Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

ISPT0596

Incident date

October 25, 2023

Location

عبسان الكبيرة, Abasan al Kabira, Khan Younis, the Gaza Strip

Geolocation

31.323417, 34.347364 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Town level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

Six people were reportedly killed on October 25th 2023, when an alleged Israeli airstrike hit a group of farmers in Abasan Al-Kabira to the east of Khan Yunis.

Four of the people who died in the attack were from the Abu Mustafa family: 39-year old Adel Ibrahim Abu Mustafa, 35-year old Muhammad Salim Abu Mustafa, 25-year old Mahmoud Farid Mahmoud Abu Mustafa and 32-year old Muhammad Ghassan Abu Mustafa. The two other farmers reportedly killed in the attack were 49-year old Hani Nasr Muhammad Hassanein and 26-year old Munther Abdullah Qasim Shamali.

A number of sources, including Shehab News Agency and the Palestinian Information Center (PIC), reported that those killed in the attack were working on a farm at the time. Other posts on X/Twitter specified that the farm was a chicken farm.

The Abu Mustafa family resided in Khan Younis.

According to a post by @PalinfoAr on X/Twitter, three of the deceased were taken to the European Hospital in Al-Fukhari, close to Khan Yunis. The report stated that ambulances from the hospital returned to the site of the attack to recover the six bodies of those killed. It is likely this disparity of the death toll was due to confusion at the scene of the incident, as no other sources mention nine deaths. Airwars has nevertheless included an upper range of nine casualties to account for this ambiguity.

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

All 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 (4)

Adel Ibrahim Abu Mustafa عادل ابراهيم أبومصطفى
39 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 800269862
Muhammad Salim Abu Mustafa محمد سليم أبومصطفى
35 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 802008342
Mahmoud Farid Mahmoud Abu Mustafa محمود فريد محمود أبومصطفي
25 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 403290638
Muhammad Ghassan Abu Mustafa محمد غسان أبو مصطفى
32 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 803326123

The victims were named as:

Hani Nasr Muhammad Hassanein هاني نصر محمد حسنين
49 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 900238312
Munther Abdullah Qasim Shamali منذر عبدالله قاسم شمالي
26 years old killed Matched to MoH ID 403309859

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the town of Abasan al Kabira (عبسان الكبيرة), for which the generic coordinates are: 31.323417, 34.347364. 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
    Agriculture
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    6 – 9
  • (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.
  • Impact
    Food
    Impact on services or infrastructure relating to education, health or food supply. See methodology note for details.
  • Suspected belligerent
    Israeli Military

Sources (19) [ collapse]

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
    Agriculture
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    6 – 9
  • (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.
  • Impact
    Food
    Impact on services or infrastructure relating to education, health or food supply. See methodology note for details.
  • Suspected belligerent
    Israeli Military

Sources (19) [ collapse]