Investigations

Investigations

Palestinians inspect the ruins of Watan Tower destroyed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza city, on October 8, 2023 (Palestinian News & Information Agency (Wafa) in contract with APAimages, reproduced under Creative Commons).

Published

November 21, 2023

Written by

Sanjana Varghese

Assisted by

Rowena De Silva

Header Image

Palestinians inspect the ruins of Watan Tower destroyed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza city, on October 8, 2023 (Palestinian News & Information Agency (Wafa) in contract with APAimages, reproduced under Creative Commons).

At least 127 civilian harm allegations in 'safe zone' in first week after evacuation order

Airwars’ investigator Sanjana Varghese spoke to NPR’s Ruth Sherlock about this investigation. You can read the article here.

On October 12th, the Israeli military issued a blanket call for all Palestinians living in the north of the Gaza strip to move south, saying it was “for your own safety”. More than one million people were told to flee, ahead of an expected ground invasion.

The evacuation zone started at Wadi Gaza, which runs through the centre of the Gaza Strip. In theory, civilians fleeing south of that line should have been safer, but Palestinians have reported extensive attacks in civilian areas in the central and southern parts of Gaza.

In the first seven days after the warning – from October 14th to 21st – Airwars’ investigation team tracked and geolocated at least 127 separate allegations of civilian harm from explosive weapons in this southern zone.

Amongst these strikes were many that allegedly hit densely populated neighbourhoods and civilian objects such as schools, hospitals and restaurants. The frequency of these allegations in this supposed safe zone suggests that there was no safe place for civilians in Gaza, despite assurances from Israeli authorities.

Safe to flee?

On October 7th, 2023 Hamas militants broke through the fence that separates Gaza from Israel and killed more than 1,000 people, according to Israeli authorities. In retaliation Israel has dropped thousands of bombs on Gaza ahead of a ground invasion, killing more than 10,000 people, according to Palestinian authorities.

Since October 7th, Airwars’ research team has been tracking every public allegation of civilian harm in order to provide an independent assessment of civilian casualties.

We have already tracked more than 1,000 separate allegations across the Gaza Strip alone; each allegation represents the death or injury of at least one civilian resulting from explosive weapons use. For the most part, these allegations are still being fully assessed by our research team – with additional sources identified, casualty ranges produced, and where possible details on civilian names and biographies captured. You can find full details of the around 40 published incidents here, and more about our methodology here.

But we have also been able to use these allegations to understand overall patterns of harm. By geolocating each harm claim from the week following the IDF’s instructions for civilians to move south, we have been able to pull together a comprehensive database of 127 likely Israeli strikes leading to allegations of civilian harm that occurred the week following the evacuation order. An allegation of civilian harm does not mean that just one civilian was injured or killed; these allegations often involve multiple people, as well as damage to buildings or family homes.

Map of civilian harm allegations, south of Wadi Gaza, between 14-21 October 2023. The red dotted line refers to the Wadi Gaza. Many locations include more than one alleged civilian harm incident. Sanjana Varghese / Airwars. Images via Maxar Technologies / Airbus / Google Earth.

Map of civilian harm allegations, south of Wadi Gaza, between 14-21 October 2023. The red dotted line refers to the Wadi Gaza. Many locations include more than one alleged civilian harm incident. Sanjana Varghese / Airwars. Images via Maxar Technologies / Airbus / Google Earth.

We relied on news reporting, humanitarian agencies and organisations, open source documentation and relevant footage where necessary. We geolocated allegations to six levels of accuracy: area/region, neighbourhood, landmark/building, hospital, street, and an exact location. Any alleged civilian harm incident that we couldn’t geolocate was discounted from our dataset.

The distance from the Wadi Gaza to the Rafah Border Crossing on the southern border of the Gaza strip is roughly 27 kilometres. From east to west across the Gaza strip, the distance is around 6 kilometres at the narrowest point, and 12 kilometres at its widest point.

We found harm allegations on every day following the evacuation order. Just four days after the south was declared to be a safe area, the most civilian harm allegations were documented: twenty four allegations, suggesting at least twenty strikes in an area little longer than Manhattan.

