Between 10:30 and 11:30 a.m. on Monday, October 9, 2023, an alleged Israeli airstrike on a market and a residential building located at the intersection of Al-Ternis Street in the middle of Jabalia refugee camp resulted in between 68 and 73 civilians killed, including at least 21 children and seven women, and “hundreds” of wounded.

According to Defense for Children International – Palestine, Israeli warplanes fired three missiles at a residential building at the intersection of Al-Ternis Street in the middle of Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip around 11:30 a.m.

A tweet from Al Jazeera Mubasher News (@ajmubasher) reported that “at least 50 were killed in a new Israeli bombardment that targeted a densely populated residential neighborhood” with dozens of missiles. Multiple sources refer to the incident as a massacre and describe it “as if an earthquake occurred here.” Ilyass elmaliki news posted on Facebook that the home of “Abu Ashkian” was bombed and the result was “dozens” killed and “hundreds” wounded. Anadolu Agency reported that at least 120 civilians were wounded,  including many in serious condition.

Defense for Children International (DCI) reported that 15 children were among those killed in Jabalia, with a note that the number of children killed was expected to rise to 17 after verification of two additional young victims.

According to France24 correspondent, the number of missing persons was particularly high, and people were coming in all the time to ask questions about their loved ones or to report them missing.

An Amnesty International report included details that at around 10:30 a.m., Israeli airstrikes hit a market in Jabalia refugee camp, killing at least 69 people. Amnesty referred to the market as “one of the busiest commercial areas in northern Gaza” and added that the market was busier than usual because of people fleeing their homes after being told to by the Israeli military.

A school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) was also hit in the attack on the camp, according to Al Jazeera’s Youmna ElSayed.

Amnesty said that the Israeli military reported they were targeting “a mosque in which Hamas members had been present,” but no mosque was found in the immediate vicinity of the market. The Israeli military reported on the same day targeting an “Islamic Jihad command center located inside a mosque,” though it did not state where it was.

According to OHCHR report, the explosions destroyed two multi-story buildings and severely damaged many other surrounding buildings.

Airwars has identified the names of 68 people killed, along with the identity of at least eight other individuals whose names were not provided.

A post from HedeebRadwan9 named 26-year-old Youssef (Rajab Yousef) Rabaa as among those killed, and Ansam Ahmed identified Youssef as their cousin, adding that their nephew,  a child, Muhammad Fares Rabaa, and his eight-year-old brother Yazan Fares Rabaa were also killed.

Naeem Karama posted that their brother, 23-year-old Ahmed Karim Al-Kafarna, their uncle, 33-year-old Jihad Adnan Al-Kafarna, their cousin and sister’s husband, 28-year-old Muhammad Iyad Al-Kafarna, their cousin, 22-year-old Anas Iyad Al-Kafarna, and their cousin, 30-year-old Muhammad Mahmoud Al-Kafarna, were also killed. A family member, 40-year-old Hassan Yacoub Al-Kafarna, was also killed. Muhammad al-Kafarna was married to 27-year-old Warda and was a father of six, according to Warda’s sister, Suhair Dabur, who spoke to BTselem.

The Al-Kurdi family in Gaza posted that 35-year-old Thaer Talal Ramadan Murad Al-Kurdi and 28-year-old Ezzedine Yasser Ramadan Murad Al-Kurdi were both killed, and both were referred to as the sons of Murad Al-Kurdi. 46-year-old Murad Al-Kurdi spoke to +972 News, telling how he lost his son in the deadly attack:

“Due to the continuous power blackouts, my son went to the camp market next to the house to buy some food, like many residents who rush to shops and markets in such difficult conditions,” al-Kurdi said. “Less than 30 minutes after he left, I heard large explosions that shook the entire area. The information that reached us indicated that Israeli shelling had directly targeted the camp market. “After hearing these explosions, I rushed outside,” he continued. “A huge cloud of smoke filled the market. As the cloud slowly cleared, the crime [scene] began to become clear. It was as if an earthquake had hit the place. Many children, women, and even the elderly were lying on the ground, covered in blood. Some of them were merely remains.” In a state of shock, al-Kurdi began searching for his son. “I found him soaked in blood under a pile of stones that covered his whole body,” al-Kurdi said. “He was lying next to some of the groceries he had just bought.”

