Airwars assessment
On Monday October 9th 2023, at approximately 11:10am, a deadly airstrike allegedly conducted by the Israeli military destroyed the Abdullah bin Omar (Al Sousi) mosque on the territory of the Al Shati refugee camp, located in the Gaza strip west to the Gaza city, killing up to 11 civilians, including at least two children and a pregnant woman, and wounding 60 other civilians.
Initial reporting said “a number” of victims were injured and killed, while Hasan Isleeh and Motaz put the death toll at ten killed and 60 more injured. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights reported 11 civilians killed and indicated that among those killed were “children”, without specifying their number or identity. Anadolu reported “a girl killed” and “several” injured. Mosab Abo Taha announced on Facebook that his cousin, described as a pregnant woman, was also killed in the bombing of the mosque.
The civilians injured were transferred to Al-Shifa Hospital, according to local reports. An unknown number of children who were carrying water were reported missing, so the number of victims could be higher than initially reported. As their whereabouts remain unknown, Airwars did not include this information in its casualty ranges yet.
The UK Independent wrote that the “entire neighbourhood” around the Al-Sousi mosque was razed to the ground by the attack. The same source indicated that three other mosques were hit by alleged Israeli bombing in the area the same day. The strikes reportedly killed “dozens of Palestinians in the camp”. The civilian harm allegation linked to the strikes hitting three mosques (Ahmed Yassin mosque, Al-Gharbi mosque and Yarmouk Mosque) was tracked separately by Airwars, with the following code: ISPT0054.
The Independent published images showing survivors “clambering over rubble and piling bodies onto stretchers”. Hasan Isleeh additionally reported that dozens of homes were destroyed in the attack.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Interior, there was no warning ahead of the strike.
The names of eight of those killed and two who were wounded have been identified within local sources:
61-year old Musa Ismail Matar (“Abu Ismail”) was killed in the strike according to the Facebook testimony of his wife’s brother. The Board of Directors of the Ashkelon People’s Association expressed its sincere condolences to the Musa’s family. His death was deeply mourned by his cousin, Samir Mata, and his daugher-in-law, Roza Ismail.
Another victim, the elderly woman Yusra Hosni Abdullah Abu Marq (Umm Marwan, 84), was mentioned in Facebook testimonies by Alaa Abu Maraq, Haboush family and her son Ahmad Salem Abu Maraq. Her son wrote that “she spent her 46 years in the field of education raising generations of the Palestinian people in our beloved Gaza.” Her death was also mourned by her grandson Tahrir Abu Maraq.
The third victim identified was 19-year old Ibrahim Fares Al-Aqra whose death was mourned by his nephew Abu Aljoud, his friend Aboud Abu Mahmohd and his cousin (or brother) Apdalla abu afash.
The Hassouna Muqdad family Facebook group mourned the “martyr cousin” 17-year-old Abdul Rahman Muhammad Mut’i Hassouna who was killed, along with an image of Abdul Rahman, a young boy in a red hoodie.
68-year-old Youssef Natat who was also killed was mourned by their nephew Emad Natat who offered prayers for their uncle’s death and their afterlife.
A post from Muhamed Abu Qasem Adwan identified two “Beit Hanoun martyrs” who were killed in the strike on the mosque: a 24-year-old woman named Wesal Yasser Hamad and her son, 1-year-old Muhammad Hussam Hamad.
A family member mourned the loss of “the martyr Bashir Al-Dabash’s cousin, the martyr Duaa Al-Dabash (Al-Najjar),” a 32-year-old woman who “ascended to the highest ranks” after her death.
A Facebook post from Bashar Bashar wished “a thousand greetings” to his dear uncle Khaled Abu Ahmed and his son Mahmoud who were both injured in the strike on Al Sousi Mosque. An image included in the post shows a middle-aged man with a head injury and a bandage on his head.
Airwars has matched the names of the victims identified with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of nearly 7000 victims’ names and ID numbers released on October 26th.
Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strikes to Israeli forces.
On October 9th, 2024 the Airwars Investigations Unit, along with Sky News, published an investigation geolocating and matching airstrike footage released by the Israeli military with incidents in the Airwars archive. In total, Airwars’ team identified 17 strikes leading to civilian harm from the first month of the war, of which the Israeli military itself had published footage. This strike was among the 17. As such this incident has been reclassified as a declared Israeli strike, rather than a likely one.
Due to the scale and urgency of Airwars’ assessment process, all images have been automatically uploaded to each assessment with the graphic filter applied to protect users. We have also included all images identified from the sources, which may also include any imagery of combatants.
The incident occured at approximately 11:10 am local time.
The victims were named as:
Family members (2)
Family members (2)
The victims were named as:
Geolocation notes (3) [ collapse]
Reports of the incident mention the Al Sousi mosque (مسجد السوسي) in the Al Shati camp (معسكر الشاطئ). Analysing audio-visual material from sources, we have narrowed the location down to the following exact coordinates: 31.529549 , 34.447078. The Airwars team matched these exact coordinates to a screenshot taken at 0:12 of the strike video shared by the IDF to Twitter/X.
Summary
Sources (39) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (51) [ collapse]
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Source: Youssef -
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Source: Youssef -
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Source: Qastal -
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Source: Qastal -
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Source: Mahmoud -
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Source: Mahmoud -
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Source: Mahmoud -
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Source: Mahmoud -
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Source: Yousef Ashour facebook -
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Source: Wafa news -
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Source: Wafa news -
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Source: Wafa news -
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Source: Wafa news -
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Source: Wafa news -
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Source: Wafa news -
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Source: Wafa news -
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Source: Wafa news -
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Source: Sharq awsat facebook -
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Source: Sharq awsat facebook -
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Source: Sharq awsat facebook -
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Source: Sharq awsat facebook -
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Source: Sharq awsat facebook -
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Source: Sharq awsat facebook -
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Source: Sharq awsat facebook -
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Source: Sharq awsat facebook -
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Source: Sharq awsat facebook -
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Source: Sharq awsat facebook -
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Source: Alaa Abu MAraq facebook -
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Source: Harmoon zakawa facebook -
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Source: Harmoon zakawa facebook -
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Source: Harmoon zakawa facebook -
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Source: Harmoon zakawa facebook -
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Source: Ahmad Salem Abu Maraq facebook -
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Source: Abu Aljoud facebook -
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Source: Aboud Abu Mahmohd facebook -
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Source: APdalla abu afash facebook -
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Source: Roza Ismail facebook -
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Source: Roza Ismail facebook -
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Source: Roza Ismail facebook -
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Source: The Independent News -
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Source: The Independent News -
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Source: Bashar Bashar via Facebook -
Source: Hassouna - Muqdad family via Facebook
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Source: Emad Nattat via Facebook
Israeli Military Assessment:
Original strike reports
Throughout the last day, Air Force planes have been carrying out extensive attacks along the length and breadth of the Gaza Strip, wreaking havoc on Hamas terrorists. In just the last three hours, about 130 targets were attacked using dozens of planes. The focus of the attack: Beit Hanon, Sajaya, Al Furkan and Rimal.