Killing of Yasser Abu Shabab
Yasser Abu Shabab is assassinated near Rafah, Gaza Strip.
36 events · 20 births · 20 deaths · 8 observances. From 1370 to 2025.
Standout on December 4
Yasser Abu Shabab is assassinated near Rafah, Gaza Strip.
December 4 is the 338th day of the year. These facts are computed from the calendar, not copied from anywhere.
A dated happening — a battle, treaty, launch, discovery, disaster or decision — recorded on this calendar day.
Yasser Abu Shabab is assassinated near Rafah, Gaza Strip.
UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson is shot and killed in Manhattan, New York City near the entrance of the New York Hilton Midtown.
Semeru on the Indonesian island of Java erupts, killing at least 68 people.
The Thomas Fire starts near Santa Paula in California. It eventually became the largest wildfire in modern California history to date after burning 1,140 square kilometers (440 sq mi) in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.
A firebomb is thrown into a restaurant in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, killing 17 people.
Islamic insurgents kill three state police at a traffic circle before taking an empty school and a "press house" in Grozny. Ten state forces die with 28 injured in gun battles ending with ten insurgents killed.
"Il Canto degli Italiani" officially became the national anthem of Italy, 66 years after it was provisionally chosen following the birth of the Italian Republic.
Six black teenagers assaulted a white student in Jena, Louisiana; the subsequent court cases became a cause célèbre for perceived racial injustice in the United States.
Tens of thousands of people in Hong Kong protest for democracy and call on the government to allow universal and equal suffrage.
The Unity Module, the second module of the International Space Station, is launched.
Journalists Fernando Balderas Sánchez and Yolanda Figueroa and their three children are murdered in a case that initially prompted speculation about links to organized crime, corruption, or their journalistic work.
Somali Civil War: President George H. W. Bush orders 28,000 U.S. troops to Somalia in Northeast Africa.
U.S. president George H. W. Bush ordered American troops into Somalia to help provide humanitarian aid and restore order during the ongoing Somali Civil War.
Terry A. Anderson is released after seven years in captivity as a hostage in Beirut; he is the last and longest-held American hostage in Lebanon.
Pan American World Airways ceases its operations after 64 years.
The MV Amazon Venture oil tanker starts leaking while at the port of Savannah, resulting in an oil spill of approximately 500,000 US gallons (1,900,000 L).

Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Army soldiers kill 107–150 civilians in Mannar.
US Navy aircraft from USS John F. Kennedy and USS Independence attack Syrian missile sites in Lebanon in response to an F-14 being fired on by an SA-7. One A-6 Intruder and A-7 Corsair are shot down. One American pilot is killed, one is rescued, and one is captured.

The China adopts its current constitution.
South Africa grants independence to the Ciskei "homeland" (not recognized by any government outside South Africa).
The English rock group Led Zeppelin officially disbanded.
The Hastie fire in Hull kills three schoolboys and eventually leads police to arrest Bruce George Peter Lee.
Following the murder of Mayor George Moscone, Dianne Feinstein became San Francisco's first female mayor.
The Troubles: The Ulster Volunteer Force, an Ulster-loyalist paramilitary group, detonated a bomb at a Catholic-owned pub in Belfast, Northern Ireland, killing 15 people.
Indo-Pakistani War: The Indian Navy launched a successful attack against the Pakistan Navy at Karachi, sinking three ships with no Indian casualties.
Fred Hampton, the leader of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, and Mark Clark were killed in a raid by Chicago police officers in what many scholars consider an illegal assassination.
Cosmo Gordon Lang was enthroned as the Archbishop of Canterbury, the first bachelor to be appointed in 150 years.

World War I: Senior British and French figures, including prime ministers H. H. Asquith and Aristide Briand, met at Calais to discuss the future of the Salonika Front.
The Montreal Canadiens, the oldest professional ice hockey club in the world, were founded as a charter member of the National Hockey Association.
The first Grey Cup, the championship game of the Canadian Football League, was held in Toronto.
The Great Seimas of Vilnius met to discuss national concerns within Lithuania: they decided to demand wide political autonomy within the Russian Empire.
First Matabele War: A patrol of 34 British South Africa Company soldiers was ambushed and annihilated by more than 3,000 Matabele warriors.

The American brigantine Mary Celeste was found apparently abandoned under circumstances that remain unknown.

Sati, the Hindu funeral custom of a widow's self-immolation on her husband's pyre, was prohibited by Lord William Bentinck in parts of British India after years of campaigning by Ram Mohan Roy (pictured).
Jeremiah Horrocks and William Crabtree made the first successful observation of a transit of Venus (example pictured) from Earth.
Hundred Years' War: In two separate engagements in the Battle of Pontvallain (depicted), French forces wiped out an English army which had split up because of a dispute between the commanders.
A notable person born on this day. Each links to a person page with their dates and story.

A notable person who died on this day.


Bill Bennett, Canadian lawyer and politician, 27th Premier of British Columbia (born 1932)

Yossi Sarid, Israeli journalist and politician, 15th Israeli Minister of Education (born 1940)
Jack Brooks, American colonel, lawyer, and politician (born 1922)

A holiday, feast day, awareness day or national day observed every year on this date.

Christian feast day: Anno II

Christian feast day: Barbara, and its related observances: Barbórka, Miners' Day in Poland
Christian feast day: Ada
Christian feast day: John of Damascus
Christian feast day: Bernardo degli Uberti
Christian feast day: Clement of Alexandria (Anglicanism, Eastern Catholicism)
Christian feast day: Giovanni Calabria
Christian feast day: Barbara, and its related observances: Eid il-Burbara, a holiday similar to Halloween in honor of Saint Barbara. (Russia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Turkey)
Earliest: Hundred Years' War (1370). Most recent: Killing of Yasser Abu Shabab (2025).
December 4 is the 338th day of the year, with 27 days left after it.
December 4 falls under Sagittarius (November 22 – December 21), a fire sign ruled by Jupiter. The birthstone for the month is Turquoise or Tanzanite or Zircon.
We record 84 entries for December 4: 36 events · 20 births · 20 deaths · 8 observances. From 1370 to 2025.
Kim Do-ah (2003) is among the notable births on December 4. The births section lists the rest.
The day is filled the first time anyone opens it and then re-checked for new entries about every 90 days. Computed facts such as the weekday and the anniversaries update every year.
One short email a day from this calendar. Kept for this site only.
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