Airwars assessment
On Tuesday, October 17th 2023, at least one young male civilian was reportedly killed, but the precise details of the incident, including location and time, are not yet known.
The victim was identified by friends and family on social media as a 22-year old man named Youssef Naji Fares al-Hayek.
Family member Haya Bashar wrote a message on Facebook announcing the death of his cousin: “I swear to God, I don’t know how to console, what to say, or how to console. God is sufficient for me, and He is the best disposer of affairs 💔💔💔 The son of my cousin Umm Youssef, ‘Youssef Naji Al-Hayek,’ has passed away to the mercy of God Almighty, joining the convoys of martyrs.”
Facebook user Muaamen shared a photo of himself with Youssef, who is depicted taking a selfie of the two of them wearing a light blue polo shirt and a cap smiling toward the camera. The comment reads, “with great sorrow and sadness, and with hearts that believe in God’s will and destiny My friend, the martyr Youssef Al-Hayek, has passed away. May God accept you and make your place in heaven.”
Family members and friends shared many images of the late Youssef on social media where he appears as a young and smiling bearded man and was described as a “pure soul.” In an image shared by Hayek Family he is dressed in a white shirt and is captured against the backdrop of the sea.
While local sources did not identify the belligerent, Airwars has matched the name of the civilian killed with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of fatalities in Gaza released on October 26th, 2023, which explicitly mentions that names on the list are “victims of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.” Therefore, the strike status of this incident has been graded as a single source claim. However, based on the multiple sources reporting on the civilian harm, the civilian harm status has been graded as fair.
The location of the strike is unknown.
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 local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Summary
Sources (14) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (9) [ collapse]
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Source: Mahmud -
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Source: Said -
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Source: Yosuf -
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Source: Hayek Family -
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Source: Ishak -
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Source: Noor.hadedo.9 -
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Source: Naji -
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Source: Muaamen -
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Source: Aljoulani2018