In incidents that have been fully researched by Airwars’ research team, we found that in some cases strikes affected whole families as they sheltered together. In one incident, on October 21st, 2023, an alleged Israeli strike hit a Palestinian civil defence facility, alongside the Dahir family home, in Khirbet-al-adas, Rafah. Between six and ten people were likely killed in this strike and up to 11 injured. Of those killed, at least five were children from the same family, all aged 13 and under. Airwars assessors were able to cross-reference six of the individuals in this assessment with the dataset of names and individual ID numbers released by the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH).

In another incident on October 15th, in the al-Geneina neighbourhood in Rafah, the home of a doctor, Dr. Salah al-Din Zanoun, was hit. There were likely seven to eight people killed, all of whom were from the same family.  Of those killed, Airwars assessors were able to cross-reference five of the individuals in this assessment with the dataset of names and individual health ID numbers released by the MoH.

We also found that multiple civilian objects – such as hospitals and schools – were hit in the south of Gaza. As people were told to move south – and around 700,000 people, according to the New York Times, did so initially – many took shelter in buildings such as hospitals and schools. In a number of cases large numbers of civilians were crowded together when strikes hit this infrastructure, such as a strike on a UNRWA school in al-Maghazi refugee camp, on October 17th. UNRWA said that around 4,000 people were sheltering at this school. The next day, an alleged airstrike hit another UNRWA school in Khan Younis –  footage from the immediate aftermath clearly showed that groups of people had been using the school as a home, with clothes laid out over external railings around the school.

The scale of this campaign in Gaza makes this one of the most intense conflicts that Airwars has ever monitored – in just the first three weeks of the war, we monitored more individual incidents of harm than in any given month of any conflict Airwars has monitored: including deadly campaigns such as the war against ISIS. Our data also suggests that civilian harm is being compounded by the deteriorating conditions for civilians in Gaza, which is already one of the most densely populated areas in the world.

Clarifying note

Airwars uses a grading system to assess our allegations of civilian harm (you can read more about this here). Our assessments are being published in batches once they have been through the full review process.

Airwars has only tracked allegations of civilian harm – this means that there may be attacks with no public allegations of civilian harm which we haven’t included in our dataset.

Published

October 2023

Overview

This overview is intended to accompany the publication of our incidents of civilian harm related to the use of explosive weapons in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023.

Airwars applies the same general methodology to all conflicts monitored, which is available on our website here. This methodology has been assessed as highly conformant with Every Casualty’s Standards for Casualty Recording.

This methodology note explains in detail how we are applying our standard approach to monitoring civilian harm incidents in Gaza from explosive weapons use. Additional methodology notes will be released tailored to each other monitoring area, such as civilian harm in Israel from the actions of Hamas militants.

Read more about our casualty recording work

In June 2023, at the Human Rights Council’s 53rd session, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) presented its report on the impact of casualty recording on the promotion and protection of human rights, which included a number of references to Airwars’ casualty recording efforts.

Our work has also been researched by academics at the University of Sydney, Heather Ford and Michael Richardson, in their paper: Framing data witnessing: Airwars and the production of authority in conflict monitoring. You can read an executive summary of their findings here.

Dataset overview

All incidents are an aggregate of all open source accounts alleging civilian harm occurred in a particular moment in space and time. We consider our incidents as ‘live’, and should be updated over time to account for new information that may come to light, or may not have been identified by Airwars during the original research.

Defining an incident

Airwars uses an incident-based approach to document harm to civilians from explosive weapons use: each incident is defined as a moment in time and space where sources alleged that an explosive weapon led to the fatality or injury of civilians. This does not include incidents where only militants were killed or injured, however we do capture the details of militants killed or injured in events alongside civilians.

Airwars assumes civilian status unless otherwise specified. Any ambiguity on civilian status is captured within our casualty and belligerent ranges (see below).

Where the exact time of an incident is unknown, deaths and injuries may be aggregated under one event until more information comes to light.

Each incident is geolocated to the highest possible degree of accuracy by trained geolocation teams. Airwars additionally cross-checks existing geolocation efforts from the wider open source community, and includes credit to such work where applicable. Airwars also encourages feedback from open source experts on each assessment, and incorporates updates and feedback where possible.

Where locations cannot be identified, incidents will be aggregated until more information is known.

