On October 17th 2023, 12 civilians from the same family, including five women and three children, were reportedly killed and an unknown number of others were injured in an alleged Israeli airstrike on the Al-Khawaja family home located in Al-Shaboura refugee camp in central Rafah near Burqa Stadium.

Safa News reported that “more than 10 unarmed civilians” were killed while Alarabiya Palestine identified 12 members of the Al-Khawaja family killed, along with images of their bodies wrapped in white shrouds and the funeral service. According to Aymen abo hatab al hawa, the funeral prayer was carried out at Al-Farouq Mosque in Al-Shaboura Camp and the burial occurred at Sultan Hill Cemetery.

A Facebook post by Musab Mohammad has identified all 12 of the victims. Hassan Mahmoud Al-Khawaja (Abu Ali) and his son, 29 year old Ibrahim Hassan Al Khawaja, were killed in the strike.

Hassan’s brother 54 year old Saber Mahmoud Al-Khawaja, his wife 50 year old Amal Abdul Aziz Al Khawaja and their children, 28 year old Muhammad Saber Al-Khawaja, 23 year old Asmaa Saber Al Khawaja and 20 year old Iman Saber Al Khawaja were also among those killed.

In addition, Hassan’s daughter-in-law 32 year old Walaa Muhammad Al-Khawaja Adwan (wife of Mahmoud Hassan Al-Khawaja) and her daughters 2 year old Sila Mahmoud Hassan Al-Khawaja and 9 year old Sarah Mahmoud Hassan Al-Khawaja were also all killed in the strike.

Hassan’s grandson Khaled Muhammad Fathi Jabr (child, son of Amaal Almahmoud) has also been identified and described as ‘the cutest and sweetest child in the world’ in a Facebook post by user Leqa Al Saadi. Lega’s post added that Khaled was finally born after 5 years of trying, and he had a twin brother named Adam who passed away a few hours after his birth. Khaled is pictured in his school uniform wearing a backpack.

A further Facebook post by Eman abu Koush paid tribute to 30 year old Manal Musa Mustafa Al-Khawaja Abu Armana (wife of Ali Hassan Al-Khawaka) who was among those killed and ‘prayed for mercy for her daughters’.

Multiple sources reported that “injuries” resulted from the strike. However, none provided an exact number of injuries.

The five-floor residential building reportedly provided refuge to families who had been displaced, with one source reporting that over 50 members of the Al-Khawaja were in the building. Images distributed on Facebook capture locals recovering the dead and injured from the rubble.

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.