Fake Messenger chat attributed to Abu al-Ata family during Shuja’iyyah massacre

Social media users circulated what looks like a screenshot of a conversation on the Messenger app between accounts named “Amira Abu Al-Ata” and “Mohammed Taha Abu Al-Ata,” which included a plea for help to rescue him from under the rubble after Israeli aircraft bombed several homes in the Shuja’iyyah neighborhood on 9/4/2025.

Kashif verified the screenshot and its content, and found that it is false, and that the two accounts appearing in the image are fake.

Kashif contacted Mohammed Taha Abu al-Atta, a young man whose name is similar to the account shown in the photo. He confirmed that the account does not belong to him or any member of his family. He stated: “Yesterday, with the spread of a photo containing a distress message from under the rubble during the bombing of Shujaiyyah, many people contacted me to verify the message. I explained that my family and I live about a kilometer away from the targeted site, and that we are displaced near the Shujaiyyah intersection, and that we were not exposed to any bombing. I also do not have a sister named Amira Abu al-Atta.”

He provided Kashif with his personal Facebook account , which shows him wearing a formal suit and a red tie.

Kashif also contacted journalist Mahmoud Abu al-Ata, who confirmed that the account was fake and had no connection to any member of the Abu al-Ata family in the Shuja’iyyah neighborhood or to the victims of the 9/4/2025 massacre. He pointed out that “Martyr Hassan Ahmed Abu al-Ata” was in the vicinity of the targeted area, but he had no kinship with the family mentioned in the fake conversation. He added that there is a family named “Abu al-Ata” in Deir al-Balah, and he contacted them and found out that they had not been subjected to any bombing and did not know the people mentioned in the conversation. He also stated that Deir al-Balah had not witnessed any attacks by the occupation forces at the same time.

Kashif searched for the accounts of “Amira Abu Al-Atta” and “Mohamed Taha Abu Al-Atta,” who appear in the photo, but did not find them on social media platforms, suggesting that they were deleted after the photo went viral.

The Israeli occupation army launched violent raids on the Shuja’iyyah neighborhood in Gaza City on 9/4/025, killing 35 Palestinians and injuring at least 50 others, most of whom were from the families of: Abu Amsha, Rajab, Tabikh, Abu Kas, and Abu Halima.

According to the latest update from the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, the death toll since the start of the aggression on the Gaza Strip on 7/10/2023, has risen to 50,886 and 115,875 wounded.