On Friday, October 20th 2023, 15 civilians from three generations of the same family were killed and others were reportedly injured when an alleged Israeli airstrike hit the Abu Sharia family house in the Al Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City. The incident also caused “massive destruction” to the area according to a report by Wattan news agency.

New agencies such as Al Jazeera, Shehab Agency, Al Wattan and Safa News reported the alleged Israeli air strike on the house. All of these sources reported that the incident was caused by Israeli Military aircraft. Al Arabiya Palestine also posted a video of the bombing on Facebook and Al Jazeera posted a video of its aftermath on Facebook, with civilians moving around the rubble and fires still burning. According to a post from Alkataweta Family Boys Gathering, the home belonged to the late Hajj Abdul Karim Abu Sharia “Abu Tafesh”.

A post on a Qatatawa family Facebook page originally reported that seven people had been killed and that rescue crews were still searching in the rubble for other family members. Another source, Ramzi Alhasayna, later reported in a post on Facebook that 13 people had been killed and that crews continued to search for more victims. Multiple sources described victims having been buried under rubble. Altogether, Airwars identified 15 names of victims that were reported as killed in this incident.

The official Qatatawa Youth League Facebook page posted the names of the family members killed, including pictures of some of the family members killed. 56 year old Ahmed Abdul Karim Abu Sharia (also known as Abu Aram or Abu Nidal) was killed alongside his brother, 48 year old Jamil Abdul Karim Abu Sharia (also known as Abu Khaldoun), and Jamil’s adult sons, 26 year old Khaldoun Jamil Abu Sharia and Malik Jamil Abu Sharia and his young daughter 13 year old Raneen Jamil Abu Sharia. A male family member called Ibrahim Muhammad Abdel Karim Abu Sharia, 25 years old, was also killed.

Three female family members called 54 year old Maryam Attia Abu Sharia, Nisreen Suleiman Al-Hasayna and 28 year old Manar Muhammad Shehada Abu Sharia were killed. Sources did not clarify how they were related to other family members. Another two female family members called Maryam Ibrahim Abdel Aziz Abu Sharia and Noura Abdel Aziz Abu Sharia were killed. One source, Fayek Abu Aker, posted an image on Facebook of Ahmed and Jamil, with text overlaid, reporting that they had died alongside their wives and various family members. Therefore, it is possible that their wives are amongst the victims listed above, however this cannot be confirmed.

Four grandchildren of the family were reportedly killed; a set of young brothers, two year old Omar Bashir Abdul Karim Abu Sharia and Ahmed Bashir Abdul Karim Abu Sharia as well as two sisters, Dana Muhammad Ibrahim Attia Abu Sharia and two year old Basma Muhammad Ibrahim Attia Abu Sharia.

Family members and friends, in multiple Facebook and Twitter/X posts, lamented the deaths of the family members, made heartfelt tributes and posted pictures of them from before the incident. The Abu Sharia family comes from the Qatatawa tribe and some of the tribute appeared on Facebook groups of clan members. The related Abu Akar or Al-Akour tribe also expressed their condolences in a post on their Facebook page. Mohammed Al-Rawaak Abu Shehab described Jamil Abu Sharia as a brother, friend and companion and posted a photo in which Jamil had his arm around him and they were smiling. A video posted on Facebook by Abu Mehdi Abu Sehlol showed Jamil smiling while he sat eating at an event with dancing lights around him. A post on an Abu Sharia family Facebook page showed pictures of Ahmed, Jamil, Khaldoun, Malik and Ibrahim while they were alive as well as another picture of two small smiling children, possibly Omar and Ahmed. A picture of Ibrahim posted on Facebook by Jarad Mohammed showed him standing in a field and laughing.

Multiple sources reported that “injuries” had resulted from the strike but did not provide a toll.

A family member called Ramzi Alhasayna reported in a post about the incident on Facebook that the Al-Hasayna Abu Sharia family had refused to leave their home and that crews continued to search for family members under the rubble. Another source, Abo Abdullah, reported in a post on Facebook that the incident had taken place without prior warning.

Where possible, the names of the victims identified in the sources have been reconciled with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of fatalities published on October 26, 2023.

Where sources identified a belligerent, all sources attributed the strike to Israeli Forces.

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.