Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

ISPT0347

Incident date

October 18, 2023

Location

منزل لعائلة "أبو شمالة" في منطقة العلمي بمخيم جباليا شمال غزة, house for the “Abu Shamala” family in the Al-Alami area of Jabalia camp, North Gaza, the Gaza Strip

Airwars assessment

On 18th October 2023, four members of the Abu Shamala family, two women and two children, were killed and others were wounded by an alleged Israeli bombardment in the Al-Alami area of Jabalia camp.

Facebook posts from relatives have identified 20-year-old Saba Muhammad Daher as killed in the strike, with one relative describing Saba as a “flower.” A video of Saba’s father, Dr. Mohammed Doher receiving the news while working in the Indonesian hospital in the Northern Gaza Strip, has been circulated on Twitter by user @Shehabagency. On Facebook, Uday Abu Shamala referred to her as “Dr. Saba Dhaher,” meaning she may have been following in her father’s footsteps.

Alongside Saba, 50-year old Hanaa Abu Shamala, her daughter 16-year old Maha Abu Shamala and her granddaughter 3-year old Beirut Muhammad Abu Shamala were also reportedly killed in the strike.

Safa News quoted the Ministry of Interior who reported that in addition to those killed, there were wounded, but did not specify how many.

Airwars has matched the names of all of the civilians 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”. Along with one other source that attributed the strike to Israeli forces, this incident has been graded as a likely strike.

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:

Family members (3)

Hanaa Abu Shamala هناء ابو شمالة
50 years old female killed Matched to MoH ID 935342832
Maha Abu Shamala مها ابو شمالة
16 years old female killed Matched to MoH ID 422110502
Beirut Muhammad Abu Shamala بيروت محمد ابو شمالة
3 years old female killed Matched to MoH ID 445222177

The victims were named as:

Saba Muhammad Daher صبا محمد ظاهر
20 years old female killed Matched to MoH ID 409814563

Summary

  • Strike status
    Likely strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Civilian infrastructure
    IDP or refugee camp
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    4
  • (2 children2 women)
  • Civilians reported injured
    2
  • 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 attacker
    Israeli Military

Sources (11) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (2) [ collapse]

  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Ghadeer Aljamal
  • 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
  • Civilian infrastructure
    IDP or refugee camp
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    4
  • (2 children2 women)
  • Civilians reported injured
    2
  • 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 attacker
    Israeli Military

Sources (11) [ collapse]