Mira Rami Abu Al-Auf

Their life

Mira Rami Abu al-Auf was a 12-year-old Palestinian girl from Gaza City. She lived with her family in their home on al-Wehda Street, one of the busiest neighborhoods in Gaza. Mira was known as a bright and loving child who shared her home with her mother Raja’ and younger brother Ameer. She grew up surrounded by her extended relatives, including members of the Abu al-Auf and al-Qulaq families, who were deeply rooted in Gaza. Like many children in Gaza, Mira’s life was shaped by hardship but also by the warmth of family life and resilience of her community.

Mira was born in Gaza and spent her short life in a city that has endured years of siege, economic hardships, and repeated military assaults. She was a student who loved being with her siblings and cousins, and she carried the innocence and hopes of childhood despite the constant threat of violence surrounding her. On the night of May 16, 2021, Mira was at home with her family when heavy Israeli airstrikes struck al-Wehda Street, reducing entire residential buildings to rubble. Her mother Raja’ and younger brother Ameer, aged 9, were killed alongside her. Many of her relatives and neighbors, including members of the al-Qulaq family, also perished in the same strikes. The tragedy left behind only fragments of what once was a family and a community, with her surviving relatives and neighbors left to grieve the devastating loss. Mira’s story became one among dozens of children killed in that single night, symbolizing the disproportionate toll of war on innocent civilians in Gaza.

How they died

Mira was killed by Israeli airstrikes when missiles struck her home on al-Wehda Street in Gaza City.

On May 16, 2021, during a night of intense bombardment by Israeli warplanes, multiple airstrikes hit residential buildings on al-Wehda Street without prior warning. The buildings collapsed instantly, trapping dozens of families under the rubble. Mira was inside her home with her mother and siblings when the strikes hit. She was killed instantly along with her mother Raja’ and her brother Ameer, as well as many other children and relatives in neighboring homes. The attack destroyed entire family lines, with 43 Palestinians—most of them women and children—killed in that single night. Mira’s death, like those of so many others, was a direct result of indiscriminate aerial bombardment on densely populated civilian areas.

A plea from the family

Riyad Hasan Shkontana, who was pulled alive from under the rubble but learned that his wife and five children had all been killed, cried in anguish at al-Shifa Hospital: “They told me my whole family was gone. Why did they kill them? What did my children do? What did we do to deserve this?” Relatives of the Abu al-Auf family, many of whom were wiped out, pleaded for international protection. One surviving family member said: “We lost entire generations in a single night. Where is the world? Where is justice? We want those responsible to be held accountable.” cousin of the victims stated: “We pulled children from the rubble, lifeless. They bombed us in our homes without warning. We only ask: why our children? Why our families?”

Why we remember them

This record exists so that Mira Rami Abu Al-Auf, and all who are named in this archive, are never reduced to a number.

References & sources