Airwars assessment
On October 27, 2023, a house for the Mohsen family, located on Old Crescent Street, west of Khan Younis, was bombed in an alleged Israeli airstrike resulting in the deaths of at least four people, including a child not yet a day old, and numerous injuries.
Initial reports by the Shehab Agency and Almanar News indicated that a child was killed, and several injuries occurred. However, as more information came to light, the names of those killed were released. Among those named were mother 28-year old Ikhlas Muhammad Abu Mohsen and son Uday Abu Mohsen as well as Umm Ahmed Abu Mohsen and her daugther Baraa Abu Mohsen. The exact number of injuries is unknown.
Uday Abu Mohsen was scarcely a day old when he was killed along with his mother, Ikhlas Muhammad. Friends and family took to social media to mourn the death of the pair. Among those who posted online, Facebook user Maya Basim highlighted how eagerly Ikhlas had awaited her son’s arrival, meticulously preparing their home with all the essentials, from clothing and bedding to carpets and paint. Rewaa Zaher, sister of the deceased Baraa, wrote that Ikhlas “was excited to see him and give him a safe birth.” They would both be killed, Rewaa asserted, before Uday was ten hours old.
Palestine TV emphasised that Uday had “not yet had a birth certificate issued,” and instead received a death certificate. Images of his body bag, tagged with his name, were released.
Another tragic loss befell the family in the aftermath of the incident: Umm Ahmed Abu Mohsen and her almost 31-year-old daughter, Baraa Abu Mohsen, both passed away days later due to injuries sustained. Their story gained attention through Al Jazeera, revealing that Baraa, a vibrant artist renowned for her intricate cake decorations, left behind her seven-month-old daughter, Tamara. Before the conflict, Baraa, described as “more compassionate and kinder than all of us” had also been pursuing a diploma in Project Management–after she successfully gained funding from an NGO.
Initially a student of English, Baraa began decorating cakes “by accident.” Inspired by pictures she saw on the internet, Baraa learned how to decorate pastries even when she did not have the proper tools. In such cases, Rewaa remembered, she would make them herself out of “common household ingredients and paint [the cakes] by hand.” The war had been highly impactful on Baraa’s life. Baraa’s sister Rewaa remembered that her sister was “afraid every time she heard bombing.” It was not that Baraa was concerned for herself, Rawaa wrote, but that she was “afraid for Tamara.” Baraa’s birthday was fast approaching, and Rawaa hoped “to give [her] a big surprise.”
Adding to the tragedy, Baraa had urged her sister, Rawaa, to bring her own children to the family’s home, deemed safer in Gaza, just a day before it fell under attack. Baraa was critically injured by the strike. Rawaa was able to visit her, and remembered Baraa asking for food: “On her last day, she asked to eat bread, zaatar, oil, olives and pickles. She would lose consciousness moments after asking Rawaa “to see her daughter, so she could breastfeed her.”
Where possible, names have been reconciled with published Palestinian Ministry of Health lists. With thanks to journalist Alexandre Horn from CheckNews for identifying relevant sources, and Data Tech for Palestine for centralising the datasets.
Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strike to Israeli forces.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Family members (4)
Summary
Sources (31) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (10) [ collapse]
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Source: PalestineTV -
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Source: Rewaa.zahe -
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Source: Rewaa.zahe -
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Source: Ahlam.bareaa.2011 -
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Source: Ahlam.bareaa.2011 -
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Source: Ahmed.zaher.1884 -
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Source: Ahmed.zaher.1884 -
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Source: Al Jazeera News -
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Source: Al Jazeera News -
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Source: Al Jazeera News