Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

ISPT0102q

Incident date

October 10, 2023

Location

حي الشوكة، رفح, Al Shouka neighbourhood, Rafah, Rafah, the Gaza Strip

Geolocation

31.260420, 34.286980 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Neighbourhood/area level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

During the afternoon of Tuesday, October 10th, 2023, a home of the Abu Mathkour family located in the Al Shouka neighbourhood, east of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, was hit by an alleged Israeli airstrike, killing at least five identified men, three of whom’s civilian status is contested.

Rafah Municipality shared images of the rescue efforts carried out by the crews of the Central Emergency Committee in Rafah Governorate. Rescuers in orange clothes were seen inspecting the rubble left from the building bombed.

The victims of the deadly attack were named as 25-year-old Walid Tawfiq Salameh Abu Suhaiban, 26-year-old Abdel Fattah Youssef Abu Mathkur, 54-year-old Youssef Raed Youssef Abu Mathkur, 36-year-old Muhammad Youssef Abd al-Fattah Abu Mathkur, and 34-year-old Shadi Talal Nadi Al-Arami. A post by Fady Fouad referred to Muhammad Youssef Abu Mathkur, Abdel Fattah Youssef Abu Mathku, and Youssef Raed Abu Mathkour as “mujahids”. However, there was no additional evidence of their participation in militant activities. Until new information comes to light, Airwars has counted their civilian/militant status as “contested”.

Ahmed Abu Mathkour reported to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed News that the [Israeli] forces allegedly bombed a house in the Al-Shouka area without prior notice. Despite the efforts to recover the bodies, there were still people under the rubble at the time of the report. He added: “We were able to extract the two martyrs, Shadi Al-Armi and Walid Tawfiq Abu Suhaiban. After several hours, we were able to bring out Abdel Fattah Youssef Abu Mathkur, also a martyr.”

Following the incident in Rafah, Gaza, numerous social media posts mourned the loss of friends and family members who were killed, including Ahmad Mohammad, a brother-in-law of Shadi Al-Arami; Saher Tareq, a nephew of Shadi; and another brother-in-law of Shadi named Abdallah Abu Mohammad who referred to him as the “intrepid knight”.

Sabreen Yusuf Mathkour mourned the deaths of his brothers Muhammad and Abdel and his nephew Youssef Raed.

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 a belligerent, all sources attributed the strike to Israeli forces. According to Ahmed Abu Mathkour, the strike occurred without prior warning.

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 in the afternoon.

The victims were named as:

Walid Tawfiq Abu Suhaiban وليد توفيق أبو صهيبان
25 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 403293491
Shadi Al-Arami شادي العرمي
34 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 802423434

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the neighbourhood of Al Shouka (حي الشوكة) to the east of Rafah City (رفح), for which the generic coordinates are: 31.260420, 34.286980. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.

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Summary

  • Strike status
    Likely strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Infrastructure
    Residential
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    2 – 5
  • (2–5 men)
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Fair
    Reported by two or more credible sources, with likely or confirmed near actions by a belligerent.
  • Suspected belligerent
    Israeli Military
  • Suspected target
    Palestinian Forces
  • Belligerents reported killed
    0–3

Sources (15) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (15) [ collapse]

  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Ahmed Algelany
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Ahmed Algelany
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Ahmed Algelany
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Fady Fouad
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Bakr Al Wawi
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Rafah Municipality
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Rafah Municipality
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Rafah Municipality
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Rafah Municipality
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Rafah Municipality
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Rafah Municipality
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Saher Tareq
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Baraa Abu Telkh
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Wajde Abu Saheiban
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Ahmad Mohammad

Israeli Military Assessment:

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

Summary

  • Strike status
    Likely strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Infrastructure
    Residential
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    2 – 5
  • (2–5 men)
  • Cause of injury / death
    Heavy weapons and explosive munitions
  • Airwars civilian harm grading
    Fair
    Reported by two or more credible sources, with likely or confirmed near actions by a belligerent.
  • Suspected belligerent
    Israeli Military
  • Suspected target
    Palestinian Forces
  • Belligerents reported killed
    0–3

Sources (15) [ collapse]