Between 10pm on October 28th and 4am on October 29th, 2024, between 129 and 254 civilians, including at least 42 children and 28 women, were killed and at least 45 others, including women and children, were injured by declared Israeli airstrikes on the homes of the Abu Nasr family and the Abu Ouda family in Beit Lahia, the Gaza Strip.

Israeli military officials acknowledged the strike, with Israel’s allies the United States describing the aftermath as “horrifying” in a press briefing. The Times of Israel reported shortly after the strike that the IDF “did not deny being behind the strike but did caution against trusting the unverified death count provided by Hamas authorities”.

Two months after the incident, a detailed report by NPR revealed that the US State Department still had not been given any further explanation by Israel about the strike, and that the Israeli military were still reviewing the “details”.

Airwars was able to identify at least 126 individuals killed in the strike by name based on a range of social media reports. It is likely that at least 10 distinct family units, all part of the extended Abu Nasr and Abu Ouda families, were killed in their entirety.

Safa News initially reported at 7:38 AM that “20 martyrs, dozens wounded and missing were recovered after the [Israeli military] targeted a 5-storey house in the Beit Lahia project” and continued to update the casualty toll until at 11:26 AM, quoting what the Director of Government Media in Gaza told Aljazeera, Safa News stated that 93 people had been killed and 40 were still missing in the “Israeli massacre.”

The highest death toll was provided by “Media News” which stated that “about 300 people were martyred, and the number is expected to increase in light of the presence of about 400 displaced people inside the house.” @ZaidAlsalman6 reported on October 29th that “117 martyrs were pulled out from under the rubble, 137 martyrs are still under the rubble,” putting the total number of those killed at 254, while a tweet from @khaberni identified 250 deaths. A tweet from @AnasAlSharif0 from November 2nd stated that in addition to the 119 bodies recovered, the “more than” 120 others remaining under the rubble, and a number of others were wounded.

A tweet from @selwan_I published on November 2nd, a few days after the incident, included the names of 126 members of the Abu Nasr family who were killed and buried under the rubble. Combined with other sources, a total of 129 identities of victims killed were found.

56-year-old Muhammad Issa Baraka Abu Nasr was killed along with his sons 33-year-old Raed Muhammad Issa Abu Nasr, 28-year-old Ahmed Muhammad Issa Abu Nasr, and 25-year-old Ayman Muhammad Issa Abu Nasr, and daughters Rania Muhammad Issa Abu Nasr and Reham Muhammad Issa Abu Nasr. Ahmed’s wife 22-year-old Hema Ismail Abu Nasr (Al Kahlout) and their daughter Sham Ahmed Muhammad Abu Nasr, less than a year old.

Omar Ramzy memorialized their relative and neighbour Ahmed Muhammad, his wife, and their daughter, and included an image of the young man Ahmed in a tan button-down shirt smiling at the camera.

Muhammad Issa’s brother Alaa Issa Baraka Abu Nasr and his sons 15-year-old Hassan Alaa Issa Abu Nasr and 11-year-old Muhammad Alaa Issa Abu Nasr were also killed,

Muhammad and Alaa Issa’s other brother 50-year-old Nidal Issa Baraka Abu Nasr was killed along with his five children, sons Hamza Nidal Issa Abu Nasr and 15-year-old Muhammad Nidal Issa Abu Nasr, and daughters 18-year-old Nuha Nidal Issa Abu Nasr, 22-year-old Nour Nidal Issa Abu Nasr, and Shahd Nidal Issa Abu Nasr.

