Airwars assessment
On the evening of Sunday, 15 October 2023, five civilian members of the Al-Agha family, all men, were killed in an alleged Israeli strike in the vicinity of their family’s residence in Al-Satar, Al-Sharqi neighbourhood in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza. The sources differed in the description of the nature of the deadly strike. According to Sufyan Akkad’s Facebook post, the victims were attacked by a reconnaissance missile near their house, while Bilal Agha Abu Basem reported that they were assassinated by drones while they were in Harat Al-Ghawanmeh Street in the Al-Satar Al-Sharqi area. Elagha.net reported, however, that the Al-Agha family members were killed in an airstrike.
Hatem Saeed Ghanem Al-Agha, a 61-year old father and his sons – 28-year old Saji Hatem Saeed Al-Agha, and 21-year old Sajid Hatem Saeed Al-Agha – were all reported to have been killed in the attack. Two further family members, 39-year old Fadi Saadi Wasif Al-Agha and 34-year old Hamad Abdul Hamid Muhammad Al-Agha were also killed in the reported strike. The house where the strike occurred belonged to the late Hajj Younis Khamis Al-Agha, according to the Al-Agha family Facebook. Bilal Agha Abu Basem reported that a total of 27 members of the Al-Agha family had been killed up until that point in the conflict.
Multiple posts via Facebook and Twitter from mourning family and friends wrote about the loss of the five family members. Moheeb Elagha mourned in his heartfelt testimony on Facebook the death of his uncle Hamad Abdel Hamid Al-Agha, his father’s uncle Hatem Saeed Al-Agha and his two sons, Saji and Sajid, and friend and lifelong companion Fadi Saadi Al-Agha, writing “By God, the affliction is great, and the eyes shed tears and the heart grieves, and we are saddened by your loss.” He also attached the pictures of the deceased relatives – one of them, a young man, was pictured as a graduate of the Palestine University, and an elderly man was shown in a white taqiyah.
A number of media sources such as Shehab News Agency reported the funeral of the family, and Euronews Arabic posted a photo reportedly showing the funeral and a number of Palestinians gathered to say funeral prayers. Additionally, a video was posted by El-Agha.Net, reporting to show the funeral gathering. El-Agha.Net also reported that prayers were held at 10:00 the following Monday 16th October at Jaafar Mosque in west Khan Yunis and that the family members were buried at Sheikh Omri cemetery.
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 strike to the Israeli military.
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 incident occured in the evening.
The victims were named as:
Family members (5)
Summary
Sources (13) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (17) [ collapse]
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Descendants of the late Faluji Agha -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Descendants of the late Faluji Agha -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Descendants of the late Faluji Agha -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Descendants of the late Faluji Agha -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Descendants of the late Faluji Agha -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Euronews Arabic -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Sufyan Akkad -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Majestic Agha -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Majestic Agha -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Majestic Agha -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Majestic Agha -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Majestic Agha -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: @ShehabAgency -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: @quds_feed/ -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: @quds_feed/ -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: @quds_feed/ -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.