Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

ISPT0245

Incident date

October 16, 2023

Location

Hamad Town, Khan Younis, the Gaza Strip

Geolocation

31.375589, 34.317638 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Neighbourhood/area level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

At approximately midnight on October 16th, 2023, at least one civilian, a young man, was killed, and four others were injured in an alleged Israeli airstrike on a residential apartment in Hamad town, Khan Yunis, the Gaza strip.

Initial reportage from Shehab Agency stated a ‘number of casualties’ as a result of the bombing, with a later update from Shehab specifying that there were at least ‘one martyr and a number of injuries.’ The Palestine Information Center noted that the building bombed belonged to the Abu Shawish family, and that a ‘young man was martyred and several injuries have been recovered until this moment’ while Al-Sharq News reported that the strike resulted in the death of a Palestinian and the injury of four others.

One of the images showed a specific apartment in a particular block in Hamad town had been struck. A tweet from @aboodka_04 identified the names of those killed and injured. 18-year-old Ahmed Anwar Ahmed Abu Shawish was killed and 14-year-old Muhammad Anwar Ahmed Abu Shawish, 24-year-old Rami Anwar Ahmed Abu Shawish, 17-year-old Bahaa Anwar Ahmed Abu Shawish, and 44-year-old Ibtisam Ibrahim Abu Shawish were injured. There was no publicly available information to indicate any of them were militants.

A post from Khaled Ali Goevel included a condolence message for Ahmed Anwar Ahmed Abu Shawish, who was a former student, and included an image of them both from an honours ceremony. Ahmed’s father Anwar and brother Mahmoud both posted condolence messages as well, with Anwar describing his son as “you were always smiling in your life, never leave your smile.”

Hamad Housing specified the location of the strike as a high floor in tower E5 in Hamad residential city. According to Arab Events, the body of the young man who was killed arrived at Nasser Medical Complex.

Airwars has matched Ahmed’s name 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 strike to Israeli forces. According to Anwar Abu Shawish, whose son Ahmed was killed, the strike occurred without warning.

The incident occured at approximately 12:00 am local time.

The victims were named as:

Family members (5)

Muhammad Anwar Ahmed Abu Shawish محمد انور احمد ابو شاويش
14 years old male injured
Rami Anwar Ahmed Abu Shawish ورامى انور احمد ابو شاويش
24 years old male injured
Bahaa Anwar Ahmed Abu Shawish بهاء انور احمد ابو شاويش
17 years old male injured
Ibtisam Ibrahim Abu Shawish ابتسام ابراهيم ابو شاويش
44 years old male injured
Ahmed Anwar Ahmed Abu Shawish احمد انور احمد ابو شاويش
18 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 422492850

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the area of Hamad Town (الشجاعي) to the north of Khan Younis (خان يونس). Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further. The generic coordinates for Hamad Town are: 31.375589, 34.317638.

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Summary

  • Strike status
    Likely strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Infrastructure
    Apartment Building
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    1
  • (1 man)
  • Civilians reported injured
    4
  • 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 (36) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (19) [ collapse]

  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

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

    Source: @az_za98
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Khaled Ali Goevel
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Hamad Housing
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

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

    Source: Alaa Abu Shawish
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Alaa Abu Shawish
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Nadeem Mohammed
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Mohammed Abu Shawish
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Mohammed Abu Shawish
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

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

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

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

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

    Source: Mahmoud Anwer
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Anwar Abu Shawish
  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

  • 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
  • Infrastructure
    Apartment Building
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    1
  • (1 man)
  • Civilians reported injured
    4
  • 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 (36) [ collapse]