Source identification

As an all source aggregate, Airwars treats all sources as relevant to an incident depending on their proximity to the harm event and the level of detail available about the event. Airwars includes all sources regardless of political or ideological affiliation. Inclusion of sources in the archive should not be taken as an endorsement of the source.

All our sources for harm events in Gaza are identified by our trained team of Arabic-language researchers; we primarily identify sources in the language local to the area where the harm has occurred. Additional English-language sources are added depending on their relevance to the harm event. As we also evolve our focus to harm events reported by Hebrew-language resources, we will also mobilise our Hebrew language teams and apply the same local-language led approach.

All information is assessed, written up and archived within each assessment in order to allow users to conduct further investigation.

As we also work to identify attribution of harm, names of victims and victims demographics where known, we are reconciling names and other information published by official channels, such as the Palestinian Ministry of Health, with our incidents.

Information categorisation

Attribution

Strike status (while we use the term ‘strike’ here, this should also be taken to mean any action involving the use of an explosive weapon, including, for example, a VBIED). All incidents are cross-checked with official statements from the Israel Defense Forces, militant wings of Hamas and other Palestinian military groups, and are included as follows:

Declared: The declared strike classification applies to incidents in which a belligerent has accepted responsibility explicitly for carrying out a strike on a specific location or specific target. This includes any statement made by an official from the Israeli government or from official channels or websites linked to Palestinian militant groups (Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hamas).

Likely: The likely strike classification applies to incidents in which at least two or more sources that reported on the incident explicitly attributed the strikes to a belligerent. In Gaza, Airwars’ Arabic-language researchers take typical local references and language used to describe Israel Defense Forces to identify local attribution, as the term ‘Israeli state’ is rarely explicitly referenced.

Contested: The contested strike classification includes incidents in which attribution of the strike to one belligerent was not agreed upon by all sources reporting on the incident, specifically when sources attribute a strike to both Palestinian forces (Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hamas) and Israeli forces. Incidents where no sources attribute a strike and the resulting civilian harm to a specific belligerent are graded as contested until more information comes to light.

Single source claims: only one source was found with an explicit allegation of harm from a belligerent.

Civilian harm status

Confirmed: A specific belligerent has accepted responsibility for the killing or injuring of non-combatants or allied forces in a particular incident.

Fair: Where, in the view of Airwars, there is a reasonable level of public reporting of an alleged civilian casualty incident from two or more sources which includes attribution to a specific belligerent. In the context of reporting in the Gaza Strip, Airwars has found that explicit attribution to Israeli forces is rare, and instead is assumed by sources given the intensity of bombardment. Incidents are therefore assessed as ‘fair’ if at least one source mentions a belligerent in a credible harm incident. Incidents will be updated to reflect alternative attribution should that come to light at a later stage. In our ‘strike status’ category, as mentioned above, we will still refer to incidents with only one source explicitly attributing the harm to a belligerent as ‘single source claims’ to reflect the information environment.

Weak: These are presently claims seen by Airwars as ‘place-holder’ incidents until more information comes to light, given a lack of corroborating sources on either civilian harm or likely belligerent.

Contested: These occur where there are competing claims of responsibility within the sources: for example, sources may both attribute the harm to misfire from a Hamas rocket, or to an Israeli airstrike. There may also be inconclusive evidence supporting attribution to both belligerents, for example competing interpretations of munition fragments or blast impacts.

Discounted: This criteria is often applied to incidents that may have at first fallen into one of the above categories, but new information came to light since publication that suggests the original source material was incorrect. For example, more information may come to light about the identities of victims initially classified as civilians, that strongly suggests such individuals were combatants. Airwars researchers judge this information objectively and on a case by case basis.

Casualty ranges

As with all assessments, Airwars presents casualty figures recorded in an incident within a range.

All assessments include a minimum and maximum for both civilians and, if applicable, militants (‘belligerents’) injured and killed, taking the most recent figure from unique sources. For example, a source may initially say five civilians were killed. As more information on the incident becomes available, the same source may then say that the number rose to 10. In this case we would take the ‘10’ as this reflects the source’s updated understanding of events.

In the assessment summary, an explanation is offered as to the rationale behind the casualty range.

In cases where civilian status is contested, Airwars applies the minimum casualty range ‘0’ to both the civilian casualty field and to the belligerent field.

