Muhammad Abu Armana
محمد أبو عرمانة

Killed by Israel on 13 Jul 2024

Links

• Obituary by the Government Media Office
• Airwars Assessment ISPT130724e
• Journalistes à Gaza, Les visages du carnage: Mohamed Manhal Abou Armana

Archivist Notes

Full name: Muhammad Munhel Abu Armana | محمد منهل أبو عرمانة

Armanah, journalist at Palestine Now News Agency, was killed in an Israeli airstrike that struck tents sheltering displaced civilians in the al-Mawasi area west of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on July 13, 2024, during the event that became known as the Mawasi massacre. The Israeli military said the strikes were intended to target Mohammed Deif.

Beginning at approximately 10:30 a.m., a series of Israeli airstrikes hit a compound near the al-Nas Junction in al-Mawasi. Initial reports identified at least 55 civilians killed, with later estimates placing the death toll at around 90 and as many as 150, while approximately 300 people were reported injured. By the evening, the Gaza Ministry of Health stated that around half of those killed were women and children, and that dozens of women and children were among the wounded.

The strikes also killed at least three civil defence workers and one journalist, while injuring a photographer. Local reports described multiple strikes occurring in rapid succession, with Al Jazeera reporting "five bombs and five missiles," making it difficult to determine which victims were killed in each individual strike. The casualty figures refer to the combined toll from the entire series of strikes.

According to the French independant Media, Mediapart, just one month after the death of her husband, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike, Alia shared on Facebook the profound sense of emptiness that has taken hold of her : “The death of your partner means becoming disabled for the rest of your life — looking at everything around you and finding it colorless, living with half a heart, half a soul, half your ambitions and half a body. It means losing the one person who understood your spirit, the embrace that held you and made you feel safe.”

On July 13, her husband, Mohamed Manhal Abou Armana, was killed by an Israeli drone strike while documenting the devastation left behind by an attack on the Al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis. The strike killed several displaced Palestinians who had fled the bombardments and sought refuge in tents set up along the southern Gaza coast, an area designated as a humanitarian zone. The 32-year-old Palestinian journalist was taking photographs of the victims for the local pro-Hamas news agency Palestine Now when he was himself killed.