Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

ISPT0118

Incident date

October 11, 2023

Location

زنون, Rafah, the Gaza Strip

Geolocation

31.296854, 34.243508 Note: The accuracy of this location is to City level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

During the evening of Wednesday, October 11, 2023, eight civilians belonging to two different families, including six children and one woman, were killed in an alleged Israeli airstrike on the Zanoun and al-Ajez family houses located in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. A Watan correspondent reported that three residential apartments in the Carmel Tower, adjacent to Al-Shifa Hospital, west of Gaza City, were also attacked and seriously damaged.

According to the heartfelt Facebook testimony by Jihad Zanoun, his 36-year old cousin Adel Musa Zanoun was reportedly killed together with his five children – a fifteen-year old daughter Hana Adel Zanoun, a sixteen-year old daughter Shaza (Shatha) Adel Zanoun, a 13-year old son Mahmoud Adel Zanoun, a 1-year old son Yassin Adel Zanoun, and a 10-year old daughter Sajaa Adel Zanoun. The late Adel Musa Zanoun is portrayed smiling in the drivers seat of a car or a bus. Jihad added that this is already the second massacre in the Zanoun family.

The Zanoun family also mourned the death of Adel Musa and his sons in a Facebook post, wishing “glory and eternity to our righteous martyrs, and may God have mercy on them and make them dwell in His spacious paradise”. Adel’s brother, called Țặĥặ Țặĥặ on Facebook, and his cousin Shadi Zanon also grieved the death of Adel and his sons, having posted a picture of six bodies wrapped in one cloth, five of which are small enough to be children. Abdullah Attar shared pictures of the funeral prayer for the deceased members of the Zanoun family, which took place at Al-Najjar Hospital.

As a result of the airstrike on the al-Ajez family house, 48-year old Suzan Yahya Ibrahim Al-Ajez (al-Ajwzi), wife of Abu Uday Al-Ajez, was killed together with her two sons, 21-year old Yahya Emad Hassan Al-Ajez and 17-year old Abdullah Imad Hassan Al-Ajez.

Family and friends of the victims mourned their deaths. Suhaib Khaleb, a relative of the al-Ajez family, wrote on Facebook: “With hearts that believe in God’s will and destiny, three of the moons and martyrs of my family, the cousins, bleed to heaven”, posting pictures of the young and smiling Yahya and Abdullah. The same source referred to Yahya as “mujahid”, indicating that he was a militant and has therefore been excluded from the civilian harm count.

Abu Alabed, Abdullah Emad, Ibrahim Zurb and Ahmad ALjez also expressed their grief about the loss of Al-Ajez family members, posting pictures of the deceased Yahya and Abdullah.

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. Multiple sources also reported that the strike happened without 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 evening.

The victims were named as:

Family members (6)

Adel Musa Zanoun عادل موسى زنون
36 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 800686503
Hana Adel Zanoun هنا عادل زنون
15 years old female killed Matched to MoH ID 426093985
Shaza Adel Zanoun شذى عادل زنون
16 years old female killed Matched to MoH ID 424494912
Mahmoud Adel Zanoun محمود عادل زنون
13 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 429567928
Yassin Adel Zanoun ياسين عادل زنون
1 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 444479067
Saja Adel Zanoun سجى عادل زنون
10 years old female killed Matched to MoH ID 433767514

Family members (2)

Suzan Al-Ajwzi (Mother of Udai) سوزان العاجز ام عدي
48 years old female killed Matched to MoH ID 900803420
Abdullah Imad Hassan Al-Ajez عبدالله العاجز
17 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 421316092

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the city of Rafah (زنون), for which the generic coordinates are: 31.296854, 34.243508. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.

Summary

  • Strike status
    Likely strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian infrastructure
    Residential building
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    8
  • (6 children1 woman1 man)
  • 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
    1

Sources (16) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (18) [ collapse]

  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Jihad Zanoun facebook
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Zanoun family facebook
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Taha Taha facebook
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Taha Taha facebook
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: ABdullah Attar facebook
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: ABdullah Attar facebook
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: ABdullah Attar facebook
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Shadi Zanon facebook
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Shadi Zanon facebook
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Suhaib Khaled Facebook
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Suhaib Khaled Facebook
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Abu Alabed facebook
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Ahmad ALjez facebook
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Ahmad ALjez facebook
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Ibrahim Zurb facebook
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Ibrahim Zurb facebook
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Ibrahim ABu Asem facebook
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Ibrahim ABu Asem facebook

Israeli Military Assessment:

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

Summary

  • Strike status
    Likely strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian infrastructure
    Residential building
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    8
  • (6 children1 woman1 man)
  • 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
    1

Sources (16) [ collapse]