At dawn on Tuesday, October 17th 2023, between 23 and 27 members of the Sabah family including at least seven women, 10 children, and an infant were killed, and many others, including displaced civilians and at least five children, were injured in an alleged Israeli airstrike on the Sabah family home in the Jourat al-Lout area of Khan Yunis, the Gaza Strip.

Sources on social media reported on the alleged strike, with Twitter/X user @Sorita921 stating that “27 martyrs from the Sabah family died at dawn today”, attributing the strike to Israeli forces, and reporting that there were “still missing people under the rubble.” This information was echoed across other social media users and pages, with @mohammed_jbour adding that “until now, they have not been able to get the rest of them out from under the rubble. @Jales_tinian2 termed the alleged strike as “the Sabah family massacre”, further adding that “many martyrs are still under the rubble”, while @al39e_q8 posted “this one family was gone in minutes. Do you like the situation there now?” User Ataya posted “Caravans of martyrs do not pass in vain. What passes is tyranny…22 martyrs from my Al Sabah family”, while Khaled posted “Goodbye, our loved ones, goodbye. The light of my eyes is a martyr.”

Facebook user Mahmud shared videos and images of rescue efforts at the location of the alleged bombing, with rescue workers and locals carrying dismembered remains of those killed into ambulances, adding a caption listing names of those killed and stating “Many martyrs are still under the rubble, and many of the displaced martyrs are there. We do not know their names, nor did we recognize them because their bodies and heads were mutilated and torn apart.”

On Facebook, user Zadulmotageen shared a video of four injured individuals, crying children and an injured infant being rushed into a hospital, and listed the names of those killed, adding: “many martyrs are still under the rubble, including displaced people.”

Relatives and other sources on social media shared the names of 23 of those killed from the family. The grandfather Mansour Abdel Sabah (66), the grandmother Samira Madi Sabah, their sons Hamada Mansour Sabah (41) and Kamal Mansour Sabah (44), their daughters Safaa Mansour Sabah (38), Rafif Mansour Sabah (11), Yaqeen Mansour Sabah, Israa Mansour Sabah (26), Maysoon Mansour Sabah, and Aya Mansour Sabah (30).

Also killed were Hamada Mansour Sabah’s wife Abeer Mustafa Alian al-Masry Sabah (32), their son Mansour Hamada Mansour Sabah (10), and their daughters Jana Hamada Mansour Sabah (7) and Ghazal Hamada Mansour Sabah (11).

Apart from these, relatives also listed Kamal Mansour Sabah’s wife Samah Sabah (39), and their children – their sons Saleh Kamal Mansour Sabah (16), Muhammad Kamal Mansour Sabah (11), Abdel Aziz Kamal Mansour Sabah, and their daughters Nour Kamal Mansour Sabah (9), Jannat Kamal Mansour Sabah (14) and Aseel Kamal Mansour Sabah.  Also killed was the infant child Al-Bara’ Muhammad Samir Abu T’aimeh (1) and Maha Suleiman Atta Sabah (52).

Facebook user Mahrous.teama.96 shared an image of a wounded child, Omar Mahmoud Abu T’aimeh the son of Aya Mansour Sabah, with the caption “Thank God, Omar is fine, thank God. My heart was wracked with sadness and my conscience was filled with pain that had never been experienced before. Praise be to God for his blessings.” On the same day, another Facebook user Muhammad shared a video of the severely injured child Omar, wrapped in bloodstained bandages, being comforted by two other wounded children at the hospital.

Muhammad, a surviving relative of the family, shared a photo collage of his relatives that were killed – smiling children, young men and elderly alike – with the caption “My martyred family to the highest gardens of paradise. Let the unjust world see the crime…..an entire family erased from the civil registry.” Belal Sabah, brother to Samah Sabah, posted a tribute to his sister and her family who were killed, as well as his uncle Mansour Sabah and his family, stating “Go to heaven, to the gardens of eternity…We belong to God and to Him we shall return. Praise be to God and survival belongs to God” and sharing an image of a smiling young boy, presumably one of Samah and Kamal’s children who were killed.

The Ihsan al-Agha Secondary School for Girls, where Kamal Sabah used to work, expressed their condolences for the deaths in the Sabah family in a post on their Facebook page stating “the family of Ihsan al-Agha Secondary School for Girls, represented by its director, Dr. Abu Salem’s prayer for condolences and sympathy from the honorable Sabah family. The employee Kamal Sabah (Abu Saleh) and his family were martyred in a bombing (on) his house this morning.” A tribute posted by Nono1478 stated “Oh God, loss is an ember that only patience can extinguish after your mercy. My sweetheart, my sister and my soul, the martyr Samah Abdel Aziz Sabah. The beloved of my heart and the joy of my soul, my life, my aunt….An entire family, 25 martyrs, bodyless pieces….Goodbye, my dear ones.”

Airwars has matched the names of 19 of the civilians killed with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of fatalities in Gaza released on October 26th, 2023.

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 around dawn.