Information related to missing individuals, or civilians buried under the rubble following an attack is recorded in Airwars’ summary. The number of missing individuals would only be added to our death toll ranges if sources specified that those civilians have been killed. When new information comes to light regarding the fate of these victims, we would update the assessment accordingly, as well as our ranges.

Images and media referenced

As we are uploading images at pace for this project, all images have been automatically blurred to warn for graphic content given the high volume of graphic material. Less graphic images will be unblurred in due course.

Please also note that we include all images related to the sources identified, which can include images of militants.

All images are used under fair use as archival material. If you would like us to take down any images, please contact us at the info email listed below, using the subject line ‘Image use’.

Identification of victims

Airwars is also matching names of civilians identified through open source investigation with official names and IDs released by the Palestinian Ministry of Health where possible. As in other conflicts monitored, Airwars also records incidents of civilian harm where not all victims were named by sources, or where sources did not provide the victim’s full family name.

Impact

Airwars is tracking the reported impact of the use of explosive weapons on services or infrastructure relating to education, health or food supply. See below for more details on what is being included in each category:

    Education – Reported damage or destruction to education infrastructure (school, university, etc.) and/or injured or killed education staff Health – Reported damage or destruction to healthcare infrastructure or vehicles (ambulance, hospital, clinic, etc.), and/or healthcare staff (doctors, nurses, rescuers, etc.), killed or injured Food – reported damage or destruction to food infrastructure (food markets, agricultural land, food factory, water infrastructure, etc.) or machinery (tractor, etc.), and/or injured or killed civilians working in the food or agricultural sector, and/or livestock killed or injured

Updating our assessments

If you have lost loved ones in an incident listed on the Airwars site and would like to get in touch – or would like to ask us to remove a photo or to add another – then please also contact us at the info email listed below.

Errors and corrections

We strive for accuracy and transparency of process in our reporting and presentation. Our casualty monitoring is continually evolving, representing our best current understanding of any alleged incidents.

If you have new information about a particular event, or details we haven’t included; if you find an error in our work; or if you have concerns about the way we are reporting our data, then do please reach us at the info email listed below with the subject line ‘Assessment update’.

Contact: info [at] airwars [dot] org

▲ Satellite imagery, screenshot from Google Earth, October 2023

Israel and Gaza 2023

Incident Code

ISPT0279

Incident date

October 17, 2023

Location

مخيم البريج, Bureij camp, Deir al Balah, the Gaza Strip

Geolocation

31.437934, 34.403857 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Town level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

On October 17th 2023, an unknown number of casualties were reported in a possible strike on the family home of Lal Al-Salhi in Block 2 of the Al-Bureij camp in Gaza.

While numerous sources reported the strike on the Al-Salhi home, few details are available regarding the number of those injured or killed. No names of victims are offered, and no sources include photos of the aftermath of the strike.

Most accounts simply state: “Injuries in the bombing of the Al-Salhi family’s house in Block 2 of the Bureij camp.” Only one source, a Facebook post by Khamis, offers something like a numerical figure, stating that there were attempts to remove “dozens of wounded and martyrs” from the rubble of the home, which Airwars has quantified as 12-24 in both the fatality and injury range. Given the lack of specificity in reporting, Airwars has graded the harm status as “weak” until further information comes to light.

Due to none of the accounts directly naming Israel as the belligerent, the strike status has been graded as “contested”. However, a tweet by @quds_yu references the strike on the Al-Salhi home, and mentions, separately, Israeli bombing of Khan Yunis.

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 local time of the incident is unknown.

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian infrastructure
    IDP or refugee camp
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    12 – 24
  • Civilians reported injured
    12–24
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Weak
    Single source claim, though sometimes featuring significant information.
  • Suspected attackers
    Israeli Military, Palestinian Militants

Sources (13) [ collapse]

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention Bureij camp (مخيم البريج), for which the generic coordinates are: 31.437934, 34.403857. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.