Kamal Abo Mohammed named “the struggling and friendly brother”, 41-year-old Mahmoud (Khalil Mustafa) Al-Sidawi as killed. Hasan louqa identified Mohammed Khalid as killed and Abo Khaled Al Lino identified their cousin, 26-year-old Ahmed Moein Wahdan as killed.

Classmate and friend @KhaderA7med reported that 28-year-old doctor Saed Maher (Abdel Hadi) Darabiya was killed in the Jabalia “massacre,” describing him as gentle and close to people. Saed was born on July 13, 1995, and worked as a resident physician in the Department of Kidney and Urology Surgery at Al-Shifa Medical Complex before October 7, 2023. Since that time, he has worked as a doctor in the emergency department at the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza. The Ministry of Health of Gaza also posted a statement mourning doctor Saed, and the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Youssef Abu Al-Rish, performed the funeral prayer for doctor Saed at Al-Shifa Hospital.

The wife of the late Saed posting a heartfelt tribute to him on the website of Shireen Monitor, describing him as a ” loving husband, a caring father to my two children, and an angel who heals the groans of patients in the hospital, a resident physician in the urology departments in the besieged Gaza Strip hospitals. He was a brilliant genius, passionate about his work and eager to seek knowledge, a dutiful son and the eldest of his brothers.” She also wrote that she was pregnant with their second child when her husband was killed. “I named him (Ahmed), this angel whose father had never seen him and will never see his father except in what the old photos and video clips show,” wrote Saed’s widow.

Twitter/X user @pmofa shared an image where the medical staff bid farewell to Saed at the premises of Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City on Tuesday morning.

A Facebook post from Ahmad Idris Aouda reported that 25-year-old Mustafa Salah Abu Shakyan, a master’s student in the “Noble Hadith and its Sciences at the Faculty of Fundamentals of Religion,” was also killed. Inas Khalil posted that their friend Aisha Hameed (Abu Shakyan) and her daughters were killed. Mahmoud Abu Alfahem posted that 36-year-old Islam Salah Abu Shakyan (possibly the daughter of Aisha) and her children, Anas Nasser Abu Al-Fahm (four years old) and Layan Nasser Abu Al-Fahm (eight years old), were also killed. Hasan Adel posted that their aunt Etaf Abu Shakyan (Umm Abdullah), her children, her children’s wives, and her grandchildren were all killed.

Mohammed Shehab’s uncle, 55-year-old Mustafa Hussein Abu Al-Eish, and his sons, 21-year-old Ahmed and 14-year-old Abdullah, were killed, according to their Facebook post. Abo Khaled Al Lenoi posted that their 21-year-old cousin Daoud Sami Wahdan was also among the victims of the strike. Wasem Musleh identified their cousin, 23-year-old Khaled (Mohammad Zaki) Musleh, as one of those killed.

A post by Wael Qatash stated that their wife’s cousin, 30-year-old Alaa Atta Al-Sheikh, was killed along with “her children, her husband, her aunt, her children, her husband, and their wives, since there is no one left of the family.” Walaa Al Sheikh, brother of Alaa, provided additional details of her husband, 33-year-old Abdullah Abu Ashkian, and their three daughters, Jannah (10 years old), Joudi, and Jouri (five years old). DCI-Palestine identified cousins of the three daughters –  Maria Huthaifa Salah Abu Shakyan (three years old), and Retal Bilal Salah Abu Shakyan (seven years old), as also killed.

Amani Rayan posted that their sixth-grade teacher, 60-year-old Mr. Ibrahim (Khalil Ibrahim) Al-Tatri (Abu Muhammad), was among those killed.

Mahmoud Sadat identified their cousins, 30-year-old Muhammad Nabil Saadat and 26-year-old Ismail Nabil Saadat, as among those killed.

Google Market International Trade Company posted a statement mourning the death of 38-year-old Tariq Hajjaj, indicating that he was the company’s employee.

