Tasneem Shublaq

Their life

Tasneem Shublaq, a 27-year-old psychologist with Juzoor for Health and Community Development, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on 20 September 2025 in Gaza City, along with her two children, Sham (5), Suleiman (3), and her unborn baby. Tasneem had previously lost her son Musalm, aged 3, in another strike a year earlier. Despite displacement orders following Israel’s intensified assault on Gaza, Tasneem chose to remain in the city to continue her vital work providing psychosocial support to children and families. Her death is part of a devastating toll on aid workers in Gaza, with at least 22 staff from Juzoor killed since October 2023.

Born and raised in Gaza, Tasneem Shublaq dedicated her professional life to supporting vulnerable families, especially children traumatized by war. As a psychologist with Juzoor for Health and Community Development, a partner organization of Plan International and Oxfam, she provided psychosocial support amid the worsening humanitarian crisis. Despite the grave dangers, Tasneem remained steadfast in Gaza City after displacement orders were issued, believing her duty to help children outweighed her personal safety.

On 20 September 2025, Israeli warplanes targeted Gaza City with airstrikes, striking the area where Tasneem and her family were. She was killed instantly along with her two children, Sham (5) and Suleiman (3), as well as her unborn baby. Her husband survived but was left critically injured. Just a year earlier, Tasneem had lost another son, Musalm (3), in a separate Israeli strike, a loss that had already marked her young family with immense grief.

Her death has been widely mourned by humanitarian

How they died

She was Killed in an Israeli airstrike.

On 20 September 2025, an Israeli airstrike hit Gaza City during intensified bombardments. The strike destroyed the area where Tasneem and her family were sheltering, killing her, her children Sham and Suleiman, and her unborn baby. Her husband was critically injured in the same attack. This attack was part of an ongoing military campaign that has systematically targeted residential areas, health facilities, and even humanitarian workers, leaving Gaza’s civilian population increasingly unprotected.

A plea from the family

Tasneem’s surviving family, already shattered by the loss of her young son Musalm in a previous strike, are now left to mourn the devastating deaths of Tasneem, her unborn baby, Sham, and Suleiman. Her husband, who was critically injured in the same airstrike, has spoken through relatives of the unbearable pain of losing his entire young family in just a moment. He pleaded for the world to “see us as human beings, not statistics,” and to act to protect civilians from further slaughter. Extended relatives of Tasneem expressed anguish that a woman who had devoted her life to healing traumatized children could be killed alongside her own. They described her as a compassionate, tireless mother and humanitarian who carried hope even in despair. “She stayed because she wanted to help Gaza’s children,” one family member lamented, “and she and her children were taken from us.” In their grief, the family joined humanitarian organizations in calling for an end to the war and accountability for those responsible. They appealed to the international community not to look away: “We do not want more mothers to bury their children. Enough blood has been spilled. Let our pain move the world to stop this.”

Why we remember them

This record exists so that Tasneem Shublaq, and all who are named in this archive, are never reduced to a number.

References & sources