On October 15th, 2023, an alleged Israeli airstrike hit the five-story building belonging to the al-Daour family’s located on al-Thalatheni Street in Gaza City without prior warning, killing two children, one of them an infant, and injuring others. The home was identified as belonging to the journalist Muhammad al-Daour.

In a photo shared by users on social media, Muhammad al-Daour was depicted in a press vest reporting live on television, and another source stated that Muhammad is an Al-Ghad channel journalist. A number of his colleagues announced the death of Muhammad al-Daour’s family on social media, expressing their condolences. Khaled Badair, posted “sincere condolences to our colleague Muhammad al-Daour on the martyrdom of a number of his family’s children.” Another user also reported that “the martyrs came one by one, most of them children.”

Another colleague also expressed sympathy with Muhammad Al-Daour, reporting just one family casualty, ‘sincere condolences on the martyrdom of the nephew of our dear colleague Muhammad Al-Daour after his family home was targeted.’ Ibrahim al Daour, likely a member of the family, identified his nephew, who was killed as nine-year-old Fadel Issam al-Daour. According to a Facebook post from the Indonesian Hospital, Fadel was the son of Dr. Issam Al-Daour, a doctor at the hospital. Issam’s nephew, an eight-year-old Ahmed Shadi Talal al-Hadad, was also killed, according to the testimony of Issam given to the B’Tselem researcher.

37-year-old father of Fadel, Issam al-Daour, gave his testimony to B’Tselem field researcher Olfat al-Kurd on 15 November 2023. He told, in particular, that he was divorced, and until the war, he lived on a-Thalathini Street in the al-Sabra neighborhood in Gaza City with his two children, Fadel (9) and Juri (6). It was a five-story building, and the first and second floors were hit during the alleged Israeli airstrike.  Issam added that when the strike happened, Fadel was in his parents’ apartment on the first floor, and his mother was in another apartment with cousins who had fled home and were sheltering in our building. Ahmad, the baby, was on the second floor with his mother.

Issam told how he learned the heartbreaking news about the death of his son:

“That evening, at 8:00 P.M., the director of the hospital came over and told me our building had been bombed and people from my family were injured. I started crying. They arranged for an ambulance to take me to al-Shifaa Hospital, where the casualties were taken.  I got to al-Shifaa within half an hour. My cousins Muhammad a-Da’ur (38) and Raed a-Da’ur (34) met me there and broke the terrible news that my son was dead. I started crying again. Then I saw my brother Ibrahim (26), who is a doctor at a-Shifaa. He was in shock. Seeing him made me cry even harder. We went to Pathology Department, and I found Fadel’s body there. He was injured in the chest. I stood in front of him, frozen. “

Issam told further that the next day, 16 Oct. 2023, his brothers and he buried Fadel, and it was extremely hard for him:

“I couldn’t bear to look at him. Then we buried my baby nephew, Ahmad Shadi al-Hadad, who was also killed when our house was bombed. He was eight months old. After we buried Fadel, I couldn’t leave the cemetery. It was a terrible moment. “

Issam concluded his story with a painful сonfession:

“I can’t feel anything or express emotions anymore. The tears have frozen in my eyes. I spend my time in silence, thinking about my little boy and what he did to deserve to die a week after his birthday on 7 October. “

Akhbaar Alarab reported that “A house for the al-Daour family near the University College in Tal Al-Hawa, and there were serious injuries.” According to Mummad al-Daour in a post on his own Facebook page, the home was located on ‘Al-Thalatheni Street, next to Ammo Imad’.

Where possible, Airwars has matched names with the first Palestinian Ministry of Health list of nearly 7000 victims’ names and ID numbers released on October 26th, 2023.

On October 19, 2023, Mohammed al-Daour shared nine pictures of what remained of his home, to Facebook. The images show signs of fire and dusty rubble everywhere, to the extent that personal affects aren’t recognisable. One of the images showed blood splattered on the wall,  Alongside the images, Mohammed wrote: “We had a home, and small children playing. Israel killed them without mercy.”

Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strikes to Israeli forces.