At least one person was killed and a number of people – including a young boy – were injured on Friday, December 1, 2023, when the Qanan family home near Nasser Hospital, west of Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip, was reportedly bombed by an Israeli military aircraft.

The man identified by sources as killed was Arafat Mustafa Qanan, also known as Al-Sakhr or Abu Sakhr.

@CensoredNws and @AlAYASHxs reported that a number of people were killed and injured in the incident but did not give exact figures.

Multiple family members made heartfelt tributes to Arafat, including his brother, Tareq, and sister, Asmaa. Iyad Hamdi described Arafat in a post on Facebook as ‘good’ and ‘pure’ and others described their intense grief at his loss. @Abood_Shantii described him as a ‘beloved friend and neighbour’.

Videos and images posted on Facebook show civil defence crews and others searching through the dusty rubble of the Qanan family home and carrying out at least one victim. The house appeared completely destroyed with only pillars and a broken, sagging ceiling remaining. Images taken by Amr Tabsh and posted by multiple sources show children’s toys amongst the rubble.

A reporter from Al Ghad TV, Ibrahim Qanan visited the site of the strike. In the video, Ibrahim walks through neighbouring houses that were hit “early in the morning,” showing the complete destruction of three, and documenting continued efforts to rescue those who were missing, still trapped under the rubble. In the video, Ibrahim speaks with two women who describe what happened. The first, Isma’a, says that the family was at home and she was making a small breakfast when the attack happened. When their roof fell in on them her young son Yaseen was injured and a neighbour rushed him to the hospital. Luckily his injuries were not severe. Isma’a noted that some people were killed and others injured. Ibrahim also spoke with another woman who said she was making bread when the attack happened. The woman says “look at my hands, you can see the wheat.” She goes on to say that “we are not terrorists, we want peace – we want our children to go back to school and the men to go back to work.”

According to Al Ghad TV, the Qanan family home was the first strike in Khan Younis to occur after the temporary ceasefire between Israel and Gaza ended.

Where sources identified a belligerent, all sources attributed the strike to Israeli forces.