Additional siblings of Muhammad, Alaa, and Nidal Issa include sister 44-year-old Ghada Issa Baraka Abu Nasr and brothers 46-year-old Mahmoud Issa Baraka Abu Nasr, 59-year-old Shawqi Issa Baraka Abu Nasr, and Nabil Issa Baraka Abu Nasr were also killed, as well as Mahmoud Issa’s children 22-year-old Reem Mahmoud Issa Abu Nasr, 19-year-old Abdullah Mahmoud Issa Abu Nasr, 17-year-old Muhammad Mahmoud Issa Abu Nasr, 15-year-old Hoda Mahmoud Issa Abu Nasr and Nabil Issa’s children 34-year-old Fathi Nabil Issa Abu Nasr, Hanin Nabil Issa Abu Nasr, and 37-year-old Hoda Nabil Issa Abu Nasr.

According to a tweet from @tamerqdh, “Issa Abu Nasr and his three children” were killed in the same incident – it is unclear if the Issa Abu Nasr referenced in this is the father of Muhammad Issa Baraka and siblings.

Shawqi Issa’s sons 29-year-old Youssef Shawqi Issa Abu Nasr, 17-year-old Ibrahim Shawqi Issa Abu Nasr, and Yahya Shawqi Issa Abu Nasr, and daughters Heba Shawqi Issa Abu Nasr, 33-year-old Suha Shawqi Issa Abu Nasr, and 34-year-old Aida Shawqi Issa Abu Nasr were also killed. Granddaughters of Shawqi Issa named four-year-old Hadeel Farid Shawqi Abu Nasr and one-year-old Dohaa Muhammad Shawqi Abu Nasr, and nephews named 12-year-old Yazan Farid Shawqi Abu Nasr, five-year-old Ali Muhammad Shawqi Abu Nasr, and three-year-old Obaida Muhammad Shawqi Abu Nasr were among those killed. A tweet from @tamerqdh stated that “Farid Abu Nasr and his three children” were also killed – it is possible that Hadeel Farid and Yazan Farid were Farid’s children based on their names; to account for this uncertainty a range of 1-3 has been added to the child death toll.

Also from the Abu Nasr family, Ramzi Nasr Khamis Abu Nasr was killed along with his brother Muhammad Nasr Khamis Abu Nasr and his sisters 37-year-old Suzan Nasr Khamis Abu Nasr and 36-year-old Fidaa Nasr Khamis Abu Nasr. Ramzi’s two sons Hamza Ramzi Nasr Abu Nasr and Nasr Ramzi Nasr Abu Nasr and Muhammad’s daughters 12-year-old Tala Muhammad Nasr Abu Nasr, 10-year-old Lara Muhammad Nasr Abu Nasr, and eight-year-old Suwar Muhammad Nasr Abu Nasr, and son six-year-old Salah Muhammad Nasr Abu Nasr were also killed. A tweet from @tamerqdh stated that Ramzi Nasr was killed along with his two children and his wife. It was not possible to establish at this time if Ramzi’s wife is already counted without knowing her name, so Airwars has excluded Ramzi’s wife from the lowest casualty estimate for women to account for potential duplication. She has been included in the upper fatality range for women.

Additional family members 12-year-old Nabil Hani Nabil Abu Nasr was killed with his sisters 10-year-old Diaa Hani Nabil Abu Nasr and 15-year-old Hala Hani Nabil Abu Nasr and brother eight-year-old Hussein Hani Nabil Abu Nasr. Additional siblings 17-year-old Malak Issa Nabil Abu Nasr, Marwa Issa Nabil Abu Nasr and seven-year-old Ghazal Issa Nabil Abu Nasr were also killed.

39-year-old Muhammad Farah Baraka Abu Nasr, his sister Sabreen Farah Baraka Abu Nasr, his sister 44-year-old Manar Farah Baraka Abu Nasr, his brother 34-year-old Marwan Farah Baraka Abu Nasr, his daughter 14-year-old Farah Muhammad Farah Abu Nasr, and his other daughter 13-year-old Manar Muhammad Farah Abu Nasr were all killed in the same strike.

According to a tweet from @tamerqdh, “Sabreen Abu Nasr and her six children were martyred” but without knowing her husband’s name, we were not able to identify who amongst those killed were her children. Therefore an additional 0-6 had been added to the maximum range for children killed to account for this uncertainty.

