Airwars assessment
At least 92 civilians, including 40 children and 28 women, were killed and at least 13 others were injured by a declared Israeli airstrike on the Bureij camp in the centre of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, October 17, 2023. The strike targeted and killed Ayman Nofal, a security and intelligence leader in Hamas also known as Abu Ahmed, and another militant named Hamed Al-Qarnawi.
On October 9th, 2024 the Airwars Investigations Unit, along with Sky News, published an investigation geolocating and matching airstrike footage released by the Israeli military with incidents in the Airwars archive. In total, Airwars’ team identified 17 strikes leading to civilian harm from the first month of the war, of which the Israeli military itself had published footage. This strike was among the 17.
Al Mughari family
Surviving members of the family, including Sami Mughari and Hani Mughari, documented the names of members of the Mughari who were killed.
The elderly patriarch of the family, 87-year-old, Ramadan Al Mughari was killed along with his son 62-year-old Nayef Ramadan Al Mughari, 59-year-old Dr. Ahmed Ramadan Al Mughari (Abu Ramadan), and 57-year-old Nafez Ramadan Al Mughari and his daughter 54-year-old Nihad Ramadan Al Mughari (Al-Helou).
Dr. Ahmed’s 1st wife Manal Al Mughari and his 2nd wife 51-year-old Hanaa Al Mughari, along with Ahmed’s daughters Shaimaa Ahmed Ramadan Al Mughari and 6-year-old Alaa Ahmed Ramadan Al Mughari were killed, along with Nihad’s sons 34-year-old Ahmed Al-Helou and 18-year-old Mohammed Al-Helou and Nihad’s daughter, 14-year-old Mayar Al-Helou.
Nafez’s wife 51-year-old Wafaa Ali Al Mughari was also killed, with their sons 11-year-old Mohammed Nafez Ramadan Al Mughari, 8-year-old Abdullah Nafez Ramadan Al Mughari, and Bilal Nafez Ramadan Al Mughari, as well as Bilal’s son (likely 3-year-old Osama Bilal Nafez Maghari based on a familial name match). Nafez’s daughter 20-year-old Maria Nafez Ramadan Al Mughari, Nafez’s daughter in law Yasmin and her son Osama Al Mughari, along with Nafez’s grandchildren Abdullah Al Mughari, Anas Al Mughari, and Aya Al Mughari were also killed.
65-year-old Jihad Ibrahim Al Mughari, 67-year-old Inshirah Abdullah Al Mughari, Linda Al Mughari (likely 38-year-old Linda Jihad Ibrahim Hassan, daughter of Jihad) Linda’s daughter, Jihad’s daughter 26-year-old Yasmine Jihad Ibrahim Al Mughari were killed, in addition to Shaimaa Dabban Al Mughari (wife of Ibrahim), her daughter, and her son.
The 48-year-old brother of Jihad, Ziad Ibrahim Al Mughari, was also killed along with his wife Intisal Abdel Fattah Al Mughari and their four children (likely includes 10-year-old Ellen Ziad Ibrahim Al Mughari, 12-year-old Qusay Ziad Ibrahim Al Mughari, 15-year-old Ahmed Ziyad Ibrahim Al Mughari based on familial name matches).
36-year-old Khaled Mohammed Al Mughari, his wife, and their three children (likely includes 5-year-old Mohammed Khaled Mohammed Al Mughari, 13-year-old Ghazal Khaled Mohammed Al Mughari, and 14-year-old Rahaf Khaled Mohammed Al Mughari based on familial name matches) were killed. 32-year-old Moawia Mohammed Al Mughari, Khaled’s brother, was also killed, in addition to Moawia’s wife.
63-year-old Ataf Al-Khalidi Al Mughari (Ummm Tariq) and her daughter were killed, in addition to 48-year-old Mohammed Shaaban Al Mughari, Omar Mohammed Al Mughari’s wife and her two children, and Tariq Mohammed Al Mughari’s wife and her four children (likely includes 3-year-old Azad Tariq Mohammed Al Mughari, 4-year-old Taghrid Tariq Mohammed Al Mughari, 6-year-old Razan Tariq Mohammed Al Mughari, based on familial name matches).
Sami Mughari, a surviving son of Ramadan, posted that “Today I bid farewell to a group of my family, my beloved father, my older brother Nayef, my sister Umm Ahmed, and her children, and the rest are still under the rubble” and in another post included a picture of himself with his father Ramadan and his sister Nihad. Sami also posted that “nothing remained of my childhood but rubble” and that “about 50 members of my family are under the rubble”.
