Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

ISPT0458

Incident date

October 22, 2023

Location

المنارة, Al Manara, Khan Younis, the Gaza Strip

Geolocation

31.315061, 34.309542 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Neighbourhood/area level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

On October 22nd 2023 at dawn, at least four people were reportedly killed by an alleged Israeli airstrike on their family home in the Al-Manara neighbourhood located southeast of Khan Yunis.

All of the sources reported that four people had been killed in the strike. Reporting on the incident identified Salama Issa Muhammad Abu Taha and his two sons, Issa Salama Issa Abu Taha and Hamada Salama Issa Abu Taha as killed in the strike. A neighbour, Musa Issa Musa Al-Muzain, was also reportedly killed in the strike. @ShehabAgency was the only source to report that three sons of Salama – Youssef, Issa, and Taha – were killed in the strike. Salama, his sons Issa and Hamada, and Musa’s names were all matched names with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of nearly 7000 victims’ names and ID numbers released on October 26th but Taha and Youssef’s names was not found.

Relatives of the Abu Tama family paid tribute to their family members on Facebook with images of the victims. A Facebook post from the Abuta family in the homeland and diaspora referred to Issa as “one of the members of the media committee on the official website”.

The sources further identified that the Abu Taha family home is located next to Sayyid Qutb mosque.

In cases where sources attributed responsibility for the strike, they held the Israeli military responsible.

The incident occured around dawn.

The victims were named as:

Family members (3)

Salama Issa Muhammad Abu Taha سلامة عيسى ابو طه
57 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 963792973
Issa Salama Issa Abu Taha عيسى سلامة ابو طه
34 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 802120667
Hamada Salama Issa Abu Taha حمادة سلامة ابو طه
30 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 804712545

The victims were named as:

Musa Issa Musa Al-Muzain موسى عيسى موسى الموزين
43 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 905388716

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the Al Manara (المنارة) neighbourhood of the city of Khan Younis (خان يونس), for which the generic coordinates are: 31.315061, 34.309542. We were unable to find a boundary shapefile for the neighbourhood, and due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.

Summary

  • Strike status
    Likely strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian infrastructure
    Residential building
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    4 – 6
  • (4–6 men)
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Fair
    Reported by two or more credible sources, with likely or confirmed near actions by a belligerent.
  • Suspected belligerent
    Israeli Military

Sources (10) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (1) [ collapse]

  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: The Abuta family in the homeland and diaspora

Israeli Military Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    Israeli Military
  • Israeli Military position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Summary

  • Strike status
    Likely strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian infrastructure
    Residential building
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    4 – 6
  • (4–6 men)
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Fair
    Reported by two or more credible sources, with likely or confirmed near actions by a belligerent.
  • Suspected belligerent
    Israeli Military

Sources (10) [ collapse]