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Airwars Assessment
At dawn on Saturday, October 21st, 2023, eight civilians were killed and at least four others were injured by an alleged Israeli strike on the Al Sawalhi family home in the Al-Geneina neighborhood in Rafah.
The Rafah city official page, Alsyed Abdullah, and Tala A. Riziq provided the names of those killed: 44-year-old Raed Ibrahim al-Sawalhi, his three-year-old daughter Halaa Raed Ibrahim al-Sawalhi, his 12-year-old son Al-Baraa Raed Ibrahim al-Sawalhi, and his brother, 49-year-old Iyad Ibrahim al-Sawalhi. Siblings, appearing to be the great-niece and nephews of Raed, 11-year-old Lana Mahmoud al-Arair, 8-year-old Muhammad Mahmoud al-Arair, and six-year-old Yazid Mahmoud al-Arair were also killed. The Twitter account @Alsharawmo reported that a total of eight people had been killed in the strikes on “the home of the Ibrahim Al-Sawalhi family.” No other name has been publicly released.
A post from Joyria and Aisha referred to Raed as “preacher Sheikh.” Alsyed Abdullah, a “colleague and brother” of Professor Iyad Al-Sawalhi Abu Yazan posted a condolence message to him as well. Asil al-Saadawi remembered his uncle Iyad as “my beloved, my friend, and the kindest person.” Anas Sofian, Raed’s nephew and uncle to Lana, Muhammad and Yazid, described them as “the precious children of our family.”
Multiple sources indicate that many Palestinian civilians were injured although numbers were not specified; photographs published by the Gaza News Network depict two young children and two adults severely injured by the bombing. Tala A. Riziq, the nephew of Raed Ibrahim Al Sawalhi, wrote in a Facebook post “Prayers for a speedy recovery of Iyad’s uncle and the rest of the injured”.
The airstrike was carried out at dawn, reportedly striking the Al Sawalhi home which was opposite a neighbourhood public park.
Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strikes to Israeli forces.
Where possible, names have been matched with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of fatalities in Gaza released on October 26th, 2023.
Victims
Family members (4)
Family members (3)
Key Information
Geolocation Notes
Reports of the incident mention the Al Geneina (الجنينة) neighbourhood of the city of Rafah (رفح), for which the generic coordinates are: 31.272972, 34.265706. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.