During the morning of Thursday, October 12th 2023, between 12 and 14 civilians, including at least five women and four children, were killed, and at least 40 civilians, including a number of children, were injured in an alleged Israeli airstrike on two homes in the Tal al-Sultan area of Rafah that belonged to the Baroud and Abu Shaar families.

Mahmud Ziad (@Mahmoud_aser19) reported on Twitter/X that a “number of children were injured”, and posted images of wounded children of varying ages being treated in a hospital. Sources did not specify the number of casualties from the Baroud family.

A Twitter/X user HadaratMedia posted the images of the buildings that were hit with smoke rising behind them, while a Facebook user AbuSha3ar1 shared the images of the rubble and a wounded child.

Tributes on social media mostly listed the names of 12 members of the Abu Shaar family all killed in the incident, though some social media sources, like Alarabia Palestine Facebook account, reported that 14 members of the Abu Shaar family were killed. From the names and ages reported on social media, it is likely that members of the Abu Shaar family were killed across three generations. Shehab agency reported that another 40 individuals were wounded.

A Facebook user AbuSha3ar1 shared the images of the funeral of the Abu Shaar family members at the Abu Youssef Al-Najjar Hospital. In another post, he shared the images of some killed family members, including two young boys.

Ziad Salama Abu Shaar (Abu Muhammad), 49, was named on social media as the owner of the residence; he was reported killed together with his two daughters, 22-year old Abeer Ziad Salama Abu Shaar and Nada Ziad Salama Abu Shaar and his two sons, 13-year old Muhammad Ziyad Salama Abu Shaar and 10-year old Mahmoud Ziyad Salama Abu Shaar. Ziad Shaar is seen on an image attached to a Facebook post by adelzourob73 as a middle-aged man in a driver’s seat. Rawan R Abu Taha referred to him as a “good neigbour” in a heartfelt Facebook testimony.

44-year old Ziad Abdullah Abu Shaar was also killed together with his children, 17-year old Muhammad Ziyad Abdullah Abu Shaar and 15-year old daughter Islam Ziyad Abdullah Abu Shaar. Mohannad Abo Fadi wrote in a Facebook testimony that the late Ziad Abu Shaar “had a kind heart”.

Among the victims was also a 78-year old woman, Hajja Janadi Ibrahim Ahmed Abu Shaar (Umm Khaled), a 46-year old woman Maysar Salama Abu Shaar, and Sarah Yasser Abu Shaar who was referred to as a “judge” in a Facebook post by alaa.abuhair.

Additionally, the Facebook tributes by Mohannad Abo Fadi and Rawan R Abu Taha mentioned Dahoud Abu Luli among the killed civilians, attaching a picture of a young man.

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.

According to the Shehab Agency correspondent, the incident occurred in the morning, before 10:30 AM local time.