Siblings 21-year-old Muhammad Wael Adnan Abu Nasr, 12-year-old Issa Wael Adnan Abu Nasr, and 22-year-old Alaa Wael Adnan Abu Nasr were killed, as well as sisters Fathia Adnan Baraka Abu Nasr, 44-year-old Suha Adnan Baraka Abu Nasr, and 38-year-old Fatima Adnan Baraka Abu Nasr. Twelve-year-old Layan Hussam Nabil Abu Nasr and her brothers 10-year-old Bakr Hussam Nabil Abu Nasr, six-year-old Yassin Hussam Nabil Abu Nasr, Moaz Hussam Nabil Abu Nasr were also among those killed.

Additional members of the Abu Nasr family, including siblings Israa Shadi Samir Abu Nasr, Othman Shadi Samir Abu Nasr, Muhammad Shadi Samir Abu Nasr, and Ahmed Shadi Samir Abu Nasr also lost their lives, in addition to siblings 24-years-old Donia Muhammad Samir Abu Nasr,  Nada Muhammad Samir Abu Nasr, Aida Muhammad Samir Abu Nasr, Halima Muhammad Samir Abu Nasr, Rahaf Muhammad Samir Abu Nasr, 18-year-old Shadi Muhammad Samir Abu Nasr, and 15-year-old Marwan Muhammad Samir Abu Nasr. 

Fifty five-year-old Imad Ayesh Mansour Abu Nasr was killed alongside sibling Nisreen Ayesh Mansour Abu Nasr and children 30-year-old Kholoud Imad Ayesh Abu Nasr, Baraa Imad Ayesh Abu Nasr, Saeed Imad Ayesh Abu Nasr, and Najat Imad Ayesh Abu Nasr.

Fifty-year-old Alaa Harb Asfoura (Abu Nasr) was killed at the same time as his children 19-year-old Karam Alaa Asfoura (Abu Nasr), 14-year-old Adam Alaa Asfoura (Abu Nasr), seven-year-old Mustafa Alaa Asfoura (Abu Nasr), three-year-old Sohaib Alaa Asfoura (Abu Nasr), 16-year-old Enas Alaa Asfoura (Abu Nasr), and relative 36-year-old Sahar Farah Baraka Asfoura (Abu Nasr).

Family members 54-year-old Muhammad Ibrahim Abu Nasr and his children, sons 32-year-old Ibrahim Muhammad Ibrahim Abu Nasr and 22-year-old Ismail Muhammad Ibrahim Abu Nasr, and daughters 16-year-old Aseel Muhammad Ibrahim Abu Nasr, 12-year-old Aya Muhammad Ibrahim Abu Nasr, and six-year-old Suwar Muhammad Ibrahim Abu Nasr were all killed.

Other members of the Abu Nasr family that were killed include 46-year-old Munir Jawdat Khamis Abu Nasr, his son 12-year-old Muhammad Munir Jawdat Abu Nasr, 54-year-old Magda Ibrahim Abu Nasr, her sister Elham Ibrahim Abu Nasr, Ismail Muhammad Abu Nasr, Mai Muhammad Abu Nasr, Amira Muhammad Abu Nasr, Youssef Muhammad Abu Nasr, Ali Muhammad Abu Nasr, Zainab Muhammad Abu Nasr, Hussein Muhammad Abu Nasr, 26-year-old Amal Muhammad Ibrahim Abu Nasr, 25-year-old Arej Marwan Issa Abu Nasr, Zein Ismail Abu Nasr, Amina Baraka Muhammad Abu Nasr, 16-year-old Imad Moeen Ayesh Abu Nasr, 22-year-old Anas Ashraf Ayesh Abu Nasr, 16-year-old Shaza Kamal Nasr Abu Nasr, 34-year-old Ziad Ahmed Baraka Abu Nasr, 12-year-old Yousef Suhail Ayesh Abu Nasr, Ibrahim Saeed Abu Nasr, and Fadi Ahmed Abu Nasr. 

