Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Shortly after midnight on Friday, 12th of October, 2023, at least 25 civilians who belonged to three different families, including a university professor, at least five women and at least seven children, were killed and a large number of civilians were reportedly wounded in an alleged airstrike by the Israeli military on a four-storey residential building belonging to the Abu Madin family in Block 9 of the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza strip. The building contained 12 residential apartments and housed approximately 70 people, including displaced people of the border areas, local sources reported.
The number of casualties was initially reported at 17, but rose to 26 with news sources such as Jo24.net reporting that many were trapped under the rubble. Adham Abu Selmia (@adham922) shared an emotional video on the Twitter/X social media platform showing the immediate aftermath of the tragedy and people looking for survivors under the rubble at night. Huda Naim (@HuDa_NaIm92) shared another video on Twitter/X showing young men attempting to rescue a screaming child trapped under the rubble.
The injured civilians were transferred to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the neighboring city of Deir al-Balah. Wafa.ps reported that the morgues in Al-Aqsa hospital were “filled with bodies from the attack”, with tents being set up outside for the increasing casualties. The list of casualties has been compiled from various social media posts, obituaries and news agencies.
The biggest losses suffered were the Al-Nabahin family. A relative of the family, Ahmad Al-Nabahin, mentioned in a Facebook post 17 names of the members of the Al-Nabahin and Abu Madin families who were killed, sharing some of their pictures.
Another family member, Hadi Khalid, mourned in her Facebook testimony the death of the 20 members of Al-Nabahin family, including, in particular, her 56-year old father Khaled Muhammad Al-Nabahin, her sister and Khaled’s daughter, a 28-year old Dalia Khaled Muhammad Al-Nabahin, the wife of her uncle Musa, a 62-year old Intisar Abdel Latif Mohamed Al-Nabahin Abd al-Jawad with her sons, Hadi Khalid’s cousins – a 31-year old Yousef Musa Al-Nabahin, a 27-year old Bassem Saeed Al-Nabahin and a 36-year old Muhammad Musa Al-Nabahin. The images of Bassem and Yousef can be seen in the Facebook post by Ahed Alkhaldi.
Bassem Saeed was among the dead. He was reported to be a basketball player for the Khadamat al-Bureji team. His death was mourned in an obituary by the Palestinian Basketball Federation where he was pictured in a basketball shirt with the number 5. The Palestine Olympic Committee also dedicated a Facebook post to the deceased sportsman, writing that he had previously won the Basketball League title in the southern governorates, while also sharing a picture of him with a ball.
Daabes Mohammad wrote a heartfelt Facebook testimony dedicated to the late Yousef Musa Al-Nabahin: “My companion, my brother, and my beloved. May God give me patience to leave you. Yesterday you were with me and gave me water to drink, and today you are a martyr.” A smiling Yousef is seen with the author of the post in the attached image.
Hadi Khalid further mentioned a 37-year old Asma Mousa Al-Nabahin who was killed together with her husband, a 43-year old Professor Muhammad Suleiman Al-Nabahin (Abu Suleiman), their three daughters – Jamila Muhammad Al-Nabahin*, 16-year old Raghad Muhammad Al-Nabahin and 12-year old Rula Suleiman Al-Nabahin, and their 4-year old son Ayoub Suleiman Al-Nabahin.
University professor Muhammad Suleiman Al-Nabahin (Abu Suleiman) was remembered by his colleagues and friends in their obituaries. Ayman Al-Awawdeh wrote a heartfelt Facebook testimony dedicated to Abu Suleiman: “You were always loved in your work and in your home.” Waseem Abu Sara shared an image of Abu Suleiman sitting in a university auditorium with his colleague. Ibraheem Abu Shamale remembered him as “the friendly brother, fun and polite friend and colleague.”
Hadi Khalid’s testimony also includes the names of the related Abu Madin family members, in particular, her cousin Maysaa Musa Al-Nabahin, her cousin’s husband, Sufyan Fareej Abu Madin, and their children: two sons – Sufyan Abu Madin* and Karam Sufyan Abu Madin* and two daughters – Maryam Sufyan Abu Madin* and Yara Sufyan Abu Madin*.
Hadi Khalid also mentioned a woman Wissam Musa Al-Nabahin and her son: Ghaith Iyad Abu Darika* among the victims.
The deadly bombing also took the lives of the six members of the Huwaishil family, including Saeed Abu Huwaishil (Abu Al-Abd) and his wife Samah Ismail Al Mashukhi, their three daughters – a 3-year old Sarah Saeed Abu Huwaishil, Sila Abu Huwaishil*, Alma Abu Huwaishil* and their son, Abdul Rahman Abu Huwaishil*. The only surviving son was Moaz, according to journalist Adel Zourob and a friend of the late Samah, Sahar Alghoty. Ahmed Salman posted a picture of Saeed Abu Huwaishil’s children, where all of them seem to be very young.
Saeed Abu Huwaishil was remembered in the Facebook testimonies by his friend Ahmad Ahmad, his cousins Abu Mohammad, Saree Mansour and Ali Mansour. Ali Mansour noted that the late Saeed was his childhood friend. The friend of the late Saeed, Ramez Alqtrawi, wrote a touching post on Facebook featuring the wide-smiling Saeed and saying: “I promised you nothing but laughter, joy, the best brother, and the best friend. May God have mercy on you, my beloved Saeed Abu Huwaishil, and may God have mercy on all the martyrs”.
A post by Mahmoud Fathy contains a picture of Saeed Abu Huwaishil in a military uniform, while a post by Ahed Mahmoud shows him with a gun in his hands. However, there is no other evidence that Saeed was a militant, so we have qualified his status as contested.
The deceased daughter of Saeed, Sara Saeed Abu Huwaishil, was only three years old and was likely one of the youngest victims of this attack. Journalist Adel Zourob Official posted a heartbreaking image of Sara’s dead body covered with blood.
Ramee Abu Ismail mentioned her sister, Umm Musa, was severely injured in an incident, but further details about her identity are unknown.
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. Jo24.net news reported that the attack happened without a prior warning.
*Airwars has quantified these civilians as children based on images and the ages of family members.
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 local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Family members (6)
Family members (7)
Family members (14)
The victims were named as:
Summary
Sources (60) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (25) [ collapse]
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Source: Ramez Alqtrawi -
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Source: Mahmoud Fathy -
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Source: Ahmed Salman -
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Source: Ahed Mahmoud -
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Source: Journalist Adel Zourob Official -
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Source: Journalist Adel Zourob Official -
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Source: Ayman Al-awawdeh -
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Source: Waseem Abu Sara -
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Source: Daabes Mohammad -
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Source: Ehab K Al Nabahen -
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Source: Ramzi Mansour -
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Source: Al Ahli -
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Source: Palestine Olympic Committee -
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Source: Ahed Alkhaldi -
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Source: Ahed Alkhaldi -
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Source: Ahmad Al-Nabahin -
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Source: Ahmad Al-Nabahin -
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Source: Ahmad Al-Nabahin -
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Source: Ahmad Al-Nabahin -
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Source: Ahmad Al-Nabahin -
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Source: Ahmad Al-Nabahin -
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Source: Al-Nabahin Gathering -
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Source: Al-Nabahin Gathering -
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Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the Bureij camp (مخيم البريج), for which the generic coordinates are: 31.437934, 34.403857. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.