Geolocation
Airwars assessment
On Friday, October 13, 2023, between 17 and 25 civilian members of the Ziyadah family were killed and dozens were injured in an alleged Israeli airstrike on the house of the Ziyadah family in Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Information Center and Nabd news initially reported on the death of 17 civilians, with Al Jazeera sharing harrowing video footage of the bombings on Beit Lahia under the cover of darkness. Multiple local and international sources including Alkufiya, Refugee PS, Palestine Post, and RT news later stated that 25 civilians were killed in the bombing, with RT News also reporting the “the injury of dozens”. The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign affairs confirmed the casualties in a tweet that said “25 were martyred in the targeting of the Ziyadah family home in the town of Beit Lahia, north of the Gaza Strip”, accompanied by an image of a destroyed building with children searching among the rubble.
Airwars identified the names of the two killed victims of the strike. Abu Hamza mourned the death of his elderly father Haj Khamis Ziyadah (Abu Wael), sharing an image of his lifeless face on social media, and the death of his uncle Sami Ziyadah (Abu Muhammed) in the bombing. The late Sami appears as a smiling middle-aged man on the image attached to the Facebook post.
Neighbours, friends and relatives also posted their tributes to the killed victims, with Saed Shihada calling Abu Wael Ziyadah a “good neighbor”, and Moaz Aziz saying “The martyrdom of Uncle Sami Ziada Abu Muhammad joins Uncle Khamis Ziada Abu Wael in the same place and at the same time. May God have mercy on them and make their abode in Paradise, O Lord.” Another relative of the family mentioned the death of Sami’s wife without giving a name.
A family relative Ines Tili Zaono wrote that a large part of the family had been killed in Gaza in the 2014 conflict after being displaced, with much of the Ziyadah family “displaced to Gaza, and the remaining few to the West Bank and refugee camps in the Arab world.”
Both civilians identified were found among the Ministry of Health list of names released on October 26th.
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 local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Family members (2)
Summary
Sources (21) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (8) [ collapse]
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Source: Abu Hamza facebook -
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Source: Abu Hamza facebook -
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Source: Moaz Aziz facebook -
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Source: Moaz Aziz facebook -
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Source: Moaz Aziz facebook -
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Source: Pmofa twitter -
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Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the town of Beit Lahia (بيت لاهيا), for which the generic coordinates are: 31.551277, 34.509233. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.