Maha Mohammad al-Hadidi
She was Killed by Israeli airstrikes when her family home was bombed without warning.
Maha died as a result of Israeli missiles striking her brother-in-law’s three-story home in the al-Shati refugee camp, Gaza City, at approximately 1:30 a.m. on May 15, 2021. Six missiles were fired at the house without prior evacuation orders, collapsing the building and burying its residents under the rubble. Maha, along with her four sons and several relatives, was killed instantly. Rescue teams later recovered her body while finding her surviving infant son, Omar, in her arms.
Biography
Maha Mohammad Abd al-Aal al-Hadidi, also known as Maha Abu Hatab, 35, was a Palestinian woman from the al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza. On May 15, 2021, she was killed when Israeli warplanes launched missiles at her family’s home without warning. Maha died alongside her four young sons—Suhaib, 14, Yahya, 10, Abd al-Rahman, 8, and Osama, 6—while visiting relatives during the Eid al-Fitr holiday. Only her five-month-old son, Omar, survived, found by rescue workers in her arms beneath the rubble with a broken leg. The airstrike also killed her sister-in-law and her children, wiping out nearly two entire branches of the family. Maha’s husband, Mohammad al-Hadidi, survived the attack and gave emotional testimony to the press, describing how his children had dressed in their Eid clothes and begged to stay the night at their uncle’s house before the bombing.
Maha Mohammad Abd al-Aal al-Hadidi (Abu Hatab), aged 35, lived with her husband, Mohammad al-Hadidi, and their five children in the al-Shati refugee camp, one of the most densely populated areas in Gaza. She was a mother devoted to her children, who ranged in age from five months to fourteen years. On May 14, 2021, during the Eid al-Fitr celebrations, Maha took her children to visit their relatives at the home of her brother-in-law, ‘Alaa Abdul ‘Aal Abu Hatab. Her children—dressed in festive Eid clothes—were excited to play with their cousins and pleaded to stay the night. With their father’s permission, they remained there while Maha stayed as well.
At around 1:30 a.m. on May 15, 2021, Israeli warplanes carried out an airstrike on the three-story Abu Hatab family home without any prior warning or evacuation notice. Six missiles leveled the building, instantly killing Maha, four of her sons, her sister-in-law Yasmine (31), and Yasmine’s four children. Rescue workers later uncovered Maha’s infant son, Omar, still alive and clutched in her arms. He had survived with severe injuries, including a fractured leg, while his mother and siblings perished.
Her husband, Mohammad al-Hadidi, later recounted his anguish to reporters, saying: “The kids put on their Eid clothes, took their toys, and headed off to their uncle’s house to celebrate. They called in the evening to beg to stay the night, and I said OK. I slept at home alone… and woke up to the sound of bombing. When I arrived, the house was rubble. My wife and four of my children were gone.”
The attack that killed Maha was part of a broader Israeli military escalation on Gaza that day, during which at least 21 Palestinians were killed, including women and children, and over 100 were injured. Human rights organizations, including the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), condemned the strike as an unlawful targeting of civilians and part of a pattern of collective punishment. Maha’s death, along with that of her children, symbolized the devastating toll of Israel’s air campaign on Palestinian families, many of whom lost multiple generations in single strikes.
Pleas of Surviving Relatives and Family if any
Her husband, Mohammad al-Hadidi, made a heart-wrenching public statement after the attack. He described how his children had been full of joy during Eid, dressing in new clothes and playing with their toys before asking to spend the night at their uncle’s home. He recalled sleeping alone that night, only to awaken to the sound of bombs and discover that his wife and four of his five children had been killed. With tears, he said: “I hurried over as fast as I could, but when I got there the home was rubble, and rescue workers were pulling out bodies. My wife and four of my children were among the dead. Only my baby Omar survived.” His plea, widely reported by international media, came to symbolize the suffering of Palestinian families caught in the bombardment.
Additional Information
Sources & References
Maha Mohammad Abd al-Aal al-Hadidi (Abu Hatab), age unknown, was killed by Israeli missiles that struck her family’s home in the al-Shati refugee camp, in Gaza. She was killed along with her four sons Suhaib Muhammad al-Hadidi (14 years), Yahya Mohammad Sobhi al-Hadidi (10 years), Abd al-Rahman Mohammad al-Hadidi (8 years) and Osama Mohammad al-Hadidi (6 years). The only surviving child was her five-month old son, who rescue workers found in the rubble, held in the arms of his dead mother, with a leg fractured in three places. Saturday’s strikes hit at the conclusion of Eid al-Fitr, usually a time of joy when Muslim families gather to mark the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan. On Friday, Omar’s mother had taken him and his brothers to visit their cousins nearby in the Shati refugee camp outside Gaza City where they all lived.1 israelpalestinetimeline.org Open source