Geolocation
Airwars assessment
During the evening of Wednesday, October 11th, 2023, thirteen civilians across three generations of the extended Baraka family were killed and others were wounded in an alleged Israeli airstrike that destroyed the multi-storey family home in the Al-Mughni area, east of Deir al-Balah. The victims of the attack included at least six children, five women and two elderly people.
An 84-year old elderly man, Hajj Jabr Muhammad Baraka (Abu Khaled), was killed in the strike together with his 75-year old wife Haji Farhana Baraka. The attack also killed their son Shadi Jabr Baraka, their daughters Hanan Haber Baraka and Maysaa Jabr Baraka, their daughters-in-law Haya Sabri Baraka and Fadwa Salama Baraka and their grandchildren: the five granddaughters Sondos Tayser Baraka, Maya Shadi Baraka, Mary Shadi Baraka, Bayan Ahmed Baraka, and Marwa Ahmed Baraka, and a grandson Muhammad Ahmed Baraka.
Samir Baraka, a grandson of the late Jabr Muhammad Baraka Abu Khaled, confirmed that at least four of the children were young girls in a photo celebrating their lives, which was attached to his Facebook post. The grandson Haled Baraka, the grandson Ahmad Barakah, and the son Om Alaa wrote testimonies about the death of their family members on Facebook. The Baraka family also mourned the death of the thirteen family members in a Facebook post, asking God for mercy and forgiveness for them.
An initial report on October 11th by Saba News confirmed that four victims had been killed, ‘including two women and a girl’. Nabd news later reported that the number of victims had risen to five. That same day in a Twitter/X post a user Ahmed Baraka reported the figure had risen to seven members of the Baraka Family. On the 12th October most sources identified at least 13 victims. Twitter/X user Ali Ibrahim wrote that 13 Palestinians were found dead under the rubble of the building that was destroyed. Only one source, Algad.TV, mentioned the “wounded” but did not specify how many.
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 the belligerent, all sources attributed the strikes to Israeli forces.
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 evening.
The victims were named as:
Family members (13)
Summary
Sources (18) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (13) [ collapse]
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Source: Samir Baraka facebook -
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Source: Samir Baraka facebook -
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Source: Samir Baraka facebook -
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Source: Samir Baraka facebook -
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Source: Nabd ALsharqiya facebook -
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Source: Khaled Baraka facebook -
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Source: Baraka family facebook -
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Source: Om Alaa facebook -
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Source: Om Alaa facebook -
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Source: Om Alaa facebook -
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Source: Ahmad Baraka facebook -
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Source: Ahmad Barakah facebook -
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Source: Ahmad Barakah facebook
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the Al Mughni (المغني) area, allegedly located east of Deir Al Balah (دير البلح). Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further. The generic coordinates for Deir Al Balah are: 31.418995, 34.349442.