Osama Mohammad al-Hadidi

Their life

Osama Mohammad al-Hadidi, 6, was a Palestinian child from the crowded al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City. He lived with his mother, brothers, and extended family in a three-story home belonging to his uncle. Like thousands of children in Gaza, Osama grew up surrounded by hardship but remained a source of joy and hope to his parents and siblings. His short life was cut tragically short on May 15, 2021, when Israeli airstrikes targeted his family’s home without warning.

Born and raised in al-Shati refugee camp, Osama was part of a large, close-knit family. Despite living in poverty and under blockade, his family did their best to provide love, stability, and a sense of normal childhood for him and his siblings. Known for his innocence and playful nature, Osama often spent his days with his brothers and cousins in the camp’s narrow streets and alleys. His young life was abruptly ended when Israeli warplanes struck his uncle’s home in the early morning hours of May 15, 2021. The attack killed Osama, his mother Maha (35), and his brothers ‘Abdul Rahman and Suhaib (13), along with six other relatives, leaving behind only one surviving baby brother. The massacre devastated his father, who became one of the most widely recognized grieving figures of that war, seen cradling his only surviving infant son.

How they died

Osama was killed by Israeli airstrikes that struck his family home while he was inside.

At around 1:30 a.m. on May 15, 2021, Israeli warplanes launched six missiles at a three-story residential house belonging to his uncle, ‘Alaa Abdul ‘Aal Abu Hatab, in al-Shati refugee camp. The strike came without any prior warning or order to evacuate. The home was completely destroyed with its residents still inside. Osama was killed instantly, along with his mother, brothers, cousins, and aunt. Rescue workers later pulled their bodies from the rubble. Only his 5-month-old brother survived, moderately injured, making him the sole surviving child of the immediate family.

A plea from the family

Osama’s father, Mohammad Subhi al-Hadidi, became a heartbreaking symbol of loss after the massacre. In interviews, he pleaded with the world not to look away from his family’s suffering. Standing over the coffins of his wife and four children, he cried: “What did they do wrong? What was their crime?” He begged the international community to stop treating Palestinian lives as expendable, saying that children like Osama were being killed simply for being born in Gaza. Holding his only surviving son, a 5-month-old baby, he said that his entire world had been taken away, and he now had to raise this infant alone with the unbearable grief of losing his wife and other children.

Why we remember them

This record exists so that Osama Mohammad al-Hadidi, and all who are named in this archive, are never reduced to a number.

References & sources