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, all of whom were militants.
When Airwars first published this incident, three of the five identified men were recorded with contested civilian status - meaning that there were indications that the individuals were affiliated with militant activity, but it was not possible to confirm.
The men were originally identified as: 25-year-old Walid Tawfiq Salameh Abu Suhaiban, 26-year-old Abdel Fattah Youssef Abu Mathkur, 18-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, as there was no additional evidence of their participation in militant activities at the time, Airwars recorded their civilian status as “contested”.
This was in line with Airwars’ methodology which is employed across all conflicts we document, and informed by international standards regarding the ‘presumption of civilian status‘. Specifically, as outlined by the International Committee of the Red Cross, civilian status is assumed until evidence is identified to the contrary.
Since then, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) has shared tributes to all five men, identifying each as militants with the group.
On March 19, 2026, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) published a list of commanders killed since October 7, 2023. Shadi Talal al-Arami was among those named. He was described as a ‘Field Platoon Commander – Eastern Battalion – Rafah Brigade’. As such, he has been recorded as a militant.
On July 21, 2026, PIJ published a nearly identical tribute to Walid Tawfiq Salameh Abu Suhaiban, identifying him as a fighter. As such, Airwars updated status from civilian to militant and changed the number of civilians reportedly killed in this incident accordingly.
As all individuals identified in this incident were either militants or individuals with contested civilian status, the civilian harm status for this incident was changed to ‘contested’. This will be updated should additional information become available.
On July 16, 18, and 20, 2026 - respectively, the same account published tributes to Youssef Raed Abu Madhkour, Abdel Fattah Youssef Abu Mathkur, and Muhammad Youssef Abd al-Fattah Abu Mathkur. The civilian status for all three men was updated from contested to militant, and as all fatalities affiliated with this incident were connected to militants, the incident's civilian harm statuses was updated from 'contested' to 'discounted'.
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.
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 sources identified a belligerent, all sources attributed the strike to Israeli forces. According to Ahmed Abu Mathkour, the strike occurred without prior warning.