Hani Mughari, another surviving son of Ramadan, posted images of himself with his elderly father Ramadan along with images of his brothers Nayef, Dr. Ahmed, and Nafez. Hani also posted a hand-drawn family tree with the caption “I had no choice but to draw this structure to count my family’s losses” which was used to identify additional victims in the Mughari family.
Eid family
Posts from Mohamed N Safi, Balsam Hamalawi, Moataz Abu Oady, and Adham Eid provided the names of 16 members of the Eid family who were killed in the strike.
Elderly Ibrahim Hussein Eid was killed, along with his 64-year-old wife Hiam Abdel Aziz Eid and their children, daughter 25-year-old Dr. Areej Ibrahim Hussein Eid, their sons 41-year-old Haitham Ibrahim Hussein Eid and 34-year-old Ahmed Ibrahim Hussein Eid, and their daughter in law Sefinaz Kamel Shahada.
Haitham’s wife, 38-year-old Hiba Ali Abu Rahma, was also killed, along with their children Mahmoud Haitham Ibrahim Eid, Ismail Haitham Ibrahim Eid, Khaled Haitham Ibrahim Eid, Maria Haitham Ibrahim Eid, and Maryam Haitham Ibrahim Eid, all aged 14-years-old (and therefore likely quintuplets). Ahmed’s two daughters, 8-year-old Hiam Ahmed Ibrahim Eid and Mira Ahmed Ibrahim Eid, were both killed, in addition to Sefinaz’s daughter 16-year-old Rahaf Adham Ibrahim Eid and her son Muhammad Adham Ibrahim Eid.
Balsam Hamalawi posted a condolence message for her “sister and friend” the dentist Dr. Areej Ibrahim Hussein Eid, adding that Areej was “supposed to be married this month of this year. [She] is a girl who loves life, beautiful in character and morals, creative, always special, talking about her will not stop, I promise you, Areej. [She] has been my friend since we were 9 years old, last month, Arej turned 25.” Balsam also posted a picture of Areej in her dental uniform with a graduation cap.
Adham Eid, brother of Haitham and Ahmed, posted a condolence message to the 16 members of his family who were killed, asking for any other friends or family to get in contact if they have unsettled debts with any of the victims. Adham also posted that 11 days after the strike, they were still searching for bodies under the rubble, along with a video of a digger searching through a massive crater, surrounded by destroyed buildings and rubble. Six months later, Adham announced that he had finally “received these old papers and documents and a handful of dirt from the rubble of my house” with an image of multiple bags filled with papers. On May 8th, the birthday of his son Muhammad Adham Ibrahim Eid who was killed in the strike, Adham wrote “Today is the birthday of my martyred son, the son of my heart, Muhammad” with “pictures [that] were taken a year ago” of Muhammad with family members celebrating his birthday with a cake.
A post from “Al Bureij brings us together” mourned Ahmed Eid and Hamed Al-Qarnawi (listed below), adding that “they lived together and rose together” along with images of Ahmed and Hamed.
Jalambo family
39-year-old Mohammed Omar Jalambo, his wife, and his 71-year-old mother Hayat Musa Jalambo were killed, along with Mohammed and his wife’s six children, three girls and three boys. Through familial name matches Airwars identified the names of six of Mohammed’s children likely killed in this incident: 2-year-old Mustafa Mohammed Omar Jalambo, 7-year-old Batoul Mohammed Omar Jalambo, 9-year-old Tala Mohammed Omar Jalambo, 10-year-old Bilal Mohammed Omar Jalambo, 11-year-old Omar Mohammed Omar Jalambo, and 13-year-old Hayat Mohammed Omar Jalambo.
A post from the Al Bureij camp page mourned Mohammed, his wife, his mother, and their six children “3 girls and 3 boys” with images of the parents and children, and the elderly grandmother.
Al Quds Open University offered condolences to their colleague Dr. Hisham Jalambo for the death of “his mother, brother, brother’s wife and their children” during the bombing of Bureij, adding “mercy to the martyrs, healing to the wounded”.
Badran family
Najah Al-Batran was killed along with her six children: daughters Howayda Badran, 18-year-old Malak Badran, 17-year-old Noura Badran, 13-year-old Menatallah Badran, and 5-year-old Mira Badran, and 11-year-old Saleh Badran.
