They served cappuccinos, repaired cars and acted onstage. They raised children and took care of older parents. They treated wounds, made pizza and put too much sugar in their tea. They loved living in Gaza or sought to leave it behind. They represent a fraction of the more than 30,000 people the local authorities say have been killed in Gaza in four and a half months of war. Their stories offer a snapshot of the vast human loss — one in every 73 of Gaza’s 2.2 million people. More than two-thirds of the total deaths were women and children, the local authorities say. Often, they were killed with their families in Israeli airstrikes. Many thousands were fighters for Hamas, according to Israel, which says it is trying to eliminate the group that led the Oct. 7 attacks while limiting civilian casualties.
Hamas ruled Gaza and ran a covert military organization, the identity of its fighters unclear, even to other Gazans. Some residents supported it, some opposed it, everyone had to live with it. After decades of conflict, hatred of Israel was common, and many Gazans, including some of those below, cheered the fighters who attacked Israel. Here are some of the people who have been killed in Gaza, as recalled by friends and relatives and documented in social media posts, news articles and other sources. Gaza is a youthful place, with nearly half of the population under 18, according to UNICEF. Gaza’s health authorities say that more than 13,000 children have been killed in the war.
She and her twin sister had names that rhymed. She loved to adorn her outfits with colorful accessories and relished the attention she and her sister received from neighbors. She was killed in a strike on her family’s building. Her sister, Marah, survived, as did their father and mother, who gave birth to a third daughter a few weeks later. They named her Farah. Farah Alkhatib, 12 The older sister loved Kinder chocolate, Pringles and strawberry juice. The younger loved to play with a plastic jeep embellished with a duck. Siwar and Selena al-Raiss, 3 years and 21 months
Her father bought her a violin, and she loved it, taking lessons at a Palestinian music school. She dreamed of becoming a star. Lubna Elian, 14 He was close with his father and tagged along with his mother to the gym where she worked as a trainer. She called him “medallion,” because he was always hanging on his parents. He wanted to be a doctor, like his father. Yousef Abu Moussa, 6 She was a top student who liked to draw nature scenes, rollerblade and jump on her trampoline. During the war, she played teacher to her siblings and cousins to distract them. She was killed in a strike that destroyed her family’s home. Her sister, Leen, 8, died four days later, trapped in the rubble. Nada Abdulhadi, 10 She was the center of attention. Her mother, Maram, loved to dress her up for pictures. She was killed in October. Her mother was killed in a separate strike 11 days later. Youmna Shaqalih, 4 months
Gaza’s isolation and its school system gave it an uncommon mix: an educated population with high poverty and unemployment rates. Many Gazans with strong credentials struggled to find suitable employment. He studied engineering in Gaza and Spain before trying unsuccessfully to settle in Norway, where he worked in an Italian restaurant. Back in Gaza, with engineering jobs scarce, he opened an eatery, Italiano, that served pizza, calzones, salads and shawarma. It was so successful that in 2021 it moved into a shiny new location, with dozens of employees, three floors and rooms for private events. He was killed with his parents and two brothers in a strike on the building. His wife and two children, 3 and 6, survived. Abdulrahman Abuamara, 39
In the two years before the war, she earned a university degree in software engineering, got married and became pregnant with her first child. She was killed alongside her husband before the baby was born. Ghadeer Mohammed Mansour, 24 The twins did not find work related to their university degrees in English literature, so they started a business importing clothes, shoes and accessories to resell from their family’s apartment, often delivering orders themselves. They pumped iron at Oxygen Gym and posted their workouts on Instagram. Salah and Khaled Jadallah, 27
The twins’ sister, killed in the same strike as her brothers and her father, worked as a medical laboratory analyst at Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza and at a private lab, which featured her smile in its advertisements to encourage patients to come in for tests. She cherished her financial independence and dreamed of earning a master’s degree. Doaa Jadallah, 29 He did translation for a human rights group and worked for a think tank focused on improving Palestinians’ lives. Shortly before the war, he received a scholarship for a master’s degree in international relations in Australia. He hoped to become a diplomat. He was killed alongside 20 family members in a strike that destroyed his family’s home. Mahmoud Alnaouq, 25
She worked in graphic design to help support her family while studying multimedia at a Gaza university. She hoped to teach there one day. Jannat Iyad Abu Zbeada, 21 He had a degree in business administration but took construction jobs he hated and helped his family fish off Gaza’s Mediterranean coast. He loved soccer and supported F.C. Barcelona. His life’s longest trip took about an hour, a drive to a friend’s wedding elsewhere in Gaza. Rami Abu Reyaleh, 32 He tried to start a new life outside Gaza, spending time in Egypt, Turkey, Bolivia and Argentina and crossing the dangerous Darién Gap in Panama to reach the U.S.-Mexico border. He claimed political asylum, telling the U.S. authorities that he had been a member of Hamas’s military wing for a few years before fleeing Gaza to escape the group. He was denied asylum and returned to Gaza before the war. He chipped in at his family’s furniture business and considered getting married. “I wanted to get out, I swear to God, because I don’t bet on Gaza,” he wrote on Facebook as the war raged. “But unfortunately I couldn’t get out and it was my shitty fate that I am living through a third war on this cursed land.” Motaz Alhelou, 31
Gaza has been under a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt since Hamas seized control in 2007. The blockade has shaped nearly every aspect of life, limiting the movement of goods in and out of the territory and making it difficult, if not impossible, for many Gazans to leave. In that period, there have also been several wars and deadly clashes with Israel. She raised five children — four boys and a girl — who gave her 15 grandchildren. She was set to leave Gaza for the first time, to visit Turkey with her husband to see two of their adult sons and their families. She had packed several suitcases with traditional Palestinian foods: olive oil, a spice mix called za’atar and local greens used to make stew. But the war broke out three days before the trip. She never left. Faida AlKrunz, 60 His parents were displaced to Gaza from what became Israel in 1948. He never finished high school but worked to support his 12 siblings. His experience gave him an enduring faith in education for his five children, to make sure they had better lives. Later, he mediated family conflicts, often siding with his sons’ wives over his sons. He was killed in October alongside his wife, Faida (above), and nine of their children and grandchildren. Saud AlKrunz, 61
He was a car mechanic who loved to tinker, including making the gate to his family’s home automatic. He left Gaza only once, for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where his brother lived. He didn’t know how to scan his passport at the airport. It was his first time on an airplane. “Everything was new to him,” his brother said. Ahmed Abu Shaeera, 39 An Islamic scholar, he preached at Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, a holy site cherished by Palestinians. He later served as the minister of religious affairs for the Palestinian Authority and remained committed to Jerusalem. “Palestine has no value without Jerusalem, which is the pearl of…