Israeli Military Assessment:

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

Palestinian Militants Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    Palestinian Militants
  • Palestinian Militants position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian infrastructure
    IDP or refugee camp
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    12 – 24
  • Civilians reported injured
    12–24
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Weak
    Single source claim, though sometimes featuring significant information.
  • Suspected attackers
    Israeli Military, Palestinian Militants

Sources (13) [ collapse]

Incident Code

ISPT0175

Incident date

October 13, 2023

Location

شارع صلاح الدين والرشيد، بين دوار الدولة ودوار الكويت, Salah Al Din and Al Rashid streets, between the State Roundabout and the Kuwait Roundabout, Gaza, the Gaza Strip

Geolocation

31.483334, 34.445044 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Exact location (other) level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

Between 15:30 and 17:20 on Friday October 13th 2023, at least 12 civilians, including three women and three children, were killed in alleged Israeli airstrikes and/or artillery strikes. The strikes hit a convoy of citizens fleeing northern Gaza after instructions from the Israeli military to evacuate. Some reports said the number of civilians killed might be more than 70, with at least 150 and up to more than 200 civilians reported injured, including many displaced women, children and elderly people. Airwars was able to identify at least 12 victims killed by name.

According to an investigation carried out by the Financial Times and Airwars, the deadly explosions took place between the State Roundabout and the Kuwait Roundabout near the Bassem Aliwa Steel Company building. The incident occurred the day after Israel told more than one million civilians living in northern Gaza to flee south for their own safety.

A forensic review of the visual material by the FT/Airwars found that the explosions did not hit the truck carrying a large group of Palestinian civilians directly but a group of cars nearby, with the shrapnel likely responsible for the deaths of the majority of the fleeing civilians – who were seated on an uncovered truck.

Israel denied striking the street and suggested Hamas may have planted explosive devices along the evacuation route. Military analysts consulted by the Financial Times and Airwars said the shrapnel appeared consistent with an Israeli strike.

Palestine Alarabiya and Saddam Souad shared gruesome videos on Facebook showing the direct aftermath of the attack – burned cars and dead bodies lying on the ground amidst blood. Financial Times and Airwars Investigations wrote that videos of the aftermath verified by the media showed 12 bodies of men, women and children in Salah-ad-Din street, which Israel later designated a “safe route”. The media outlet also wrote that there were probably two explosions, one of which damaged an ambulance as it attempted to leave the scene with some of the injured.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza confirmed that “large numbers” of dead and wounded, including women and children, had arrived at Al-Shifa Hospital.

Initially Almamlakah TV reported about 40 civilians killed and more than 150 civilians injured, but later the government media office spoke about a higher death toll of 70 victims killed and more than 200 injured in its press statement. Shehab Agency reported about the “death of more than 70 Palestinians and the injury of hundreds.”

Many victims of this attack remained unidentified. Palestinian Media Center shared the images of its crews performing funeral prayers for the unidentified deceased Palestinian civilians over the bodies wrapped in white cloth stained with blood.

Based on Facebook testimonies by family members, Airwars has identified 12 victims killed in the strike.

The deadly attack took the life of the wife of journalist Sameh Murad and injured a number of his family members. The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate extended its condolences to the colleague, who worked with Al Arabiya channel and remained at work to cover the events of the subsequent Israeli invasion of Al-Shifa Hospital.

The Amara family lost six family members, according to a Facebook post by Mahmoud Amara. A family relative Ahmad Amara shared that he lost his sisters, 24-year old Hanan Ayman Abdel Karim ‘Amara and 25-year old Safaa Hasan Muhammad ‘Amara, Hanan’s children and her fiance, and her fiance’s brother – 26-year old Adham Ayman Muhammad ‘Amara. Abu Mohammed Alfaran mourned the death of his cousins, Adham Amara and a 25-year old Muhammad Ayman Muhammad ‘Amara. Two young men were featured in the pictures attached to his Facebook post.

Youssef Atef Dabbour Asad mourned the death of his father, his brother Mohammad Dabbour Asad and his nephew Atef Dabbour Asad.

Among the victims of the attack was also “the polite young man”, Ismail Muhammad Al-Taweel, remembered in a tribute by Taweel and Shaar Ffamily on Facebook.

There were also victims killed from the Lanoush family. A heartfelt Facebook testimony by Lanoush Lanoush said”: “My uncle, my cousin, his wife, and my cousin were martyred, and their two sons were seriously injured, and they are in intensive care on their way to Salah al-Din.” However, Airwars did not find names and additional information about these victims.

Where possible, names of the victims have been matched with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of fatalities in Gaza released on October 26th, 2023.

