Abdullah Jamal Sobhi Nabhan, a Palestinian employee of the Belgian development agency Enabel, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Rafah on April 24, 2024. His 7-year-old son Jamal, his father, his brother and his niece were also killed in the strike.
Abdullah Jamal Sobhi Nabhan and the Belgian report accusing Israel
At the time, Enabel said Nabhan had joined the agency in April 2020 and worked as a business development officer on a European project supporting small businesses in the Gaza Strip.
Then-Belgian Development Minister Caroline Gennez and Enabel condemned the strike. Belgium’s then-foreign minister, Hadja Lahbib, summoned Israel’s ambassador at the time, Idit Rosenzweig-Abu, and demanded explanations.
Nabhan had also appeared in Enabel material from the COP27 climate conference in Egypt in 2022. According to the agency, he and members of his family were included on a list of Enabel employees submitted to Israeli authorities in an effort to secure their evacuation from Gaza.
His death was reported by international media, including Reuters and Al Jazeera, and Enabel Director General Jean Van Wetter later spoke publicly about the circumstances of his death.
Following the Belgian Foreign Ministry reprimand in 2024, the Israeli ambassador said she had expressed sorrow over the deaths of civilians. She said the house where the family was staying belonged to a senior Hamas member from the extended family who had been the target of the strike.
She added at the time that Israel was still examining the incident and would provide Belgium with further information once the review was completed.
Israel later provided Belgian authorities with names of Hamas operatives it said were employed by the Belgian aid agency, according to Israeli officials. The Israeli account says Enabel took no action over the information.
The case resurfaced on September 4, 2026, when open-source researcher Gabriel Epstein published material that he said showed Nabhan had been a member of Hamas’ Khan Younis Battalion.
Epstein presented a mourning poster published by a channel associated with the battalion. The poster described Nabhan as a “mujahid,” or jihad fighter, and included an image showing him in military-style uniform.
The channel has previously published material about Hamas operatives, at times before the organization itself issued official announcements, according to the information cited by Israel.
Epstein also highlighted a 2025 post by a relative in which Abdullah Nabhan and his brother Ahmad were both described as “mujahideen.”
‘Before rushing to condemn Israel, facts matter’
Following the publication of the material, Israel’s Embassy in Belgium said on its X account that the new evidence indicated Nabhan had belonged to Hamas’ Khan Younis Battalion.
The embassy recalled the summoning of Israel’s ambassador and the international criticism that followed the 2024 strike.
“Before rushing to condemn Israel, facts matter,” the embassy wrote. “Those who accused Israel then should now acknowledge the evidence.”
Israel’s ambassador to Belgium, David Saranga, went further, calling directly for an apology.
“A public apology would be the proper thing to do, but a private apology would also be accepted,” he wrote on X.
The post drew tens of thousands of views and hundreds of shares, according to the report, and prompted renewed discussion within Belgium’s political system over the case.
Belgium has since undergone a change of government, with a center-right coalition replacing the previous center-left, liberal-progressive government.