtini, 44.
- Yousef Jamal Saber Khaswan, 20.
- Dr. Jamal Saber Mohammad Khaswan, 53.
- Mervat Saleh Mohammad Khaswan, 45.
- Dania Ala’ Ata Adas, 19.
- Eman Ala’ Ata Adas, 14.
- Jihad Abdul-Hafeth Ghannam, 62.
- Wafa’s Shadid Ghannam (Jihad’s wife), 50.
Israel claimed that Al-Bahtini directed the firing of homemade shells from Gaza over the past month.
Jihad Abdul-Hafeth Ghannam is a leader of the Military Council of the Islamic Jihad, and Ezzeddin, from Arraba town near Jenin in the northern West Bank, is a senior leader of the movement.
The Al-Quds Brigades issued a statement mourning Ghannam, the secretary of the group’s ‘Military Council’, Khalil Al-Bahtini, a member of the ‘Military Council’ in the Northern District, and Tareq Ibrahim Ezzeddin, one of the senior armed leaders of the group in the West Bank, and vowed retaliation.
According to initial reports, the strikes targeted areas in Gaza City, and Khan Younis in the southern part of the coastal region, leading to extensive property damage, nine deaths, and many injuries.
The reports also said the strikes targeted Islamic Jihad leaders and members of the group’s armed wing, the Al-Quds Brigades.
The Quds News Network said the Palestinians were killed when the Israeli army fired missiles at the homes and apartments of several leaders and senior officials of the Islamic Jihad movement.
Following the assassinations, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant held an urgent meeting to discuss certain precautionary measures for Israelis living in settlements near the Gaza Strip in anticipation of retaliation from the Islamic Jihad and possibly other armed resistance groups.
The Israeli Coordinator of the Government Activities in the occupied territories declared a closure of the Erez (Beit Hanoun) and Kerem Shalom (Karem Abu Salem) crossings between the Gaza coastal region and Israel immediately after the army started bombing Gaza.
The Israeli Home Front Command also advised the Israeli living near the Gaza Strip to stay near shelters and banned all forms of gatherings in open places for more than ten people, in addition to banning gatherings in closed buildings for more than 100, the Israeli Jerusalem Post said.
The Israeli army said the strikes on Gaza came almost a week after dozens of shells were reportedly fired from the Gaza Strip, following the death of Islamic Jihad member Khader Adnan, 45, who died on May 2, at an Israeli prison after 87 days of hunger strike demanding his freedom as he was held under Administrative Detention orders without charges or trial.
On May 3, a Palestinian man, Hashel Mubarak Salman Mubarak, 58, was killed by Israeli missiles in the Shati refugee camp northwest of Gaza City.
This post will be updated when more info becomes available.
Dr. Jamal was from the Gaza Strip. Source: IMEMC