Around 10:26 PM on Thursday, October 19th 2023, at least 35 identified civilians belonging to Al-Sharafi and Hassouna families were killed, among them at least 14 women and 14 children, including two elderly women, a mother with her three children, five siblings and a pregnant mother of two, and others were wounded in an alleged Israeli airstrike on the four-storey residential building belonging to the Hassouna family located near the al-Salehin Mosque in the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood, west of the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip. All the victims within the Al-Sharafi family were women and children.

Shehab Agency first reported on the bombing, stating that a “female martyr and a number of wounded” had been recovered, and that there were “missing people under the rubble”. Later Radio e-Nour shared a video of the destroyed home, reporting that “18 martyrs were recovered from under the rubble of the Hassouna family home in Rafah”, adding that “it was housing displaced families from the northern Gaza Strip.” Multiple sources reported on injuries from the attack but did not provide a specific toll.

The deadly attack took the lives of at least 35 civilian members of the two families.

Al-Sharafi family

All the victims within Al-Sharafi family were women and children.

Two elderly women, a 62-year old Amina (Amnah) Hussein Muhammad Al-Sharafi and a 86-year old Nazmiya Mahmoud Abdullah Al-Sharafi (Umm Nayef), were killed alongside a 40-year old woman Zainab Amin Fahmy Al-Sharafi.

A 32-year old mother Aya Nayef Abdel Aziz al-Sharafi was killed alongside her three children, 8-year old Wissam al-Daour, 7-year old Zouhir al-Daour, and 5-year old Basima al-Daour, and her sister 26-year old Alaa Nayef Abdel Aziz al-Sharafi.

The attack also took the lives of the five young children who were siblings: the four sisters – Hala Raed Nayef al-Sharafi (13), Aya Raed Nayef al-Sharafi (12), Nour Raed Nayef al-Sharafi (9), and Leen Raed Nayef al-Sharafi (6), and their brother Muhammad Raed Nayef al-Sharafi (8).

Last but not least, among those killed as shared by relatives and other sources were also three women – Subha Ibrahim Mustafa al-Sharafi, 36-year old Hoda Muhammad Ibrahim al-Sharafi, and Hoda’s sister Hanin Muhammad Ibrahim al-Sharafi. Their ages are unknown.

Hassouna family

Within the Hassouna family, 59-year old Ali Hassan Abdel Rahman Hassouna was killed alongside his seven children and three grandchildren – two daughters 34-year old Israa Ali Hassan Hassouna and 32-year old Alaa Ali Hassan Hassouna, and five sons 36-year old Raed Ali Hassan Hassouna, 33-year old Mohammed Ali Hassan Hassouna, 28-year old Moumen Ali Hassan Hassouna, 25-year old Ibrahim Ali Hassan Hassouna, and 37-year old Hasan Ali Hassan Hassouna.  Hasan’s wife 34-year old Aya Basem Ashour Hasouna was killed along with their three children – 7-year old Joud Hassan Ali Hassouna, 11-year old Ahmad Hassan Ali Hassouna, and 9-year old Baraa Hassan Ali Hassouna.

Other victims within the Hassouna family mentioned by sources included 7-year old Ali Muhammad Ali Hassouna, a 25-year old woman named Areej Saleh Hassan Hassouna (al-Taweel), and 30-year old Reem Nahed Hassouna (al-Nahal).

One of the victims of this airstrike was a pregnant 25-year old woman Areej Marwan Al Banna who was killed alongside her daughters Sara Al Banna (14) and Samia Al Banna (10) and her unborn child. Distressing images and videos of the six month-old foetus, later covered in a small shroud, were shared by sources on social media. It was reported that dozens of people in the city of Rafah mourned the deceased Areej.

Surviving relatives of the families grieved the loss on social media, with Alaa al-Sharafi mourning “the martyrs of the Al-Sharafi and Hassouna families after the occupation committed the massacre of the Hassouna family in Rafah. My aunt, her husband, her children, their wives and grandchildren, my aunt’s daughter and her daughters, her daughter-in-law and her grandchildren, and my cousins.”

The Haboul family shared that Areej was a daughter-in-law of the late Fatima Daoud Haboul.  Mansoor Arhaim Arsh offered his condolences to the surviving husband and father, Nidal Banna, adding that the victims were bombed in Rafah where Israeli forces “said the south was safe”, and mourning “Oh God, comfort his heart with this great affliction / Oh God, our hearts are filled with sadness and loss, and we can no longer bear it / Have mercy on us, O God.”

Rafah Service shared that the entire family of Ali Hassouna “was removed from the civil registry”, calling the bombing “a direct targeting of civilians” and sharing an image of Ali, a smiling middle-aged bearded man. The Rafah Municipality referred to Ali as “our colleague”, stating on October 20th that the “crews of the Central Emergency Committee in Rafah Governorate continue to work on removing the rubble and recovering the bodies of the martyrs”, and shared images of the rescue efforts.

In a news report, Gulf365 media stated that the bombing occurred when Areej was carrying out household chores. The family was expecting the birth of a boy child soon, and had named him Omar, with Gulf365 quoting a relative, Ali Hassouna, who said: “We were happy and Areej was happy that she was going to have a son, and she said we would name him Omar after my brother who died a while ago, but suddenly the bombing started and destroyed the house and she and her foetus came out from under the rubble, but she was dead.”

Initially the family clung on to the hope that the foetus would survive, but these hopes were not realized, with Ali Hassouna saying “We were thinking she died, but the foetus is alive, and we had hope, but it faded when the doctors removed the foetus and it was dead. At that time, our hearts stopped crying, all of us. What we are experiencing in Palestine is a human tragedy that no people before us have experienced.”

Moaz al-Hams reported that there was “severe damage to the surrounding homes”, with al-Aqsa voice further detailing that the house “was completely destroyed. It was made up of 4 floors”, and that the severely damaged neighboring homes included the “Kabaja family home, the Kurd family home, the Matar family home, the Musa family home, and the al-Banna family home (from Gaza).”

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 strike to Israeli forces.

The incident occured at approximately 10:26 pm local time.