Where sources identified the belligerent, most sources attributed the strikes to Israeli forces. In particular, BBC news and the Financial Times reported that based on video footage, the explosions were most likely caused by strikes launched by the Israeli military.

Financial Times carried out its own investigation in conjunction with Airwars, quoting a munition expert Desmond Travers who had investigated attacks across the globe including in Gaza. According to him, the attack was most probably carried out with a “precision-guided shrapnel-delivered missile”. He added: “There could have been several of them to create the effect I am seeing on the videos. If that is the case, then the attack would have been carried out by the Israelis.” However, Travers did not exclude the possibility of an improvised explosive device (IED) on the site being used. A spokesperson for the Israeli military, Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, however, denied the allegations and stated that “Hamas is behind this, is using the death of Palestinian civilians for its vile political purposes”.

According to the investigation carried out by Al-Arabi Open Source Investigations Unit, the attack happened around three o’clock in the afternoon. The BBC investigation ascertained that the incident happened between 15:30 and 17:20 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 between 3:30 pm and 5:20 pm local time.

The victims were named as:

Family members (7)

Hanan Ayman Abdel Karim 'Amara حنان عمارة
25 years old female killed Matched to MoH ID 404759433
Safaa Hasan Muhammad 'Amara صفاء عمارة
24 years old female killed Matched to MoH ID 404116071
Child of Hanan Ayman Abdel Karim 'Amara
Child killed
Child of Hanan Ayman Abdel Karim 'Amara
Child killed
Fiance of Hanan Ayman Abdel Karim 'Amara
Adult male killed
Adham Ayman Muhammad 'Amara ادهم عمارة
26 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 403058464
Muhammad Ayman Muhammad 'Amara محمد عمارة
25 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 404119117

Family members (3)

Mohammad Dabbour Asad محمد دبور اسعد
male killed
Atef Dabbour Asad عاطف دبور اسعد
16 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 424586741
Father of Youssef Atef Dabbour Asad
Adult male killed

The victims were named as:

wife of journalist Sameh Murad زوجة سامح مراد
Adult female killed
Ismail Muhammad Al-Taweel اسماعيل محمد الطويل
44 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 901458349

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike and/or Artillery
  • Civilian infrastructure
    Humanitarian evacuation
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    12 – 71
  • (3 children3 women6 men)
  • Civilians reported injured
    150–201
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Suspected attackers
    Israeli Military, Palestinian Militants

Sources (28) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (26) [ collapse]

  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: AJA Mubasher facebook
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    Source: Marina facebook
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    Source: Alwajiha facebook
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    Source: Taweel and Shaar family facebook
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    Source: Youssef Atef Dabbour Asad facebook
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    Source: Youssef Atef Dabbour Asad facebook
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    Source: Abu Mohammed Alfaran facebook
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    Source: Abu Mohammed Alfaran facebook
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    Source: Palestinian Media Center facebook
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    Source: Palestinian Media Center facebook
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    Source: Palestinian Media Center facebook
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    Source: Palestinian Media Center facebook
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    Source: BBC News
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    Source: BBC News
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    Source: BBC News
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    Source: Financial Times News
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    Source: Financial Times News
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Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention vehicles struck on the Salah Al Din (صلاح الدين) highway, to the south of Gaza city (غزة). The Financial Times, in collaboration with Airwars, narrowed the location down to an area at the following coordinates: 31.483334, 34.445044.

Israeli Military Assessment:

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

Palestinian Militants Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    Palestinian Militants
  • Palestinian Militants position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike and/or Artillery
  • Civilian infrastructure
    Humanitarian evacuation
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    12 – 71
  • (3 children3 women6 men)
  • Civilians reported injured
    150–201
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Suspected attackers
    Israeli Military, Palestinian Militants

Sources (28) [ collapse]

Incident Code

ISPT0187B

Incident date

October 13, 2023

Location

بيت لاهيا, Beit Lahia, North Gaza, the Gaza Strip

Geolocation

31.551277, 34.509233 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Town level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

On October 13th 2023, a young male civilian was killed in a bombing of the Al-Barawi family home located in Beit Lahia, Gaza Strip.

A post on social media from a relative, Wisam Al-Barawi, identified Mohammed Basem Al-Barawi as the civilian killed in the strike on Beit Lahia.