Two members of the Abu Ouda were also killed when their home next door was struck around the same time as the Abu Nasr family home. Thirty four-year-old Wahib Ouda, a football defender in the Shabab Jabalia Club, was killed “in the massacre of the Abu Nasr family in Beit Lahia”. According to “Palestine TV Youth & Sports,” Wahib “wore the captain’s armband for the football team of the Shabab Jabalia Club for years, and rose with it to the Premier League championship, and worked as a coach for the youth sector in the team as well, in addition to playing a season on loan with the Mashtal team, and another with the Salam team.” A post from the “Beit Lahia Project Sons Association” announced the death of the “beautiful innocent child Karam Wissam Ouda.”

@AnasAlSharif0 interviewed Muhammad Nabil Issa Baraka Abu Nasr, identified as the “the sole survivor” of the massacre. In a long interview posted to X, Muhammad Nabil told AnasAlSharif0 that at 10pm the family was surprised when the house of the Abu Ouda family was bombed, next door to their home. The main staircase of the Abu Nasr family house, a building which consisted of five floors with 10 apartments, was also bombed, meaning that no one could leave the building. Muhammad Nabil said that he was able to escape because he was on the ground floor, but noted that as he was fleeing quadcopter drones chased him. Hours later, at 4:05am, the entire five floor residential building was brought down.

Muhammad Nabil explained that when he heard the explosion at 4:05am, he rushed to the site of the building and began calling the Red Cross, ambulances, and people he knew to help rescue his family members but was told that no civil defense or ambulances were allowed to go to the site. Instead, he and other neighbours in Beit Lahia worked through the rubble with their hands, rescuing around 15 injured to be transported by donkey cart to Kamal Adwan and al-Awda hospitals. Over the next 12 hours they were able to collect the bodies of 117 people killed, many of whom had been thrown to other parts of the site. Mohammad explained that they did this while still being fired at by artillery shelling and quadcopter drones. On the second day, still without any equipment, they were only able to get out two additional bodies. As of November 2nd, approximately 120 bodies of those killed were still under the rubble, all members of the Abu Nasr family.

BBC Arabic’s Gaza Today programme spoke with Umm Malik Abu Nasr, a survivor who was pulled from the rubble, who said that “At around 00:30 or 01:00, the [Ouda] family house next to us was bombed,” she said. “We rushed to help and host them but their daughter [died] in our home. At 04:00 the multi-storey house of the Abu Nasr family collapsed on top of us. They [Israel forces] bombed the house, which was housing about 300 displaced people who had fled their homes. These people sought to take refuge in our houses. We hosted them because they were just civilians and had nothing to do with resistance [Palestinian armed groups].” Umm Malik Abu Nasr’s mention of the daughter of the Ouda family corresponds to other local sources who mentioned the death of Karam Wissam Ouda, mentioned above.

In an NPR report published in December 2024, journalists interviewed survivors of the strike including 27-year old Ola Abu Nassar, describing how the surviving relatives were maintaining a registry of those who had been killed: “Ola and her cousin Muhammad evacuated to safety but never stopped revising the list. Who’d been left under the rubble? Who eventually died of their wounds? They didn’t want to forget anyone.

Ola wrote out the names and ages in green ink, small letters, neat rows, filling two pages,130 dead”.

NPR spoke to Raji Sourani of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, who commented on the practice now common in Gaza of such detailed documentation by survivors and relatives: “If they didn’t do that, who will do it? You want to know who died, who stayed alive, at least. I mean, people just bring pen and pad, writing with blood and pain”.

An Israeli military official told the BBC that it had carried out the strike in Beit Lahia in response to “seeing a “spotter” on the roof with binoculars observing Israeli forces.” The BBC added that “The military official said it was not a planned strike and troops did not know the building was being used as a shelter for displaced people.”