A post from “Al Bureij brings us together” mourned the roll of Najah and her children from “Block 10” along with images of young girls and boys – it is unclear who the young boys are, as all of Najah’s named children were girls.
Al Khatib family
Four members of the Al Khatib family were also killed, and their names/identifies were documented by Umm Malik Saleh. 51-year-old Mohammed Al Khatib (Abu Anas) was killed along with his wife Umm Anas, their daughter 20-year-old Afnan Mohammed Al Khatib, and Diaa Al Khatib’s wife Umm Osama.
Umm Malik Saleh posted a condolence message for her cousin Abu Anas, his wife, his daughter, and the wife of her cousin Diaa Al Khatib, adding “The heart is saddened and the eyes shed tears over your departure” and wishing patience to “Ansam Alkhateeb”, likely another family member related to the deceased. Journalist Adel Zaarab also reported on the deaths of member of the Al Khatib family, along with an image of Abu Anas, Umm Anas, and Afnan.
Additional victim
7-year-old Zain Al-Din Nahed Al-Nabahin was killed, and his name was found among a list of victims provided by Mohamed N Safi.
A Facebook post from Galal Al Haddad reported that “Medics provide treatment to a number of injured people in Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital after their home in Bureij camp was bombed” along with images. Among the images, at least eight injured children, two injured women, and three injured men can be seen being treated in the hospital. Multiple images also show the body of a deceased toddler being carried to the hospital and laid out on a white blanket.
According to Noureldin Mahmoud, the bombing occurred while at least one of the victims was “waiting for lunch”, indicating that it occurred midday.
Militants killed
Ayman Nofal was a member of the General Military Council of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the commander of the Central Governorate Brigade and a close associate of Commander Marwan Issa, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Al-Qassam Brigades. According to Al-Jazeera, Nofal was fourth on the Israeli Military’s list of targets for assassination. His death was confirmed by a post on the Al-Qassam Brigades’ Telegram account.
In April 2024, the Israeli magazine 972 reported that to kill Nofal the army had “authorised the killing of approximately 300 civilians, destroying several buildings in airstrikes on Al-Bureij refugee camp on Oct. 17, based on an imprecise pinpointing of Nofal.”
Only one other militant was confirmed killed – another fighter in Hamas’s military wing named Hamed Al-Qarnawi.
In a post on Facebook, Avichay Adraee, the head of the Arab media division of the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, declared that “IDF warplanes, under joint guidance with the Shin Bet, liquidated one of the most prominent Hamas leaders, Ayman Nofal” and claimed that Nofal “directed numerous terrorist attacks against Israel and the security forces, and directed missile launches, with special guidance to target areas populated by Israeli civilians.” The IDF also published reconnaissance footage of the strike, which was reposted by some of the sources documenting the resulting civilian harm.
Al-Jazeera reported that Ayman Nofal had been arrested and detained by Israeli Forces three times in 1991 and once by the Palestinian Authority in 1997. Another source, Bãjãli Nãîf, reported in a post on Facebook that Nofal participated in the 2006 kidnapping of an IDF soldier, Gilad Shalit, as well as being involved in the development and production of weapons.
Multiple sources reported that, after an incident in 2008 at the Rafah crossing, Nofal was arrested by the Egyptian authorities for possession of a weapon and reportedly was detained for three and a half years without official charge before taking advantage of the political chaos of the Arab Spring uprisings and escaping from Al-Marj prison in Egypt in January 2011 to return to the Gaza Strip.
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, with some additional names reconciled with lists released later.
The incident occured around midday.
The victims were named as:
Family members (55)
Family members (16)
Family members (9)
Family members (7)
Family members (4)
The victims were named as:
Geolocation notes (1) [ collapse]
Reports of the incident mention Bureij camp (مخيم البريج). Analysing audio-visual material from sources, we have narrowed the location down to the following exact coordinates: 31.442210, 34.399977. The Airwars team matched these exact coordinates to a screenshot taken at 0:00 of the strike video shared by the IDF to Twitter/X (see strike reports below).
Summary
Sources (90) [ collapse]
Media
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Israeli Military Assessment:
Original strike reports
We just eliminated Ayman Nofal, a senior Hamas operative.
Nofal was the Commander of Hamas’ Central Brigade in Gaza and the former Head of Military Intelligence.
Nofal directed many attacks against Israeli civilians and besides being one of the most dominant figures in the terrorist organization, he was involved in the planning of the abduction of Gilad Shalit.
We won't stop until we eliminate Hamas.