In the early afternoon of Sunday, October 29th 2023, eight members of the al-Nuwairi family, including a pregnant woman and  three children, were reportedly killed and three family members were injured when an alleged Israeli airstrike hit their three-story home to the west of Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip without prior warning.

Alaa H. Al-Nuwairi, a family member of those killed, wrote about the deaths of her family via Facebook. Alaa mourned the loss of her father and mother, 59-year-old Professor Hassan Ahmed (Mohammed) al-Nuwairi and his 54-year-old wife Maryam Atiwi Juma al-Nuwairi, who died alongside their son and Alaa’s brother, 30-year-old Ahmed Hassan al-Nuwairi.

According to the late Hassan Ahmed al-Nuwairi profile at the website “Genocide in Gaza”, which has a list of the names of “martyrs” from Israeli forces which includes the name of the victim, their age, their date of death, profession, and the “circumstances of martyrdom”, he was 59 years old and was a teacher of mathematics. Their three-storey family house was reportedly attacked without warning. The attached imaged showed him as a middle-aged slender man with short grey hair and deep-set eyes,  dressed in a white shirt.

According to Ahmed Hassan al-Nuwairi’s profile at the website “Genocide in Gaza”, he was 30 years old and was working as a nurse at Al-Shifa Medical Complex. The attached image showed a young man with dark hair and a dark beard, gently smiling at a camera.

Facebook post from Ahmed Mah, classmate and colleague of Ahmed Hassan al-Nuwairi, reported that his classmate was patient, light-hearted, and good-natured. He added an image of a young bearded man in a striped T-shirt.

Ahmed’s wife, 29-year-old Maysoon Muhammad Sabra al-Nuwairi, and their two sons, five-year-old Moatasem Ahmed Hassan al-Nawiri and four-year-old Hassan Ahmed Hassan al-Nuwairi, were also reportedly killed in the attack. A Facebook post from Maysoon Diab Awad reported that Ahmed al-Nuwairi was a professor and that his wife Maysoon Muhammad Al-Nuwairi was a doctor. Alaa H. al-Nuwairi, al-Hakim’s brother, remembered his brother as his “support” and said Maysoon was not only his sister-in-law, but “my third sister who shares everything with me.”

According to Maysoon’s profile at the website “Genocide in Gaza”, she was 29 years old and worked as a dentist. She was a young woman with large brown eyes, wearing a colorful hijab in the image. The profiles of her killed sons, Moatasem and Hassan, contained the images of young boys surrounded by their friends.

Hassan and Maryam’s other son, 33-year-old Dr. Ali Hassan al-Nuwairi, and their 23-year-old daughter, Aya Hassan al-Nuwairi, were injured. Heiiam Alnuweiri posted to Facebook that the two were seriously wounded in the attack. According to Twitter/X user@abrahammatar, Dr. Ali Hassan Al-Nuwairi sustained a severe spinal injury in the alleged Israeli attack.

The wife of the injured Ali Hassan Al-Nuwairi, 29-year-old Dr. Enas Mahmoud Youssef al-Haji Youssef, was also reported to have died as a result of the attack alongside their three-year-old son Hassan Ali Hassan al-Nuwairi. Multiple sources reported that Enas was pregnant at the time of her death, with English-language Twitter/X source @GazaMartyrs reporting specifically that she was six months pregnant. However, according to the testimony of her surviving husband Ali, she was five months pregnant with a baby girl.

Dr. Ali Hassan al-Nuwairi and Dr. Enas Mahmoud al-Haji were both doctors. Dr. Ali Hassan al-Nuwairi was an orthopedic surgeon while Enas was an emergency physician at al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, and was preparing to be certified in Family Medicine at the time of her death. Enas was described by Twitter/X user Dr. Enraheem from Gaza @abrahammatar as a talented senior doctor in the emergency department at Aqsa Hospital. He added an image of a young woman holding her son in her hands.

According to Enas’s profile at the website “Genocide in Gaza”, she was 29 years old and worked at Al-Shifa Medical Complex. In the attached image, she is seen as a young smiling woman wearing a green hijab and a medical uniform.

The B’Tselem report stated that Ali al-Nuwairi was 33 years old. In his interview with the B-T’selem researcher Olfat al-Kurd, Ali told about his life with his extended family:

“My parents—Hassan al-Nweiri, 59, and Maryam al-Nweiri, 54—and my sister Aya, 23, lived on the first floor. My brother Ahmad, 30, a nurse, his wife Maysoun, 29, a dentist, and their two children, al-Mu’tasem bi-Allah, 5, and Hassan, 4, all lived on the second floor. I have another sister, Alaa, 24, who’s married and lives with her husband’s family.”

