Rafat Mohammad at-Tanani
Rafat was killed in an Israeli airstrike that struck his home in Beit Hanoun on May 13, 2021.
The cause of Rafat Mohammad at-Tanani’s death was an Israeli aerial bombardment on Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza, on the night of May 13, 2021. His home was directly targeted and destroyed without any warning, killing him, his pregnant wife, and all four of their children. The strike came during one of the most intense nights of the 11-day conflict, in which 36 Palestinians were killed across the Gaza Strip. In Rafat’s case, the airstrike not only claimed individual lives but erased an entire family line, a tragedy that became emblematic of the indiscriminate nature of the bombardments and the disproportionate impact on civilians.
Biography
Rafat Mohammad at-Tanani, 39, was a Palestinian father from Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip. On May 13, 2021, he was killed along with his pregnant wife, Rawiye, and their four young children when Israeli warplanes bombed their home without warning during the night-long bombardment of Gaza. The entire family perished as their residential block was destroyed, leaving no survivors. Rafat’s death, along with that of his family, became one of the most harrowing symbols of the heavy civilian toll of the May 2021 escalation, which claimed the lives of 247 Palestinians, including dozens of women and children.
Rafat Mohammad at-Tanani was a 39-year-old resident of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, where he lived with his wife and four children. He was known as a family man, devoted to raising his children—Ismail, 6, Ameer, 5, Adham, 4, and Mohammad, 3—alongside his wife, Rawiye, who at the time was pregnant with their fifth child. On the night of May 13, 2021, their home was struck by an Israeli airstrike that leveled the residential square without prior warning. The entire family was wiped out in an instant. Rafat’s death, together with that of his wife and children, drew widespread condemnation and grief, symbolizing the devastating impact of the assault on Palestinian families. That same night, another family in Khan Younis was killed, underscoring how entire households were destroyed across the Gaza Strip during the bombardments. Rafat’s story, and that of his family, became part of the broader narrative of May 2021—an assault that claimed the lives of 247 Palestinians, including 66 children and 39 women, and left
Additional Information
Sources & References
An Israeli airstrike killed four Palestinian children and their parents early Thursday morning in the northern Gaza Strip. Israeli warplanes fired at least 20 missiles at a densely populated residential neighborhood on Beit Lahiya's Main Street shortly after 1 a.m., according to documentation collected by DCIP. The Israeli attack killed Ra'fat Tanani, 38, his pregnant wife Rawiye, 35, and their children Ismail, 6, Ameer, 5, Adham, 4, and Mohammad, 3. The family's bodies were discovered by search and rescue personnel around 7:30 p.m. A seventh family member remains missing. Two additional adults were killed in the aerial assault, and 33 others, including 10 children, were wounded, according to information collected by DCIP.1 findagrave.com Open source
Rafat Mohammad at-Tanani, 39, was killed along with his pregnant wife and four young children in an Israeli airstrike that hit their home. The at-Tanani family were in their home in Beit Hanoun town when the Israeli army bombed the area without any warning. The entire residential square was destroyed, including the family’s home. Ra’fat Tanani, 38, his pregnant wife Rawiye, 35, and their children Ismail, 6, Ameer, 5, Adham, 4, and Mohammad, 3, were all killed. The same night that the Tanani family was killed in the north of Gaza Strip coincided with killing another family in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis. The family consisted of five members –all of them died including a one-year-old infant identified as Ibrahim. The father survived. He was one of 36 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza on May 13th. The all-night-long bombardment of the Gaza Strip targeted homes, apartment towers, and infrastructure, killing 36 Palestinians, and injuring hundreds, in addition to turning many h2 israelpalestinetimeline.org Open source