Geolocation
Airwars assessment
On Friday, October 13th 2023, at least three civilian members of the Baraka family were killed and others were injured in an alleged Israeli airstrike on the home of the Abu al-Asla (Baraka) family near the Asfour station in Bani Suhaila, Khan Yunis, the Gaza Strip.
Initial reporting from Safa news mentioned “Martyrs and injuries” in the bombing, without specifying any number. Sources on social media later revealed that at least three had been killed, and the names identified were Shawqi Hussein Baraka (Abu Muhammad), his brother Adly Hussein Baraka (Abu Mahmoud), and their nephew Muhammad Baraka (Abu Hassan) the son of their brother Hassan.
Radwan Baraka shared a tearful tribute on social media, and friends and relatives shared tributes and images of the victims, “My uncle Adly Baraka, you were martyred and your daughter Hadeel followed/Your pure, fragrant blood still clings to my hands/My uncle Shawqi Baraka, you were in our house a week before the war and you asked my father, “When do you want to perform Umrah, Abu Hamid?”/Muhammad Hassan Baraka, may God have mercy on you, cousin/May God have mercy on you, martyrs of my family”. It is unclear whether Hadeel, daughter of Adly, was killed in the bombing on the 13th. Mohammed Baraka added that Shawqi Baraka was supposed to travel to Saudi Arabia soon, before he was killed.
Airwars has matched the names of some of the civilians killed with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of fatalities in Gaza released on October 26th, 2023, which explicitly mentions that names on the list are “victims of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip”. Therefore this incident has been graded as fair, as another source also identified Israel as being responsible.
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 (3)
Summary
Sources (16) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (12) [ collapse]
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Source: Hind Albaraka facebook -
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Source: Radwan baraka facebook -
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Source: Mohammed baraka facebook -
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Source: Baraka family facebook -
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Source: Baraka family facebook -
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Source: Baraka family facebook -
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Source: Jawdat Abu Layan facebook -
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Source: Shadi baraka facebook -
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Source: Shadi baraka facebook -
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Source: Shadi baraka facebook -
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Source: Mohammed baraka facebook -
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Source: Mohammed baraka facebook
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the vicinity of Asfour gas station (محطة بنزين عصفور) to the east of Bani Suheila (بني سهيلة), for which the generic coordinates are: 31.334289, 34.333110. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.