Palestinian Poet’s Daughter and Family Killed in Israeli Airstrike Four Months After Father’s Death

Shaima Refaat Alareer and her family were tragically killed in an Israeli airstrike on their home in Gaza City’s al-Rimal neighborhood four months after Shaima’s father met his own tragic end in similar circumstances. The 23-year-old daughter of prominent Palestinian poet, Refaat Alareer, died alongside her husband and two-month old son as a result of the strike that also claimed the lives of three others staying at their residence during Israel’s ongoing military campaign against Gaza.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) stated to CNN that they adhere to international law when carrying out strikes but declined further comment without exact coordinates and timing details, which eyewitnesses in al-Rimal confirmed had struck the home where Shaima’s family was seeking shelter during Friday’s attack.
Shaima’s father Refaat Alareer died alongside several other relatives after an Israeli airstrike hit their house in December. In October last year, while considering whether to remain at his Gaza City residence or flee further south with his wife and six children due to the escalating violence between Israelis and Palestinians, the 44-year-old writer and academic told CNN that they had no other choice but to stay in their northern location as it was one of their last available alternatives.
Earlier on Friday this week (August 1), Mosab Abu Toha – a Palestinian poet from Gaza now displaced in Cairo – announced the news via his social media pages following notification by Shaima’s uncle, who confirmed that Refaat Alareer’s daughter and her family had been killed. In one of her last Facebook posts before meeting such an untimely end, Shaima notified what was apparently then her only childless parent that he has recently acquired grandparent status courtesy of his newborn son Abd al-Rahman whom she long imagined carrying but never expected to lose him so soon while still in the womb.
Shaima’s remains were taken to Al Ahli Baptist Hospital, according to residents from her neighborhood who witnessed Friday’s attack and gathered around Shaima’s family as they tried to come to terms with their loss following the strike that left them devastated beyond measure. Video footage of the scene shows what appears like total obliteration having resulted directly or indirectly via successive impacts of multiple Israeli missiles, leaving nothing but rubble in its wake – a grim reminder of how deadly ongoing violence has been so far and continuing to spill across swaths of territories currently under siege.