Geolocation
Airwars assessment
On Sunday, October 15th 2023, four members of the Awaja family were killed, and at least five others, including at least three children, were injured in an alleged Israeli airstrike on a house belonging to the Awaja family on First Street near Al-Asmar Supermarket, in the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood west of the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.
Safa news and Palestine press reported that “A house for the Awaja family in the Tal Al-Sultan neighborhood in Rafah” was bombed, while sources on social media included further details mentioning that the home was located on First Street near Al-Asmar Supermarket, and belonged to Lal Awaja, without specifying if he was among the casualties. Twitter user Hamza al Namla included a video showing rescue efforts at a heavily damaged building, allegedly the bombed home.
Local media including Safa and Shehab Agency reported on the death of two women in the bombing, with Shehab also reporting a total of four deaths and a “large number of injuries” as having been recovered, which was corroborated by the Palestinian Information Center, Wattan, Nabad and New Press. Hani Alshaer, a source online, specified five civilians were injured in the attack, while Muhammad al-Jamal mentioned the names of the two women killed, saying “the martyrdom of two girls, Heba Nafez al-Hams and Shaima Ali Awaja.” Multiple sources on local and social media including the Palestinian Information Center, Shehab Agency, Quds, and al Jazeera shared heartbreaking images of at least three heavily injured young children being treated in a hospital, stating “Children receiving primary care at Al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah following the bombing of a Palestinian family’s home in the Tal Al-Sultan neighborhood.” Sources do not mention the ages of the children, or their relationship to the Awaja family.
Relatives and friends of the Awaja family mourned the deaths on social media, with Basma Ibrahim and Rona Nayef Ali offering condolences to their friend Dina for the death of her unnamed mother, and the the deaths of her sister-in-law Heba Nafez al-Hams, her aunt Ibtisam Awaja, and Ibtisam’s daughter Shaima Awaja. Sources refer to Heba’s husband Muhammad Awaja as a martyr, indicating that he was killed in a previous incident.
All of the names of the civilians killed in the attack have been matched with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of fatalities in Gaza released on October 26th, 2023.
Where sources identified a belligerent, they attributed the strike 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 (3)
Summary
Sources (49) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (76) [ collapse]
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Source: @ShehabAgency -
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Source: @ShehabAgency -
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Source: @ShehabAgency -
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Source: @ShehabAgency -
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Source: @ShehabAgency -
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Source: @ShehabAgency -
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Source: @RaidKaid1 -
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Source: @RaidKaid1 -
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Source: @RaidKaid1 -
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Source: @PalinfoAr -
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Source: @PalinfoAr -
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Source: @PalinfoAr -
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Source: @PalinfoAr -
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Source: @qudsn -
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Source: @qudsn -
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Source: @qudsn -
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Source: @qudsn -
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Source: Selma Bén'aâ -
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Source: Muhammad Madani -
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Source: Muhammad Madani -
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Source: Muhammad Madani -
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Source: Muhammad Madani -
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Source: Muhammad Madani -
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Source: Muhammad Madani -
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Source: Muhammad Madani -
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Source: Qena -
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Source: Qena -
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Source: Qena -
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Source: @paldf -
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Source: @paldf -
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Source: @paldf -
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Source: @paldf -
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Source: @RaouedJebali -
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Source: Warda Hebat Al-Rahman -
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Source: Warda Hebat Al-Rahman -
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Source: Warda Hebat Al-Rahman -
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Source: Warda Hebat Al-Rahman -
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Source: Warda Hebat Al-Rahman -
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Source: Warda Hebat Al-Rahman -
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Source: Alhadas -
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Source: Alhadas -
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Source: Alhadas -
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Source: Alhadas -
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Source: Alhadas -
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Source: Alhadas -
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Source: Alhadas -
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Source: Mohamed Ait Larbi -
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Source: Mohamed Ait Larbi -
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Source: Mohamed Ait Larbi -
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Source: Mohamed Ait Larbi -
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Source: Mohamed Ait Larbi -
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Source: Mohamed Ait Larbi -
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Source: Al Jazeera -
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Source: Al Jazeera -
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Source: Al Jazeera -
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Source: Al Jazeera -
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Source: Al Jazeera -
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Source: Al Jazeera -
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Source: Warda Al Qasimi -
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Source: Warda Al Qasimi -
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Source: Warda Al Qasimi -
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Source: Warda Al Qasimi -
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Source: Warda Al Qasimi -
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Source: Mahmoud Soboh -
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Source: Mahmoud Soboh -
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Source: Mahmoud Soboh -
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Source: Mahmoud Soboh -
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Source: Mahmoud Soboh -
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Source: Mahmoud Soboh -
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Source: Abdul Rahman Hamada -
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Source: Abdul Rahman Hamada -
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Source: Abdul Rahman Hamada -
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Source: Abdul Rahman Hamada -
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Source: Abdul Rahman Hamada -
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Source: Abdul Rahman Hamada -
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Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the vicinity of al Asmar Supermarket (سوبر ماركت الاسمر) to the west of Rafah (رفح), for which the generic coordinates are: 31.307887 34.239218. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.