Geolocation
Airwars assessment
On October 7, 2023, seven members of the Al Najjar family, including two children and three women, were killed and four others were wounded in their three-storey house in Khuza’a, east of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, by an alleged Israeli airstrike.
The airstrike took the life of Hajj Hamdan Al Najjar “Abu Zaki”, a director of the Tribal (Clans) Office at the Ministry of Interior, his wife Zahira Al Najjar “Um Zaki”, their son Mohammed Hamdan Al-Najjar and their daughter Ehtiram Al Najjar. Mohammad Al Najjar was remembered as a well-behaved high school student of 2006 in a Facebook post by Bumat El-Ghad Foundation.
Other members of the Al Najjar family, namely, the wife of their son Salah, Afnan Al Najjar, her son Sanad Salah Al Najjar and her daughter Ayah Salah Al Najjar, are also among the victims of the tragic incident.
On Facebook, the Al-Najjar family page listed the members of the family who had been killed, including Ayah Salah Hamdan Al-Najjar, the young granddaughter of Hajj Hamdan Al-Najjar. The same Facebook page also provided the names of four people who were reportedly wounded as a result of the airstrike: Zakaria Hamdan Al-Najjar, Mrs.Yasmine Tariq Ibrahim Al-Najjar, Yahya Ahmed Ghazi Al-Najjar (a child) and Saif Sabry Muhammad Al-Najjar (a child).
Two sources, namely Shebab Agency and Oud News Agency published information on social media on the strike on October 7, in the evening. Based on the time of publication of these sources, Airwars concluded that the attack might have been conducted between 7pm and 8.30pm local time.
Other sources, such as Palsawa news, reported on the incident the morning of October 8th, at around 9 am. However, it seems that sources referred to when rescue efforts were taking place, and to the moment where victims were pulled from the rubble. It was initially reported by Palsawa news that three killed and three injured people who had been brought to the European Hospital. Later on, while Khuza’a Municipality crews were removing the rubble of the destroyed house, the bodies of Afnan Al Najjar and Ehtiram Al Najjar were recovered from the rubble.
A son of Hajj Hamdan Al Najjar, Zakaria H.Al Najjar, mentioned in his heartfelt Facebook testimony Sanad Salah Al Najjar and Ayah Salah Al Najjar among the victims, thus confirming that the strike had killed seven members of the Al Najjar family.
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 strikes 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 between 7:00 pm and 8:30 pm local time.
The victims were named as:
Family members (11)
Geolocation notes (2) [ collapse]
Reports of the incident mention the town of Khuza’a (خزاعة). Analysing audio-visual material from sources, we have narrowed the location down to the following exact coordinates: 31.522567, 34.462869.
Summary
Sources (36) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (31) [ collapse]
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Source: Ismaeel Omar facebook -
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Source: Khuzaa school facebook -
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Source: Khuzaa school facebook -
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Source: Sada Al-Sharqiya facebook -
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Source: Sada Al-Sharqiya facebook -
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Source: Sada Al-Sharqiya facebook -
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Source: Sada Al-Sharqiya facebook -
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Source: Najjar Family facebook -
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Source: Najjar Family facebook -
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Source: Hamza Abu Hany facebook -
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Source: Hamza Abu Hany facebook -
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Source: PNN facebook -
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Source: PNN facebook -
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Source: PNN facebook -
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Source: PNN facebook -
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Source: Rawan Almashhrawi -
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Source: Khuza'a Municipality -
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Source: Khuza'a Municipality -
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Source: Khuza'a Municipality -
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Source: Sada Al Sharqiya -
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Source: Sada Al Sharqiya -
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Source: Sada Al Sharqiya -
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Source: Sada Al Sharqiya -
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Source: Pnn network -
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Source: Pnn network -
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Source: Pnn network -
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Source: Asem2030 -
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Source: Esmaeel omar -
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Source: The Journalist Ahmad Qudeh -
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Source: Mohammad Amin Abo Farhana -
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Source: Najjar Forum