An image of the damaged house showing the collapse of the building was distributed on Facebook. It was also reported by local sources that no warning was provided before the strike.

None of the sources attributed the strike to a belligerent, therefore the strike status and civilian harm grading have been evaluated as contested.

Airwars was not able to match the named victim with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of nearly 7000 victims’ names and ID numbers released on October 26th.

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 local time of the incident is unknown.

The victims were named as:

Mohammed Basem Al-Barawi محمد باسم البراوي
Age unknown male killed

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike and/or Artillery
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    1
  • (1 man)
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Suspected attackers
    Israeli Military, Palestinian Militants

Sources (10) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (2) [ collapse]

  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: THaer abu rayash facebook
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Thaer Abu Rayash facebook

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the town of Beit Lahia (بيت لاهيا), for which the generic coordinates are: 31.551277, 34.509233. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.

Israeli Military Assessment:

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

Palestinian Militants Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    Palestinian Militants
  • Palestinian Militants position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike and/or Artillery
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    1
  • (1 man)
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Suspected attackers
    Israeli Military, Palestinian Militants

Sources (10) [ collapse]

Incident Code

ISPT0121

Incident date

October 11, 2023

Location

الشيخ رضوان, Sheikh Radwan, Gaza, the Gaza Strip

Geolocation

31.536752, 34.465399 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Neighbourhood/area level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

A woman was reportedly killed on Radwan street on October 11th 2023, her son, an Egyptian citizen from Cairo, Abdullah Mohammed Fares, was injured in the incident alongside his children.

Fares had arrived in Gaza a week prior to visit his wife’s family. He has since been campaigning for the Egyptian government to secure his return to Egypt.

In a video statement, Abdullah mentions that his family was living on Radwan Street when the strike occurred.

No further information was available on the names of Abdullah’s family members and how many of his children were injured, which has been quantified as 2 until further information comes to light.

None of the sources mentioned who was responsible and anything about the munitions used, with many of the sources reflecting circular reporting. Airwars has upgraded the incident as “contested” until further information comes to light.

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 local time of the incident is unknown.

The victims were named as:

Family members (4)

Abdullah Mohammed Fares عبد الله محمد مصلح أحمد
Adult male injured
Child of Abdullah Mohammed Fares
Child injured
Child of Abdullah Mohammed Fares
Child injured
Mother of Abdullah Mohammed Fares
Adult female killed

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    1
  • (1 woman)
  • Civilians reported injured
    3
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Suspected attackers
    Israeli Military, Palestinian Militants

Sources (4) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (3) [ collapse]

  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the neighbourhood of Sheikh Radwan (الشهداء), for which the generic coordinates are: 31.536752, 34.465399. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.

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Israeli Military Assessment:

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

Palestinian Militants Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    Palestinian Militants
  • Palestinian Militants position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Summary

  • Strike status
    Contested strike
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    1
  • (1 woman)
  • Civilians reported injured
    3
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Contested
    Competing claims of responsibility e.g. multiple belligerents, or casualties also attributed to ground forces.
  • Suspected attackers
    Israeli Military, Palestinian Militants

Sources (4) [ collapse]

Published

May 10, 2022

Written by

Imogen Piper

Number of civilians killed decreases across monitored conflicts, while focus on explosive weapons use grows

Civilian harm dropped across most of the major conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa in 2021, Airwars’ annual report has found.

The number of allegations of civilians killed by nearly all belligerents monitored by Airwars fell in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Somalia and Yemen, though there was an escalation in the Israel-Palestinian conflict which caused significant human suffering.

Read Airwars’ full annual report here

US actions decline

The United States, which has fought multiple campaigns across the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia over the past two decades, saw a significant decrease in its activities.

Across all the US campaigns Airwars monitors, including in Syria and Iraq, as well as counterterrorism campaigns in Yemen, Somalia and elsewhere, civilian harm from US actions fell in 2021, continuing a downward trend in recent years.

In Iraq there were no reports of civilian harm from US actions, while in Syria at least 15 and up to 27 civilians were likely killed by US-led Coalition actions in 20 incidents throughout the year – mostly in combined air and ground actions that appeared to target alleged remnant ISIS fighters.

