Hajar Abdul-Razeq al-Madhoun

Their life

Hajar Abdul-Razeq al-Madhoun, 60, was a Palestinian civilian from the Gaza Strip who lost her life during the Israeli military offensive on May 13, 2021. She lived in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, where she and many members of her community endured years of hardship under blockade and recurring assaults. Along with her relative Abdul-Rahim Mohammad al-Madhoun, 63, Hajar was among the dozens of Palestinians killed during the intense bombardments that targeted homes, residential towers, and infrastructure across Gaza. Her death reflects the widespread civilian toll of the 11-day escalation in May 2021, during which entire families were buried under rubble and hundreds of homes were destroyed.

Hajar Abdul-Razeq al-Madhoun was a 60-year-old Palestinian woman living in the Jabalia refugee camp, one of the most densely populated areas in the northern Gaza Strip. As part of a community of refugees displaced since the 1948 Nakba, she lived in conditions marked by overcrowding, poverty, and recurring violence. On May 13, 2021, during one of the deadliest nights of the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, her life was cut short when Israeli airstrikes targeted residential areas in Jabalia. Hajar was killed alongside another resident, Abdul-Rahim Mohammad al-Madhoun, 63. Her death occurred during a night in which 36 Palestinians, including children, were killed across Gaza as residential towers collapsed, homes were flattened, and neighborhoods turned to rubble. Hajar’s passing became part of the broader tragedy of the May 2021 war, in which 247 Palestinians were killed, including women, children, and entire families. Her name, remembered among the victims, symbolizes the heavy price paid by civilians in Gaza who are trapped between war and blockade.

How they died

Hajar was killed in an Israeli airstrike during the bombardment of Jabalia refugee camp on May 13, 2021.

The cause of Hajar Abdul-Razeq al-Madhoun’s death was an Israeli airstrike that struck Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza during the night of May 13, 2021. The attack was part of a wider military campaign in which Israeli warplanes carried out heavy and continuous bombardments across the Gaza Strip, targeting homes, apartment towers, and civilian infrastructure. These strikes killed at least 36 Palestinians in a single night, including Hajar, and left many more wounded or buried under rubble. The indiscriminate nature of the bombardments caused widespread civilian casualties, including women, children, and the elderly, with Hajar among those who lost their lives inside their own community.

Why we remember them

This record exists so that Hajar Abdul-Razeq al-Madhoun, and all who are named in this archive, are never reduced to a number.

References & sources