Civilian Casualties

Civilian Casualties

Incident Code

ISPT0354

Incident date

October 18, 2023

Location

تل الهوى, Tal al Hawa, Gaza, the Gaza Strip

Geolocation

31.498611, 34.442500 Note: The accuracy of this location is to Neighbourhood/area level. Continue to map

Airwars assessment

On October 18th 2023, between five and seven members of the al-Halaw family, including at least three children and at least one woman were killed, and a large number of civilians were injured in an alleged airstrike by the Israeli military on the al-Halaw home, on Street 8 in the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood near the University College in Gaza.

Initial reportage from the Palestinian Information Center and Shehab Agency stated that there were “Martyrs and wounded in the bombing…on a house for the al-Halaw family.” In three separate Facebook posts, relatives of the al-Halaw family mourned the loss of Umm al-Abd al-Halaw’s sons who died, confirming the names of four victims killed in the alleged airstrike – the brothers Abdel Haleem Bashir al-Halaw (40), Fajr Abdel Halim Bashir al-Halaw, Imad Bashir al-Halaw and Imad’s wife Yousry al-Halaw. They added that “a large number [of injured] were taken to hospital” with no specfic details or numbers of the injured mentioned

A day later, on October 19th 2023, Abdel Halim Bashir al-Halaw’s brother-in-law Hamade al-Halaw expressed his pain in a Facebook post and posted a picture of Abdel, a clean shaven middle-aged man smiling in a suit. The post also named Abdel’s son Mu’tasim Billah al-Halaw (11) as having been killed in the alleged strike, as well as Imad and Yousry’s unnamed children, further stating that “the rest of the family members are injured or missing, buried under the rubble, points to other injured family members, trapped under the rubble or missing altogether after their house in the Tal Al-Hawa area was bombed” – however the number of missing or injured have not been specified.

Airwars has matched the names of some 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”. Therefore, coupled with the explicit attribution of the strike by one source to Israel, this incident has been graded as a “Likely Strike”, and the Civilian Harm grading is “Fair”.

Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strikes to Israeli forces.

The local time of the incident is unknown.

The victims were named as:

Abdel Haleem Bashir al-Halaw عبد الحليم بشير الحلو
40 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 800019234
Fajr Abdel Halim Bashir al-Halaw فجر عبد الحليم بشير الحلو
Age unknown killed
Imad Bashir al-Halaw عماد بشير الحلو
Age unknown killed
Yousry al-Halaw يسري الحلو
36 years old female killed Matched to MoH ID 800617474
Mu'tasim Billah al-Halaw المعتصم بالله الحلو
11 years old male killed Matched to MoH ID 433196722

Geolocation notes

Reports of the incident mention the neighbourhood of Tal al Hawa (تل الهوى) to the south of Gaza city (غزة). Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further. The generic coordinates for Tal al Hawa are: 31.498611, 34.442500.

Summary

  • Strike status
    Likely strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Infrastructure
    Residential
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    5 – 7
  • (1–3 children1 woman3 men)
  • Civilians reported injured
    12–24
  • 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 belligerent
    Israeli Military

Sources (9) [ collapse]

Media
from sources (1) [ collapse]

  • This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.

    Source: Hamade Al-Helu

Israeli Military Assessment:

  • Suspected belligerent
    Israeli Military
  • Israeli Military position on incident
    Not yet assessed

Summary

  • Strike status
    Likely strike
  • Strike type
    Airstrike
  • Infrastructure
    Residential
  • Civilian harm reported
    Yes
  • Civilians reported killed
    5 – 7
  • (1–3 children1 woman3 men)
  • Civilians reported injured
    12–24
  • 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 belligerent
    Israeli Military

Sources (9) [ collapse]