In Yemen at least two civilians were reportedly killed by US strikes during the year while there were no reliable local allegations of civilians likely killed by US strikes in Libya or Pakistan, according to Airwars’ assessment of local sources.

Even taking into account hundreds of airstrikes in Afghanistan which both the Trump and Biden administrations had initially kept secret, 2021 saw the lowest numbers of declared US military strikes globally since 2006.

However, 2021 was also a year in which focus was again placed on civilian harm caused by historic US actions.

To mark the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist atrocities, Airwars conducted an investigation to estimate how many civilians were likely killed by US forces alone in the subsequent 20 years of the so-called War on Terror. The research concluded that an estimated 22,000 to 48,000 civilians had been killed directly by US actions in two decades of war according to public records –  the vast majority of fatalities were in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.  The findings were cited in the opening remarks of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing “’Targeted Killing’ and the Rule of Law: The Legal and Human Costs of 20 Years of U.S. Drone Strikes,” and were covered by more than 60 news outlets globally, in at least ten languages.

The Pentagon’s troubling management of civilian harm allegations was highlighted by another Airwars investigation during 2021, leading the Pentagon to withdraw and republish their own annual report to Congress. Airwars uncovered nine historic incidents in Iraq and Syria that the US had declared responsibility for killing civilians in, which were actually conducted by US allies including Australia, France, the United Kingdom and Belgium.

Brief but brutal Gaza conflict

In May 2021 an intense and deadly conflict lasting just eleven days erupted between Israeli and Palestinian forces. As on previous occasions, civilians paid the highest price. Airwars documented the human impact of this short but brutal conflict in both Gaza and Israel, working for the first time in three primary languages – Arabic, Hebrew and English.

The research found that Israeli strikes, continually impacting across the densely populated streets of Gaza, led to the likely deaths of between 151 and 192 civilians. Over a third of civilians killed in Gaza were children and in more than 70% of the allegations documented by Airwars, civilians – not militants – were the only documented victims. In Israel, ten civilians were directly killed by rockets fired by Hamas and Islamic Jihad from Gaza.

The report also documented civilian harm from Israeli strikes in Syria, which across eight years had led to the deaths of between 14 and 40 civilians. Comparatively this civilian harm estimate stands in stark contrast to the numbers of those killed in just eleven days. Gaza is one of the most densely populated places in the world, whilst Israeli strikes in Syria were conducted on military targets mostly in sparsely populated areas.

Airwars’ Senior Investigator Joe Dyke partnered with the Guardian on a piece interviewing the residents of a tower destroyed by Israel Defence Forces during the May 2021 conflict. Al-Jalaa Tower was home to dozens of civilians and a number of offices, including those of Associated Press and Al-Jazeera. All were given an hour’s notice to evacuate the tower and scramble together their possessions before seeing their homes destroyed in front of them. The investigation recently won an Amnesty Media Award.

Russian assault in Syria

Long before Russia’s assault on Ukraine in February 2022, Airwars had been tracking civilian harm caused by extensive Russian actions in Syria.

Whilst allegations of civilian harm fell to their lowest rate this year since 2015, after a 2020 ceasefire agreement between Russia and Turkey continued to hold, Putin’s forces continued to strike Idlib and other rebel-held areas of Syria with air and artillery strikes.

Approximately 48% of civilian harm allegations against Russia during 2021 occurred in Idlib, whilst 2% occurred in Hama, and 23% in Aleppo governorate. In total as many as 280 civilians were killed by Russian and/or Syrian regime air and artillery strikes.

This significant but comparatively lower civilian casualty count came alongside Russia’s escalation of military operations in preparation for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, which has subsequently led to mass civilian harm.

Explosive weapons

An overarching theme throughout Airwars’ work during the year, and a key focus for our advocacy outreach, was on restricting the use of explosive weapons in populated areas (EWIPA).

Whether in Syria, Iraq, Gaza or any of the other conflicts Airwars monitors, when explosive weapons are used in densely populated areas, the potential for civilian harm dramatically increases.

Throughout 2021, Airwars worked with international partners to support a strongly worded UN-backed international political declaration against the use of EWIPA. The final UN-backed conference debating this declaration will be held in summer 2022, with Airwars playing a key role advocating for change.

▲ An airstrike in Gaza is the front cover image for Airwars' 2021 annual report (Credit: Hani al Shaer)