Shortly before 1:35 AM on Tuesday, 18th of March 2025, an alleged Israeli airstrike hit the Batran family home in Block 5 of the al-Bureij Refugee Camp, in the Gaza Strip, resulting in the deaths of Hamas military leader Mohammed Mahmoud Abed Hadi al-Batran and his 35-year-old brother, Ahmed Mahmoud Abed Hadi al-Batran, and the injuring of their relatives, Zaher al-Batran and Baraa al-Batran.

Twitter/X user @qudsn was the first to report that incident at 1:35 AM, informing about casualties and injuries. According to the website “Genocide in Gaza”, the attack was carried out without prior warning.

Given the referral of most sources to Mohammed Mahmoud Abed Al Hadi Al-Batran (also referred to as Abu Youssef) as the Commander of the Artillery Unit and member of the Military Council of the Al Nasser Salah Al-Din Bridges – the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees – in the Central region, he has been classified under militant status and therefore excluded from the civilian harm toll. Many sources emphasised that he “joined” his son Youssef, his daughter Menna Allah, and his brothers Youssef and Sameh, who had been killed earlier.

Mohammed’s brother, Ahmed al-Batran, reportedly succumbed to his injuries the same day. The tweet by @Qadeyah contained the image of Ahmed, a young man with dark hair and a dark trimmed beard dressed in a white hoodie. While he was with his brother at the time of the strike, there was no immediate evidence that Ahmed was also a Hamas militant. As such he has been classified as a civilian, but this assessment will be updated if additional information emerges.

A Facebook post by Al Burij Tajmu’na wished a speedy recovery for “dear son of Al-Bureij” Zaher Al-Batran, who was reportedly in critical condition. In the attached image, he is seen as a young man dressed in a yellow T-shirt. Rania Mahmoud, in her Facebook post, wished a complete recovery to Zaher and Baraa. It was not clear from the sources how exactly Zaher and Baraa were related to Ahmed al-Batran.

Ahmed al-Batran’s age has 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.

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