Geolocation
Airwars assessment
An alleged Israeli airstrike using several missiles struck a residential building in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza in the evening of October 7th, 2023. Fifteen members of the Al-Dous family, including seven children, were reportedly killed due to the destruction of their home. Awni Adel Al-Dous and his wife Ibtisam Mohammed Khalil Al-Dous had sons and grandchildren who lived in the same three-storey household.
Juma Al-Dous posted that “more than 15 people” from the family were under the rubble while DCI Palestine reported that ten people, including five children, were killed. Airwars has adopted a minimum casualty estimate of 15, given that fifteen victims were named by local sources and relatives of the family. Amnesty International also reported 15 deaths from Al-Dous family members.
The following names were identified by reviewing sources from various social media posts by individuals in the neighborhood, family members and the Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCI Palestine): Awni Adel Al-Dous and his wife Ibtisam Mohammed Khalil Al-Dous; and children Ibtisam Adel Awni Al-Dous, 17 years old, Rawand Adel Awni Al-Dous, 15 years old, Awni Adel Al-Dous, 12 years old, Ahmad Adel Awni Al-Dous, 10 years old, Rakan Mohammad Awni Al-Dous, four years old, Zaid Adel Awni Al-Dous, three years old, and the youngest child killed Adam Osama Al-Dous was just 18 months old.
A post from Nrmeen Mamdouh identified Ibtisam Adel Awni Al-Dous as a student who received a grade of 100% during her 11th academic year. Shuhada Al-Zaytoun Basic School for Boys offered condolences to “the brilliant student” Awni Adel Awni Al-Dous. Another post identified Awni as a Youtuber who wanted to be famous. Yahya Al Jamal described Omar Awni Al-Dous (Abu Karim) as patient, polite, genuine, cheerful and kind-hearted.
The six other victims killed in the strikes were identified by local sources as four men Adel Awni Al-Dous, Omar Awni Al-Dous (“Abu Karim”), Muhannad Awni Al-Dous, Osama Awni Al-Dous, and two women Israa Totah and Elham Ahmed Raqiq. The age of the victims was not provided by the sources.
Amnesty International quoted Mohammad Al-Dous, father of Rakan Mohammad Awni Al-Dous, who said “two bombs fell suddenly on top of the building and destroyed it. My wife and I were lucky to survive because we were staying on the top floor. She was nine-months pregnant and gave birth at al-Shifa hospital a day after the attack. Our entire family has been destroyed.”
The Al-Dous family posted on Facebook that the bombing of the home of Hajj Awni Al-Dous resulted in the complete destruction of the house and “created a state of fear and panic in the area”. Amnesty added that it took relatives, neighbours, and rescue teams more than six hours to remove the bodies from the rubble.
Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strikes to Israeli forces. Multiple sources mentioned that the home was bombed without a warning and Amnesty quoted one of the neighbors of the victims who said “It was sudden, boom, nobody told us anything”. Amnesty’s research also indicated that they “found no evidence of military targets in the area at the time of the attack”.
Where possible, Airwars has matched names and ages 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 incident occured between 8:20 pm and 8:30 pm local time.
The victims were named as:
Family members (15)
Summary
Sources (28) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (28) [ collapse]
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Al Dous family -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Al Zaytoun neighbourhood, Gaza -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Nrmeen Mamdouh -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Nrmeen Mamdouh -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Nrmeen Mamdouh -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Juma Al Dous -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Juma Al Dous -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Juma Al Dous -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Juma Al Dous -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Abo Alaa Diab -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Abo Alaa Diab -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Al Zaytoun neighbourhood page -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Omar Alaa Ishtewi -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Omar Alaa Ishtewi -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Omar Alaa Ishtewi -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Al Zaytoun neighborhood -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Yahya Al Jamal -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Shuhada Al-Zaytoun Basic School for Boys -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Um firas Ishtewi -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Um firas Ishtewi -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Um firas Ishtewi -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Um firas Ishtewi -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Um firas Ishtewi -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Um firas Ishtewi -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Um firas Ishtewi -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Um firas Ishtewi -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Adli Attiya -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Adli Attiya
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the neighbourhood of Al Zeitoun (الزيتون), within the Gaza strip (قِطَاعُ غَزَّةَ), for which the generic coordinates are: 31.485479 34.444885. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.