A Facebook post referred to those killed as the “family of the comrade leader Abu Wadih Nasr,” later mentioning that Abu Wadih was not among those killed. It is unclear what this reference reflects leadership in, as there are no other references to him among local sources. A member of the Abu Nasr family named Hosam [Abu Nasr] who lives in the West Bank posted images of members of the Palestinian Authority mourning with him the members of the family killed, potentially indicating that the family was politically affiliated.

The director of Kamal Adwan hospital Dr Hussam Abu Safiya said that the hospital had received the bodies of more than 25 people killed, another 77 were trapped under the rubble, and around 45 injured, including women and children, had been brought to the hospital by either horse-drawn cars or by being carried by others.

Aljazeera spoke with another witness, 30-year-old Rabie al-Shandagly, who said, “People are trying to save the injured, but there are no hospitals or proper medical care. The explosion happened at night and I first thought it was shelling, but when I went out after sunrise I saw people pulling bodies, limbs and the wounded from under the rubble.”

A scene in a video posted by @khaberni shows eight very young children, some covered in dust with visible scratches and bruising, identified as children who survive the massacre of the Abu Nasr family, while another post by Mahmoud Abu Salama referred to the survivors as “children without fathers and without mothers.”

According to to Muhammad Nabil, at the time of the strike, the original 100 residents of the building in addition to their relatives and other displaced people were sheltering, making a total estimate of more than 230 people in the building at the time of the strike.

A video posted by @PalinfoAr included a horse-drawn cart transporting at least 10 bodies wrapped in white shrouds, with the caption being specifying that the bodies, victims of the massacre against the Abu Nasr family, had to be transferred to their burial by carts because of the disruption to ambulance and civil defense services due to ongoing Israeli strikes. Another video by @islambader_1988 also showed the effect of a lack of ambulance services – local people were responsible for shrouding and transporting those killed. Bodies can still be seen buried in rubble and hanging from windows in graphic images posted by Ahmed Al Fayadi on Facebook.

Dozens of different bodies covered in blankets are pictured in a tweet by @abdgwad_ahmed as loved ones mourn over those they lost. In a video from @Dr_Muneer1, a Palestinian man is identified as “standing on the rubble of the Abu Nasr family’s home” and goes on to state that “only five or six survived from the more than 300 in the building” while a video published by @qudsn showed a man who was the only survivor of his family lamenting his loss.

A woman from the Abu Nasr family is seen in a video posted by @MyPalestine0 writing down the names of those killed so that their bodies could be released from the hospital for burial. @AnasAlSharif0 also spoke with a visibly distressed woman who according to the caption “lost her sons, daughters, and grandchildren in the Abu Nasr family massacre” and she can be heard saying “Who should I cry for? There is no one left but God.”

According to @EzzLulu, the Abu Nasr family home was located “near Al-Zawari Mosque in the Beit Lahia project.” A post from Yasser Youssef mentioned that the Ouda family home belonged to Mukhtar Abu Al-Walid Ouda.

The physical devastation to the area is recorded in a video by @Hakeam_ps in which a large area is seen levelled to the ground, multiple commercial vehicles are destroyed, the possessions of the civilians who lived there are scattered everywhere, and none of the buildings seem to be inhabitable.

Where sources identified who was responsible, all sources attributed the strikes to the Israeli military. The BBC quoted military officials who confirmed Israeli involvement in the strike, which was also confirmed by their allies the United States. This incident has therefore been graded as a “declared strike”. Although statements by Israel to the press indicated general awareness of civilian casualties, these have yet to be confirmed by official sources. Should more come to light this assessment will be updated.

According to survivor Muhammad Nabil Issa Baraka Abu Nasr who spoke with @AnasAlSharif0, there was no prior warning before the strikes.

Where possible, the ages of victims have been found by cross-checking names against lists of fatalities shared online by Shireen Monitor, an organisation which has a list of “Martyrs of Palestine” from 2023 onward.