Then he went on to describe the circumstances of the deadly attack on October 29. On that day, he had a breakfast with his family, did the midday prayer and went to rest a little around noon, and later the devastating airstrike happeed.

“When I woke up, I found myself buried in a pile of debris and rubble. Right before that, while I was asleep, I dreamt that I was walking and a missile fell on me. In the dream, my father, my wife, my son, my sister, and a mass of people were walking ahead of me. The sky wasn’t like the sky we know. Two people dressed in white stopped me and said, “You’re not going with them.” I stopped, and my wife and son kept walking. A few meters ahead of me, they turned and waved goodbye,” Ali told B’T selem.

“Then I woke up and found myself in the rubble. I couldn’t breathe or move. I heard neighbors calling out, “Is anyone here? Is anyone alive?” I started shouting, telling them my back hurt and not to lift me. But neighbors and relatives picked me up and placed me near the building. It was only then that I realize our house had been bombed and completely destroyed. There was smoke rising from it. It was early afternoon, but I thought it was nighttime because of the black smoke that engulfed everything.”

Ali was badly injured and had to undergo an emergency spinal surgery at European hospital.  Later he learned from his cousin that most of his family died, only his sister Aya survived, though she sustained second- and third-degree burns on over half her body. Ali’s 52-year-old aunt Hiyam was also injured and stayed in the hospital. The doctors tried to save the fetus of his wife Enas,  but she survived for only an hour after being delivered.

“I was in shock and broke down crying,” confessed Ali.  “I didn’t even get the chance to say goodbye to my family. They told me my brother Ahmad’s body was dismembered, my father’s body was found outside the building, and my wife was found wearing her prayer clothes,” he continued.

Later he had to undergo treatment in Turkey along with his aunt Hiyam, as his wounds were infected. Even after the treatment in Turkey, he is hardly able to walk again.

Ali lamented about his personal tragedy of losing all the happy life he lived previously with his family:

“Sometimes, I sink into depression. I’ve lost everything—my parents, my wife and son, my brother, and his family. I’ve also lost my job. My life has been destroyed. I had a happy and beautiful life with my wife. I can’t get used to living without her.

When my wife got pregnant, I hoped for a baby girl. After her death, I was told that doctors tried to save the fetus. It really was a girl, but she survived for only an hour after being delivered.

Israel has taken away every beautiful thing I had in life. It’s robbed me of the people dearest to me. We were just an ordinary family. My father was an elderly man who worked as a teacher. My mother was a homemaker. We were all civilians. None of us were armed or affiliated with resistance groups. Israel murdered us in cold blood. No one from the military called or warned us to evacuate. They didn’t even fire a warning missile. What was our crime? I have lost my entire family except for my two sisters, Aya and Alaa. It all hurts so much. My brother Ahmad was very close to me, and I lost him along with his entire family. None of them survived.”

The report by B’Tselem also contained several family images. In one of them, Ali was portrayed with his wife Enas and their son Hassan. Ali, a young man with black hair and a black beard, was smiling, embracing his wife. She was wearing a white hijab and a black’n’white dress. Hassan was joyfully smiling. Another image showed three small boys, Hassan Ali, Hassan Ahmad and Moatasem Ahmed, all dressed in a tradional attire.

There was also an image of Ali’s mother Maryam who was standing in front of a mountain, wearing a dark-green headscarf and a black dress, and of his father Hassan who was seen sitting and writing on a piece of paper, dressed in a grey sweater and a grey jacket, with a red-white keffiyeh wrapped around his neck.

Last but not least, the report contained the image of Ali’s brother Ahmed and his wife Maysoon who were sitting in an outdoor setting together. Ahmed was wearing a green and black T-shirt, while his wife was wearing a patterned headscarf.

Twitter/X account “Martyrs of Gaza” additionally shared that Enas and Ali Hassan’s son, Hassan Ali Hassan al-Nuwairi, was reportedly three and a half years old when he too was killed in the attack. Martyrs of Gaza described him as “beautiful, intelligent, and resembling his parents in everything who aspired to become a doctor.”

Where possible, the names of the victims have been matched with the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH) lists, which include national ID numbers. Since October 26, 2023, the MoH has released eight lists, along with an additional list of medical professionals, which was released on September 17, 2024. Airwars is matching individuals to the first list where their name appeared. In regard to this incident, most of the names are matched to the seventh “Palestinian Ministry of Health List of Fatalities in Gaza”, which was released on October 23, 2024.

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