On 9 October at approximately 3:30 am, at least four civilians, including two women and two children, were killed and at least one further civilian injured in an alleged Israeli airstrike on a house in Tal Al-Zaatar, located in the north of the Gaza Strip.

A report from the Defense of Children International identified eight-month-old Rakan Sameh Ahmad as killed in the strike intended for his family’s neighbour’s house. In addition, three members of the Hamdan family were killed, including 58-year-old Basma Juma Mahmoud Hamdan (Umm Mukhles), her 28-year-old son Moataz Ibrahim (Hassan) Hamdan, and her daughter Amani Ibrahim (Hassan) Hamdan. Alongside this, her daughter Ikhlas Ibrahim Hamdan, sibling of Moataz and Amani, was injured. Images posted by Al Jazeera showed four children identified as being injured in the Tal al-Zaatar area.

The two-storey house that five families inhabited was ‘completely destroyed’, according to a report from Al Mezan Center for Human Rights. Simultaneously, homes nearby were affected with a tweet from @Wael Ouda describing the attempts to rescue civilians as ‘difficult’.

This narrative collaborates with a report from the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) and a series of tweets from user @Shebab Agency. All reporting of the incident indicated that the Israeli Military was responsible for the attack, and @Wael Ouda added that the strike occurred “without warning”.

Where possible, names have been matched with the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH) lists, which include national ID numbers. Since October 26, 2023, the MoH has released six 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 ‘Rakan Sameh Ahmed’ has been matched to the fourth ‘Palestinian Ministry of Health List of Fatalities in Gaza’ list, which was released on April 30th, 2024. The name ‘Moataz Ibrahim Hamdan’ has been matched to the fifth ‘Palestinian Ministry of Health List of Fatalities in Gaza’ list, which was released on June 30, 2024.