At around 7 p.m. on October 25, 2023, seven people were killed, and three others injured, after an alleged Israeli strike hit a family house of a displaced man named Muhammad al-Najjar, at the UNRWA training compound in Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip.

Nihal al-Najjar, a 21-year-old university student studying public relations and marketing, shared with B’Tselem the story of the bombing that destroyed her uncle’s home and killed seven members of her family. Before that night, she and her family had already been displaced several times.

They had lived in Tower 3 of the Mukhabarat Towers in Gaza City, but on 12 October 2023, following Israeli military evacuation warnings, Nihal, her mother, and her sisters left their apartment and moved to the Jabalia refugee camp to stay with her aunt, Samira al-Najjar. Her father and brothers fled separately amid the heavy bombardment and eventually reached Khan Yunis.

They remained at her aunt’s home for about two weeks, constantly surrounded by the sound of explosions. Bombing shook the area day and night, and shattered glass regularly flew into the house. On 24 October, her aunt received a text message from the Israeli army ordering them to evacuate immediately because the house was about to be bombed. With little choice, the family left once again, this time seeking shelter in the ground-floor apartment of her uncle, Muhammad al-Najjar, also in the camp.

The next day, 25 October at around 7:00 P.M., Nihal was in the living room with her mother, her sister Mays, her uncle’s wife Khulud, her baby son Mahmoud, and three of her daughters – Shahd, Wa’d, and Jana. Her sisters, Muna and Nur, were in another room, while her uncle was outside, and their daughter Ghazal was at a neighbor’s home charging her phone when the house suddenly collapsed without warning. Nihal found herself trapped under the rubble and moments later lost consciousness.

When she awoke, she was in the Indonesian Hospital were she found out that her sisters Mona Nidal Hussein al-Najjar (20 years old) and Nour Nidal Hussein al-Najjar (18 years old) had been killed, along with her uncle’s wife Khulud Mas’ud (30 years old), and her children Shahd Mohammed Hussein al-Najjar (14 or 15 years old), Waad Mohammed Hussein al-Najjar (12 years old), Jana Mohammed Hussein al-Najjar (eight or 10 years old), and two-month-old baby Mahmoud Mohammed Hussein al-Najjar. Nihal herself had injuries to her hands and left leg, while her mother, Nihal a-Najjar, suffered severe third-degree burns on her face, hands, back, and legs. Her sister, Rawan a-Najjar (Mays), also had burns and stitched wounds. The family’s grief was compounded by the impossibility of attending the funeral the next morning in Beit Lahia Cemetery.

Where possible, the ages of victims have been verified by cross-checking names against lists of fatalities shared online by Genocide in Gaza, which has a list of “martyrs” of Israeli forces. Where there was a discrepancy with B’Tselem report, both ages are given.

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 a number of 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, the name of Wa’d was matched to the first “Palestinian Ministry of Health List of Fatalities in Gaza”, which was released on October 26, 2023.

In the following days, escalating shelling around hospitals forced Nihal and her fiancé, Yasser Muhanna (30), to flee south to Khan Yunis, where she was eventually reunited with her father and brothers in a displacement camp. Now living in a fragile tent with minimal possessions, Nihal relies on donations and daily medical care. Nihal reflects on the profound loss of her sisters, the devastation of her home, and the dreams that were taken from her: “The Israeli army left me with nothing. No hope for happiness. It took away every sweet thing in my life.”

On social media, @Mohammed Waleed shared a heartfelt condolence message upon the passing of his aunt, Kholoud Atta Masoud, and her four children – Shahd Muhammad Al-Najjar, Waad Muhammad Al-Najjar, Jana Muhammad Al-Najjar and Mahmoud Muhammad Al-Najjar. “O Allah, forgive them, have mercy on them, and admit them into Your spacious Paradise.”

Similarly, @YasMina M. Massoud mourned the loss of her beloved cousin Kholoud Atta Masoud and her five children, offering prayers and expressing deep grief.

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