Incident Code
Incident Date
Location
Geolocation
Geolocation
Airwars Assessment
On October 9 2023, up to four civilians, including two young sisters, were killed when an alleged Israeli airstrike hit Al-Samuni Street, Gaza City.
The incident took place at around 6.am in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City. The sisters were identified as: six or seven year old Mira Abu Ghanima and five or six year old Lara Abu Ghanima.
On Facebook family and friends announced the children’s deaths and expressed their grief. The sisters’ cousin, Ahmad Mahamed, wrote ‘the eyes shed tears and the heart grieves, and we are saddened by your departure’. Zainab School, also mourned the sisters’ death with ‘sadness and sorrow’ and extended ‘their deepest condolences and sympathy’ for the Abu Ghanima family.
Quds News suggests that two others were killed in addition to the sisters after the alleged attack in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood. Defense for Children International (DCI) described the attack as being on ‘agricultural land’.
Both children’s names were found by Airwars researchers in the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of fatalities in Gaza released on October 26th, 2023.
Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strikes to Israeli forces.
Victims
Family members (2)
Key Information
Geolocation Notes
Reports of the incident mention the neighbourhood of Al Zaytoun (الزيتون) to the south of Gaza city (غزة). Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further. The generic coordinates for Al Zaytoun are: 31.485479, 34.444885.