Geolocation
Airwars assessment
On October 14, 2023, 16 people, including nine children, were killed by an alleged Israeli airstrike on their home in Beit Lahia, located in the northern Gaza Strip. At least three medics and civil defense members were reportedly wounded in a double tap strike while rescuing the wounded.
Munawar Hassan Ahmed Laban (identified as either 65 or 66) was killed with her husband, 67 or 68 year old Ziad Mustafa Dahman. Their two daughters, 40- or 41-year old Hoda Ziad Mustafa Dahman and 23-year old Amira Ziad Mustafa Dahman, were killed, as was their son, 34-year old Tariq Zaid Dahman. Tariq’s wife, 31-year old Alaa Ashour was also killed, as was their 5-year old son, Ziad Tariq Zaid Dahman. Their daughter, 4-year old Sham Tariq Zia Dahman, was also killed. Hoda’s five children were killed with their mother: 14-year old Farah Youssef Arouq, Tala Youssef Arouq (whose age has not been made available), 13-year old Ahmed Youssef Arouq, 5-year old Karam Youssef Arouq, and 2-year old Zeina Youssef Arouq.
Munawar’s sister, Wissam Khamis Matar, aged either 40 or 41, was also killed, along with her infant daughter (name unknown). Another infant, 2-month old Musk Ziad Mustafa Dahman, was killed – another son of Munawar and Ziad named Mohammad (who survived the attack) referred to Musk as his “little sister” but based on the age difference it is unclear if this is to be taken literally.
Following the strike, surviving son Mohammed Dahman posted a condolence message on Facebook, asking God to accept his family “in the highest places.” He referred to his sister Amira as a doctor, and identified his brother Tariq, and sister-in-law Alaa as nurses. His heart, Mohammed wrote, had “always been attached” to Amira, and he spoke of his brother as “caring” and “beautiful,” a person with a “good influence.” Similarly, he remembered his sister Hoda as a person “with a good heart.”
On the day of the attack, news site Amad PS reported “martyrs and wounded as a result of the occupation bombing of the homes of the Dahman and Al-Shirawi families in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip.” Some of those wounded were medics sent to care for the injured civilians. On Twitter/X, @KoubaReda shared photos of multiple injured medics, writing “[Israeli forces] targeted civil defense and medical services crews while they were working to extract the martyrs and wounded from a home for the Dahman family in the northern Gaza Strip.” Three crew members are pictured, each receiving medical care. Though wounded, all appear conscious, and the injuries do not appear severe.
Other friends and relatives flocked to social media to express their grief. On Facebook, Mahdi Ramadan Shaaban posted “A real massacre in our neighbor’s house, Abu Tareq Dahman. The house contains many families.” Duha Madhoun Zinaty mourned “our classmate and friend Alaa Ashour with the convoy of martyrs and her family.” Relative Abo Alla Mattar posted about “the martyrdom of my niece/Wissam Khamis Matar, her infant daughter, and her entire family in the barbaric [Israeli] bombing of the Dahman house.” The next day, Thapet Ali Hamdan Hamdan wrote, “my friend and companion/ Tariq Dahman and all his family members are martyrs in targeting the family home in the Beit Lahia project.”
The time of the strike is disputed on social media. While Twitter/X user @KoubaRed alleged the strike occurred at dawn, Facebook user Yaser Abu Zakariyya, however, alleged that the strike occurred at “3:30 pm.”
Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strikes to Israeli forces.
Where possible, names have been matched with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of fatalities in Gaza released on October 26th, 2023.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Family members (16)
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the town of Beit Lahia (بيت لاهيا), for which the generic coordinates are: 31.551277, 34.509233. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (14) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (4) [ collapse]
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.