Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

ISPT0190

Incident date

October 14, 2023

Location

بيت لاهيا, Beit Lahia, North Gaza, the Gaza Strip

Geolocation

31.551277, 34.509233 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Town level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

Nineteen members of the Dawas family were killed and an unknown number of others were injured when their two-story family home on Al-Shaima Street, west of Abbas Kilani roundabout in Beit Lahia, in the north of the Gaza Strip, was reportedly bombed by an Israeli aircraft on Saturday, October 14, 2023. The Ministry of the Interior in Gaza reported the bombing of the Dawas family home on October 14, and stated that the family were buried under rubble and civil defense and ambulance crews were working to rescue them.

Arabi21 reported that there were dozens killed and injured in the incident. A Facebook post by a family member Ramzi Dawas listed the names of seven identified killed victims (four from a previous incident) noting that “there are still martyrs from the family, as many as 15 martyrs whose names are not mentioned under the dots” and called for help in retrieving the bodies from the rubble. Due to this post, the exact address of the incident is likely house Lahia, entrance of Ezba Dawas, west of Abbas Kilani roundabout, Al Shaima Street.

Across all sources, 14 victims were named/identified and reported as killed.

The victims were named by their family members as Maher Dawas (56) and his sons Youssef Maher Dawas (20), Fadi Maher Dawas (30), Abdel Rahman Maher Dawas (16) and Obada Maher Dawas. A woman identified as the wife of Yasser Dawas, her sons Sharaf Yasser Dawas (13) and Muhammad Yasser Dawas (11), and her daughters Malak Yasser Dawas (20) and Shahid Yasser Dawas (16), were all killed. Maher’s sister Jamila Youssef Dawas, also known as Umm Musa, was also killed as well as a set of sisters called Lamya Dawas and Yasmin Dawas. A woman named Noha Abdel Aziz Dawas (44) was also killed. 

Many people and organisations paid tribute to Youssef Maher Dawas, a young poet, writer, and student studying to be a psychoanalyst. He had published an essay with the collective, We Are Not Numbers, in January 2023 called “Who will pay for the 20 years we lost?”, recounting the destruction of his family’s orchard in May 2022 by an alleged Israeli missile strike and how the loss of the orchard, to quote from the essay, “destroyed an important piece of our past. Our family’s history. Our heritage.” Youssef was also a contributing writer in Palestine Deep Dive and the Palestine Chronicle where his last article had been titled “Kidney Transplant and Rebirth: A Palestinian Love Story”. Youssef’s colleagues at WANN described him as a joyful, funny, kind and sensitive person, with a radiant smile and a love of people. Friends reported that he was nicknamed “Joe”, and loved photography, nature, his cats and the author, Ahlam Mosteghanemi. Another friend, Mahmoud Yazgy, said he was dedicated and was quick to take initiative. His mentor, Kate Casa, reported that he was motivated and open-minded and “was anxious to tell his stories so that we in the West could better understand their lives in Gaza”. One colleague, Ahmed Dremly, reported that Youssef asked him, in the first days of the conflict, to join him “to go document all of the massacres that happened in Gaza” and he had turned down the offer.

The Palestine Chronicle posted a tribute to Youssef including a short video of him talking about how he wants to visit places in Palestine more than Paris or the Maldives.

The Tamer Institute for Community Education made a tribute to Youssef, who was a member of the youth literary teams “Yar’at” and “Voices from Palestine”, saying that “he shared his deep love for life in expressing himself even amid the most challenging of circumstances.” Jesse Boylan, writing in John Menadue’s Public Policy Journal, reported that Youssef was interested in politics, economics and video games and that he was learning to play the guitar.

Maher and Jamila’s brother Jaser Dawwas claimed the incident took place without warning.

Where possible, Airwars has matched names with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of nearly 7000 victims’ names and ID numbers released on October 26th.

Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strikes to Israeli forces.

The incident occured in the morning.

The victims were named as:

Family members (13)

Maher Dawwas ماهر دواس
56 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 903456275
Youssef Dawwas يوسف دواس
20 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 408769669
Fadi Dawwas فادي دواس
30 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 804526952
Abdel Rahman Dawwas عبد الرحمن دواس
16 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 424565182
Obada Maher Dawwas عبد الله دواس
Age unknown male killed
Noha Abdel Aziz Dawwas نها عبد العزيز دواس
44 years old female killed Matched to MoH ID 903084242
Wife of Yasser Dawwas زوجة ياسر دواس
Adult female killed
Malak Yasser Dawwas ملك دواس
20 years old female killed Matched to MoH ID 408766657
Shahid Yasser Dawwas شهد دواس
16 years old female killed Matched to MoH ID 424705853
Sharaf Dawwas شرف دواس
13 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 429494222
Muhammad Dawwas محمد دواس
11 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 433438686
Yasmin Dawwas ياسمين دواس
Age unknown female killed
Lamya Dawwas لميا دواس
Age unknown female killed

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.

Summary

  • Strike status
    Likely strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian infrastructure
    Residential building
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    15 – 18
  • (4–7 children4–6 women3–4 men1 journalist)
  • Civilians reported injured
    2
  • 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

Sources (34) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (12) [ collapse]

  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Jaser dawwas
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

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

    Source: Moheeb barghoti
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Tamer institute
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: @euromed
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: We Are Not Numbers Report
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: The Palestine Chronicle News
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: @NoraInPalestine
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: @channeldraw
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: The Guardian Report
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

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
    15 – 18
  • (4–7 children4–6 women3–4 men1 journalist)
  • Civilians reported injured
    2
  • 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

Sources (34) [ collapse]