Um Asil Qadourah posted on Facebook that their sister’s husband, 33-year-old Thaer Saadi (Abd al-Latif) Abu Odeh, and his son, Ali Thaer Saadi Abu Odeh (a child), were killed, and that there was no trace of the son’s body following the attack. A post from ِthe Abo Odah family in Beit Hanoun added that 31-year-old woman Hudhayfah Arif Ali Abu Odeh, 38-year-old Anas Ahmed Abdel Aziz Abu Odeh, and the child Muhammad Anas Musa Sheikh Abdullah Abu Odeh (nine years old) were also killed.

Majed Okasha identified the members of the Al-Zwaidi family who were killed, describing it as a “massacre”: Adham Amin Muhammad Al-Zwaidi (father, 55 years old), Jamlat Hussein Al-Zwaidi (mother, 51 years old), Muhammad Adham Amin Al-Zwaidi (31 years old), Imad Adham Amin Al-Zwaidi (28 years old), Amin Adham Amin Al-Zwaidi (17 years old), Hussein Adham Amin Al-Zwaidi (13 years old), and Ghadeer Adham Amin Al-Zwaidi (13 years old).

A post from Medoo Samer mourned the death of 37-year-old Yasmine Muhammad Abu Shouqfa (Umm Qais), her husband, 31-year-old  Naeem Abdel Fattah Rashid Atallah, and their son Karem Atallah. Abo Shouqfa family on Facebook identified 32-year-old Bashir Rafiq Abu Shouqfa as among the killed (unclear if related to Yasmine).

A post from Ibrahim Adwan reported that his cousin, 27-year-old Yahya Murshid Mohammad Adwan, who had gotten married a few weeks prior, and his other cousin, 29-year-old Imad Murshid Adwan, were both killed, as well as the young man, 32-year-old Muhammad Waked Adwan.

A Facebook post from Mhmwd Abo Qaseem Adwan included a list of residents of Jabalia killed, which included many mentioned above as well as 68-year-old woman Fahima Jamil Ibrahim Al-Afifi, 17-year-old boy Muhammad Youssef Ayesh Hamad, 19-year-old Imad Ziyad Hamad, Ahmed Musa Daraj, and Moaz Abdel Qader Daraj.

Amnesty International reported that Imad Ziyad Hamad was killed while he was on his way to buy bread and mattresses for his family. According to his father, Ziyad Hamad, the family had left their home in Beit Hanoun after receiving a warning from the Israeli army and had walked almost five kilometers to a UNRWA-run school in Jabalia camp. When Ziyad arrived at the morgue for his son’s body, “The bodies were burned, and I was scared of looking. I didn’t want to look, I was scared of looking at Imad’s face. The bodies were scattered on the floor. Everyone was looking for their children in these piles. I recognized my son only by his trousers. I wanted to bury him immediately, so I carried my son and got him out. I carried him.” Ziyad later told Amnesty, “What did I do to deserve this? To lose my son, to lose my house, to sleep on the floor of a classroom? My children are wetting themselves, of panic, of fear, of cold. We have nothing to do with this. What fault did we commit? I raised my child, my entire life, for what? To see him die while buying bread.”

29-year-old Ahmad Matar lost his 33-year-old brother Bilal in this strike on Jabalia camp. He told +972 News his story:

“To escape the 36-hour electricity blackout, I was sitting at the entrance of our house, which is only 30 meters from the place targeted by Israeli planes,” he recounted. “My brother was working in a shop. We suddenly heard loud explosions shaking the area. Rubble and remnants of explosive missiles scattered in all directions. Because of the dust the missiles left, we could not see what [damage] they caused. “I rushed barefoot to the place of the bombing, which includes a crowded popular market visited by all residents of northern Gaza, not just residents of Jabalia camp,” Matar continued. “Bodies and body parts of the victims were scattered across the street, as well as hundreds of wounded people covered in blood and dust.”

The extent of the bombing caused huge destruction of the market, Matar added. “It was difficult to find the shop in which my brother worked — it was completely destroyed and collapsed on everyone who was inside it. I finally found my brother lying on the ground among a large group of victims and wounded people. His body was burned, and some of his remains were scattered due to the intensity and ferocity of the missiles.”

