Jamil Najm al-Deen Najm

Their life

Jamil Najm al-Deen Najm was a 4-year-old Palestinian child from Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip. His young life was tragically cut short on August 7, 2022, when an Israeli drone-fired missile struck Al-Fallujah Cemetery, located west of Jabalia refugee camp. Jamil was one of five children killed in the strike and among 17 Palestinian children confirmed killed during a three-day Israeli military offensive on Gaza from August 5 to 7. Despite his tender age, Jamil had already been growing up under the shadow of siege and war, conditions that have defined life for children in Gaza for over a decade. His death occurred during a broader campaign of airstrikes that killed at least 44 Palestinians and wounded hundreds more. Jamil’s story is a heartbreaking reflection of the immense human cost of repeated military assaults on Gaza’s civilian population, and a symbol of the countless innocent lives disrupted and destroyed by ongoing violence and occupation.

Jamil Najm al-Deen Najm was a 4-year-old Palestinian boy from Jabalia, a densely populated refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. On August 7, 2022, Jamil was killed when an Israeli drone-fired missile struck Al-Fallujah Cemetery, west of Jabalia, around 7 p.m. The airstrike claimed the lives of five Palestinian children, including Jamil. It was one of the deadliest moments during a three-day Israeli military offensive on Gaza that began on August 5.

Jamil was among the youngest of the 17 children confirmed killed in the assault. The cemetery, a place traditionally associated with peace and mourning, became the site of deadly violence, further highlighting the indiscriminate nature of the attacks. The missile that ended Jamil’s life also killed Hamed Heidar Hamed Najim (16), Jameel Ihab Jameel Najim (13), Mohammad Salah Hamed Najim (16), and Nathmi Fayez Abdulhadi Abu Karsh (15).

The airstrikes came just days after Israel arrested a senior Islamic Jihad leader in the West Bank and killed 16-year-old prote

How they died

Killed in an Israeli drone-fired missile strike

Jamil Najm al-Deen Najm was killed as a result of an Israeli drone-fired missile strike that hit Al-Fallujah Cemetery, located west of the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, on the evening of August 7, 2022. The missile targeted what is traditionally a civilian site, striking without distinction between combatants and non-combatants. This attack was part of a broader three-day Israeli military offensive across the Gaza Strip, which involved multiple airstrikes and resulted in significant civilian casualties. The strike not only killed Jamil but also four other Palestinian children in the same area, underscoring the indiscriminate nature of the attack. The use of drone-fired missiles in densely populated civilian areas raises grave concerns under international humanitarian law, which prohibits disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks, especially those that put children and other civilians at risk. Jamil’s death exemplifies the devastating human toll of such military actions amid ongoing conflict and blockade conditions that restrict Gaza’s access to safety and basic necessities.

Why we remember them

This record exists so that Jamil Najm al-Deen Najm, and all who are named in this archive, are never reduced to a number.

References & sources