Geolocation
Airwars assessment
A father and his four sons were killed in an alleged Israeli airstrike on their home in the al-Geneina neighbourhood in Rafah at dawn on 21 October 2023: father 60-year-old Samir al-Kurd, and his sons 40-year old Tamer Samir al-Kurd, 33-year-old Sami Samir al-Kurd, 32-year-old Hisham Samir Rajab al-Kurd, and a fourth son whose name has not been identified. News platform Alwatan Voice reported that the victims “were found under the rubble” following the strike.
Friends and family took to social media to mourn the victims, including Yahya Muhammad al-Balbis, Ahmed al-Karnaz Abu Karam, Ahmed Jaafar al-Kurd, as well as Abu Khaled al-Ashqar, who remembered his “esteemed friend, brother, and colleague, Tamer al-Kurd,” and spoke of their “years at the same table in school and years of friendship and brotherhood… Oh heartache.” Abdul Rahman Adnan al-Hams shared a photo with Hisham and indicated he was survived by his wife, referring to her as “Lulu,” writing: “The eyes shed tears and the heart grieves, and we are saddened by your departure. My brother-in-law, the martyr: Hisham Samir al-Kurd (Abu Malik) (…) We ask God to strengthen your heart, my beloved sister Lulu and to give us patience over the loss of our dearly beloved Abu Malik.”
Photos shared by news platform Palestine Post showed the extent of destruction by the airstrike, with the family home reduced to rubble. No public sources claimed that any of the men were not civilians.
Airwars has matched all of the names with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of nearly 7000 victims’ names and ID numbers released on October 26th.
Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strikes 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 incident occured around dawn.
The victims were named as:
Family members (5)
Summary
Sources (12) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (13) [ collapse]
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Source: Palestine -
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Source: Palestine -
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Source: Palestine -
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Source: a. Ahmed Al-Karnaz Abu Karam -
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Source: Abdul Rahman Adnan Al-Hams -
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Source: Abu Khaled Al-Ashqar -
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Source: Abu Khaled Al-Ashqar -
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Source: Yahya Muhammad Al-Balbisi -
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Source: @16_gouda -
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Source: @16_gouda -
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Source: @16_gouda -
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Source: @16_gouda -
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Source: Ahmed Jaafar Al-Kurd
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the neighbourhood of al Geneina (الجنينة), to the east of Rafah (رفح). Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further. The generic coordinates for al Geneina are: 31.296461, 34.243759 .