DCI-Palestinian identified the names of additional children killed in the incident: Diab Mohammad Diab Abu Baid, six years old; Yousef Sameer Ramadan Al-Athamneh, 10 years old; Mohammad Imad Ebrek Al-Amouri, nine years old; Mohammad Bajes Hassan Al-Khaldi, 11 years old,  Mohammad Abdulfateh Mohammad Odeh, nine years old, and Abdallah Mustafa Hussain, 14 years old.

Images posted by Shaymaa Abo Shkyan showed four children who were reportedly killed. Muahammed Ali via Facebook identified their cousins from the Abu Shakyan family who were killed, and the images include four men and three young girls.

Many major Western media agencies reported the devastating strike on Jabalia and talked to eyewitnesses who described it in detail.

A Gazan man injured in a bombardment of the Jabalia market on October 9, who wished to remain anonymous, recounted France 24: “I was walking towards the camp [a market] to buy things for my children. Without warning, the bombing hit the heart of the market. There were a lot of people there. It hit right in the middle of the street. It was hysteria. There were lots of dismembered bodies. It was incredible. We didn’t feel a thing. I can’t talk… ”

Asmaa Tayeh, a young writer who lives in the camp, told Al Jazeera that the violence of the explosion shook the entire camp, sending Tayeh rushing to the window to check how close the strike was and whether her home had suffered any damage. “I was laying on my bed and writing to an outside friend who had texted to check up on me,” Tayeh said. “All I could say to him after the crazy raids was: Thank God I’m still alive.” She remembered that in the wake of the explosions, emergency vehicles raced to the market, flooding the air with the wail of sirens.  “Sounds of ambulances and cars filled the area,” Tayeh recalled. But even more piercing were the voices of “people screaming and rushing to the bombing area”.

43-year-old Yusry Khalil, a resident of Jabalia camp who witnessed the market bombing, spoke to +972 . According to him, the large number of victims meant that rescuers were forced to use donkey carts and motorbikes to transport the wounded to get treatment. Khalil called the extent of the destruction by Israel’s bombardments “a new Palestinian Nakba,” adding: “The area in which I live has become like a ghost town due to the Israeli bombardment by Israeli aircraft. I am lucky to be still alive with my family.”

Amnesty International reviewed videos of the aftermath and satellite imagery and concluded that at least three multi-story buildings were completely destroyed and surrounding structures were heavily damaged, as well as multiple deceased bodies still under the rubble.

The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) analysis reported that “one or two GBU-31 air-dropped munitions were used” in the attack and found no military objective to justify the strike. The GBU-31 is made from a U.S.-made 2,000-pound MK 84 or BLU-109 bomb and a JDAM guidance kit. Neither U.N. OHCHR nor Amnesty International found evidence of a military target at the time of the attack. Even if there was a legitimate military target, the scale of destruction indicates the Israeli military’s attack was disproportionate. Disproportionate attacks are war crimes — international law prohibits attacks that are expected to cause excessive civilian harm compared to the direct and provable military advantage anticipated from the attack.

Images and videos shared on social media showed apocalyptic scenes – buildings destroyed to rubble, damaged cars, a lot of debris covering the ground, and large clouds of smoke billowing in the skies. Twitter/X user @warfareanalysis shared a video of the explosion filmed from afar, where a huge cloud of greyish smoke is seen billowing in the skies.

Reuters shared an image showing several young men carrying the body of a Palestinian killed in the strike on stretchers, covered with a colorful cloth. The air surrounding them was filled with dust and smoke from the powerful explosion. Twitter/X user @MilitaryNerdd shared a number of heart-wrenching images showing the grief and despair of the relatives who lost their loved ones. In the first image, five Palestinian women were shown sitting on the bench, while three of them were sobbing and crying. In the second image, a man was sitting next to the wall, surrounded by a number of white shrouds.  The third image showed a middle-aged man crying, and the fourth showed three young man carrying a dead body wrapped in a white cloth, where traces of blood were still visible.

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