On October 8th 2023, seven civilians, Jihad Abdullah Abu Rikab (35 years old), his wife Rabab Marazeeq Abu Rikab (28 years old), and their five children Nida Abu Rikab (11 years old), Tala Abu Rikab (10 years old), Maria Abu Rikab (eight years old), Sewar Abu Rikab (six years old) and Sham Abu Rikab (four years old) were killed in an alleged Israeli airstrike on their home in Az-Zawaida in the central governorate of the Gaza Strip.

Multiple Facebook posts reported the deaths of these civilians as a consequence of the strike, including a post from Jihad Abdullah Abu Rikab’s cousin. Photos shared on Twitter/X by @i_07070 showed the bombed out shell of a house surrounded by rubble.

Shehab agency and an Al-Mezan report noted that at the time people were still trapped under the rubble and therefore the final death toll or number of people wounded might increase.

Al-Mezan’s report noted that seven Palestinians were killed including six children, while all other reports identified two adults and five children killed. All names reported were found by Airwars in the Palestinian Ministry of Health database published on October 26th 2023, with corresponding ages confirming that five of those killed were children.

Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strikes to Israeli forces.