At dawn on Tuesday, October 31st, an alleged Israeli airstrike hit the Al Zahar family home in the Tell Al Sultan neighbourhood west of Rafah, reportedly killing between eight and nine members of the Al Zahar family, including at least three women and four children, and injuring a number of others.

The Palestinian press agency, Safa, reported around 10:22 am that four women from the Al Zahar family had been killed in the alleged strike and a number of others remained missing under the rubble. Airwars was able to identify the names of eight members of the Al Zahar family who were killed in the strike.

The alleged strike was reported to have killed 37-year-old Osama Youssef Ali Al Zahar and his wife, 31-year-old Alaa Mansour Abdulaziz Al Zahar (Al-Nawajha), also known as Umm Youssef, along with their four children. Their son 10-year-old Youssef Osama Youssef Al Zahar, their daughters, 8-year-old Retaj Osama Youssef Al Zahar, and 11-year-old Raghad Osama Youssef Al Zahar, and their baby girl Samira Osama Youssef Al Zahar, only a year old, were all identified as killed in the strike. Two female relatives, 47-year-old Amal Saeeed Ibrahim Al Zahar and the elderly Umm Mohammed Al Zahar, were killed along with their family members in their home.

Shehab Agency News reports the strike occurred shortly before 6:36 AM. Twitter user @jolnarfarag posted a statement attributed to the General Directorate of Civil Defense, reporting that civil defense crews retrieved killed and injured victims from the rubble of the home. Photos posted by Shehab Agency show the crews in the midst of their rescue mission, while a photo posted by Twitter user @palestineultra shows the home and the surrounding area had been completely destroyed.

Multiple sources mentioned “wounded” resulting from the strike but none specified how many.

In an obituary posted to Facebook by Youssef Al Zahar, cousin of Osama Youssef Ali Al Zahar, he commemorated that his uncle’s wife, Umm Mohammed Al Zahar, had gone on Hajj. Pictures posted by relatives of the Al Zahar family show happy scenes of parents holding their children and children playing together.

The Al Zahar family name is shared by one of the founders of Hamas, politician Mahmoud Al Zahar, however Airwars was unable to find any evidence that suggested a link between these victims and Mahmoud Al Zahar. There was also no evidence in any reporting that any family members had any affiliation to any militant group.

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 attributed the strike to a belligerent, all attributed the strike to Israeli forces.