Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

ISPT0138

Incident date

October 12, 2023

Location

طلال السلطان, Tal al Sultan, Rafah, the Gaza Strip

Geolocation

31.310318, 34.241843 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Neighbourhood/area level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

During the morning of Thursday, October 12th 2023, between 12 and 14 civilians, including at least five women and four children, were killed, and at least 40 civilians, including a number of children, were injured in an alleged Israeli airstrike on two homes in the Tal al-Sultan area of Rafah that belonged to the Baroud and Abu Shaar families.

Mahmud Ziad (@Mahmoud_aser19) reported on Twitter/X that a “number of children were injured”, and posted images of wounded children of varying ages being treated in a hospital. Sources did not specify the number of casualties from the Baroud family.

A Twitter/X user HadaratMedia posted the images of the buildings that were hit with smoke rising behind them, while a Facebook user AbuSha3ar1 shared the images of the rubble and a wounded child.

Tributes on social media mostly listed the names of 12 members of the Abu Shaar family all killed in the incident, though some social media sources, like Alarabia Palestine Facebook account, reported that 14 members of the Abu Shaar family were killed. From the names and ages reported on social media, it is likely that members of the Abu Shaar family were killed across three generations. Shehab agency reported that another 40 individuals were wounded.

A Facebook user AbuSha3ar1 shared the images of the funeral of the Abu Shaar family members at the Abu Youssef Al-Najjar Hospital. In another post, he shared the images of some killed family members, including two young boys.

Ziad Salama Abu Shaar (Abu Muhammad), 49, was named on social media as the owner of the residence; he was reported killed together with his two daughters, 22-year old Abeer Ziad Salama Abu Shaar and Nada Ziad Salama Abu Shaar and his two sons, 13-year old Muhammad Ziyad Salama Abu Shaar and 10-year old Mahmoud Ziyad Salama Abu Shaar. Ziad Shaar is seen on an image attached to a Facebook post by adelzourob73 as a middle-aged man in a driver’s seat. Rawan R Abu Taha referred to him as a “good neigbour” in a heartfelt Facebook testimony.

44-year old Ziad Abdullah Abu Shaar was also killed together with his children, 17-year old Muhammad Ziyad Abdullah Abu Shaar and 15-year old daughter Islam Ziyad Abdullah Abu Shaar. Mohannad Abo Fadi wrote in a Facebook testimony that the late Ziad Abu Shaar “had a kind heart”.

Among the victims was also a 78-year old woman, Hajja Janadi Ibrahim Ahmed Abu Shaar (Umm Khaled), a 46-year old woman Maysar Salama Abu Shaar, and Sarah Yasser Abu Shaar who was referred to as a “judge” in a Facebook post by alaa.abuhair.

Additionally, the Facebook tributes by Mohannad Abo Fadi and Rawan R Abu Taha mentioned Dahoud Abu Luli among the killed civilians, attaching a picture of a young man.

Where possible, names have been matched with 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.

According to the Shehab Agency correspondent, the incident occurred in the morning, before 10:30 AM local time.

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 in the morning.

The victims were named as:

Family members (11)

Ziad Salama Abu Shaar (Abu Muhammad) زياد سلامة أبو شعر
49 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 900201195
Abeer Ziad Salama Abu Shaar عبير زياد سلامة أبو شعر
22 years old female killed Matched to MoH ID 406970954
Nada Ziad Salama Abu Shaar ندى زياد سلامة أبو شعر
female killed
Muhammad Ziyad Salama Abu Shaar محمد زياد سلامة أبو شعر
13 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 429322589
Mahmoud Ziyad Salama Abu Shaar محمود زياد سلامة أبو شعر
10 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 434064382
Ziad Abdullah Abu Shaar زياد عبدالله اعطيوي أبو شعر
44 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 800130965
Muhammad Ziyad Abdullah Abu Shaar محمد زياد عبدالله ابو شعر
17 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 422713438
Islam Ziyad Abdullah Abu Shaar إسلام زياد عبدالله ابو شعر
15 years old female killed Matched to MoH ID 425868312
Hajja Janadi Ibrahim Ahmed Abu Shaar (Umm Khaled) جنادي إبراهيم أحمد أبو شعر
78 years old female killed Matched to MoH ID 944937135
Maysar Salama Abu Shaar ميسر سلامة أبو شعر
46 years old female killed Matched to MoH ID 900601394
Sarah Yasser Abu Shaar سارة ياسر أبو شعر
female killed

The victims were named as:

Dahoud Abu Luli داهود ابو لولي
Age unknown male killed

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the neighbourhood of Tal al Sultan (طلال السلطان) to the west of Rafah (رفح). Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further. The generic coordinates for Tal al Sultan are: 31.310318, 34.241843.

{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[{"type":"Feature","properties":{"stroke":"#ff0000","stroke-width":1,"stroke-opacity":1,"fill-opacity":0},"geometry":{"type":"Polygon","coordinates":[[[34.2366815,31.3075585],[34.2355227,31.31172],[34.2391062,31.312545],[34.2415309,31.31271],[34.2430544,31.3126367],[34.245007,31.3122883],[34.2483974,31.3107851],[34.2473245,31.3088968],[34.2478824,31.3080535],[34.2479253,31.3077235],[34.2482686,31.3073018],[34.2489123,31.3068252],[34.2497706,31.3066235],[34.2506075,31.3066602],[34.2506719,31.3060002],[34.2477751,31.3050285],[34.2455864,31.3047718],[34.2438054,31.3041668],[34.2415309,31.3032501],[34.2398143,31.3016183],[34.2378187,31.3033601],[34.2366815,31.3075585]]]}}]}

Summary

  • Strike status
    Likely strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian infrastructure
    Residential building
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    12 – 14
  • (4–5 children5–6 women2 men)
  • Civilians reported injured
    40
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Fair
    Reported by two or more credible sources, with likely or confirmed near actions by a belligerent.
  • Suspected belligerent
    Israeli Military

Sources (28) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (30) [ collapse]

  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Mohannad Abo Fadi
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Mohannad Abo Fadi
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: @Mahmoud_aser19
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: @Mahmoud_aser19
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: @Mahmoud_aser19
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: @Mahmoud_aser19
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: @HadaratMedia
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: @HadaratMedia
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: adelzourob73
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Alaa hassan facebook
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Alaa hassan facebook
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Alaa hassan facebook
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Bassam Abdullah facebook
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Mohamemd Baround facebook
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Mohamemd Baround facebook
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: AbuSha3ar1
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: AbuSha3ar1
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: AbuSha3ar1
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: AbuSha3ar1
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: AbuSha3ar1
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: AbuSha3ar1
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: AbuSha3ar1
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: AbuSha3ar1
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: AbuSha3ar1
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: AbuSha3ar1
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: AbuSha3ar1
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: AbuSha3ar1
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

Israeli Military Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    Israeli Military
  • Israeli Military position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Summary

  • Strike status
    Likely strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian infrastructure
    Residential building
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    12 – 14
  • (4–5 children5–6 women2 men)
  • Civilians reported injured
    40
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Fair
    Reported by two or more credible sources, with likely or confirmed near actions by a belligerent.
  • Suspected belligerent
    Israeli Military

Sources (28) [ collapse]