On Sunday evening October 22nd, 2023, at least 48 civilians, including at least 24 children and 11 women, were killed and at least three children were injured in an alleged Israeli airstrike on the house of Dr. Khaled al-Bayaa, located west of Nuseirat camp in the Gaza Strip. Dr. al-Bayaa was killed alongside his wife, their eight children and six grandchildren, and was survived by only two of his grandchildren, Dareen and Kenan. Ten children were reported missing after the strike.
The bombing was first reported just before 9pm, and was said to have resulted in injuries and numerous casualties, with reports indicating that dozens of victims, including fatalities, were trapped under the rubble in the hours following the strike. Urgent appeals were made through various sources, including the Shehab Agency and Abdul Rahman al-Abadla, calling for ambulances and civil defense to assist in the aftermath of the attack. A Twitter/X user @HaidarAkarar wrote that the civilans who were killed and wounded were rushed to were rushed to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
The victims were all identified as members of the Al-Bayaa family. Relatives and friends shared messages online mourning the loss of their loved ones.
The incident prompted expressions of grief from the community, with posts mourning the deaths of family members, including children. A comprehensive list of names was provided by the Facebook user Ayman Salama, detailing the individuals who lost their lives in the bombing, as well as those injured. Ayman Salama added that ten children were missing.
61-year Dr. Khaled Saeed Salamah al-Bayaa was killed alongside his wife, 56-year old A’mal Ghulam Al-Din al-Bayaa, their eight children and six grandchildren. Specifically, the couple lost their 35-year old son Mohamed Khaled Saeed al-Bayaa, 30-year old son Hamed Khaled Saeed al-Bayaa, 21-year old son Hassan Khaled Saeed al-Bayaa, and 19-year old son Salah Khaled Saeed al-Bayaa as well as four daughters: Sumaya Khaled Saeed al-Bayaa (40), Heba Khaled Saeed al-Bayaa Kabaja (37), Iman Khaled Saeed al-Bayaa (possibly 28), and Amina Khaled Saeed al-Bayaa.
Hamed Khaled Al-Bayaa was remembered in the Facebook testimonies by Anas Saidam and Ahmed Al-Deraw who called him their brother and friend. He is seen in the images below as a young smiling man with his son and with a friend.
Among the grandchildren, two sons of Mohammed al-Bayaa — 11-year old Suhaib Mohammed Khaled al-Bayaa and 13-year old Khaled Mohammad Khaled al-Bayaa — were killed along with their sisters, Mohammed’s daughters — Amal Mohammad Khaled al-Bayaa (possibly 9-10) and 2-year old Tuleen Muhammad Khaled al-Bayaa. Among the grandchildren of Khaled and Amal who were killed were also two of Hamid’s children: his son Karam Hamid Khaled al-Bayaa (4) and daughter Carmel Hamid Khaled al-Bayaa (2).
58-year old Walid Saeed Salamah al-Bayaa and his wife 54/55-year old Itidal Ghulam al-Din al-Bayaa were killed along with their two sons, Ahmed Walid Saeed al-Bayaa (possibly 22-23), Anas Walid Saeed al-Bayaa and daughter Hanaa Walid Saeed al-Bayaa (22). Their son Kenan Anas Walid al-Bayaa (child) and 11-year old daughter Dareen Anas Walid al-Bayaa were injured.
A’mal Al-Bayaa and Itidal Ghulam al-Din al-Bayaa’s two sisters, Hiyam Ghulam al-Din al-Hindi al-Sayeed (50) and Khitam Ghulam al-Din al-Hindi, were also killed.
According to a tweet by the New York Times, eleven-year-old Dareen al-Bayaa, a survivor, lost dozens of her family members in the airstrike. Dareen survived along with her brother Kenan, but lost her parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts. In a video shared by user Nuha (devotedly.yours) on Tiktok, the injured Dareen was telling her story in tears. A small scar on her cheek and a large scar on her forehead could be seen.
Dareen said that her mother, her father, both of her grandmothers and grandfathers Khaled and Anas were killed while they were staying in their house, and only she and her brother survived. She added that Israeli forces did not tell civilians to evacuate and bombed them while they were staying in the house.
The attack also took the lives of the late Hanaa’s husband, Saher Saeed al-Sayed (29), his brother Ahmed Saeed al-Sayed (12), and the children of Hana and Saher, two daughters Najma Saher al-Sayed (3) and Maymouna Saher al-Sayed, possibly less than a year old. According to the list by Ayman Salam, Najma and Maymouna were both children.
Saher, Ahmed and Hana and their children were mentioned in the condolence message posted on Facebook by the brother of Saher and Ahmed, Taher Saeed Al-Sayed. He attached some images of the victims to his post. They were also mentioned in a tribute written by Maher El Sayed.
A cousin of the Facebook user Izzeddin Khaled, Hossam Walid Kabaja, was killed along with his two daughters Rahaf Hossam Walid Kabaja (possibly 15-16) and Sama Hossam Walid Kabaja. Both girls have been described as under 18. His son Walid Hossam Walid Kabaja (possibly 8-9), and brother Abdul Aziz Walid Kabaja (possibly 18-19) were also killed. Hossam’s daughter, Roa Hossam Walid Kabaja (13) was reported as injured but due to the inclusion of their name in the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of fatalities, they likely died from their injuries. Izzeddin Khaled wrote his tribute to the late Hossam and his family.
Izzeddin Khaled also mentioned his other cousin, Muhammad Muhammad Ahmed Bahr who was killed along with his three sons: Ahmed Muhammad Ahmed Bahr, Moamen Muhammad Ahmed Bahr, and Mahmoud Muhammad Ahmed Bahr, and his two daughters: Moslima Muhammad Ahmed Bahr (possibly 15-16) and Mona Muhammad Ahmed Bahr. All of them except Mona were under the age of 18. He also mentioned that Mona’s children were killed. Presumably her children were the two twin girls, Farah Hammam Youssef Bahr and Marah Hammam Youssef Bahr. Both girls were possibly under a year old.
Among the victims killed were also four siblings: 7-year-old Malik Ahmed al-Shayah, Miral Ahmed al-Shayah, 5-year-old Nesma Ahmed al-Shayah, and Muhammad Ahmed al-Shayah.
Social media testimonies mentioned a child Walid Anas al-Bayaa (possibly 8-9), Safaa Talal al-Bayaa (possibly 32-33) and a 56-year-old woman Amal Muhammad Ghulam al-Din al-Bayaa among the killed, and a child Areej Abdullah Salim Abdeen among the injured.
Some of those killed were reportedly family members of Hamas Commander Abu Hamza al-Hindi who appeared to have been killed in a separate incident. In a photograph from Facebook user Maher El Sayed, he can be seen with a gun. Another individual, younger looking than al-Hindi, appears to be in police uniform. As this is not an indication of militant status, Airwars has not included a belligerent in our range – though we will update this should further information come to light.
Airwars was able to identify the names of 47 people killed in the strike, however a post from Abu Ismail Al-Bayaa identified “more than 70 martyrs” in the attack on their uncle Khaled’s house. The upper casualty range has therefore been estimated as 71 fatalities.
Where possible, names have been matched with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of fatalities in Gaza released on October 26th, 2023. Other ages have come from the Shireen fatalities list; some of these specify different dates of death, though the names are exactly the same. In this case, ages have been marked as “possibly.” It is possible their deaths were discovered on this later date, or that they had been buried under rubble until then.
Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strike to Israeli forces.
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 at approximately 8:30 pm local time.
