Shortly before 4:50 AM on October 21, 2023, four civilians, including two children, were killed and a number of civilians were injured by an alleged Israeli airstrike on the al-Hanawi family home located in the Al-Saftawi area in the northern Gaza Strip.

61-year-old Hamdi Al-Hanawi, was killed along with his son, 35-year-old Hassan Al-Hanawi, and his two granddaughters, Hasan’s daughters – one-year-old Asia Hassan Hamdi Al-Hanawi and six-year-old Sarah Hassan Hamdi Al-Hanawi. Several sources, including the Shehab Agency, reported injuries, but the overall number of injured remains unknown at the time of writing.

Relatives and friends mourned their losses on social media. Mohammad Lubbad, a nephew, spoke of his grief at the loss of his uncle. Describing Hamdi as “dear to our hearts,” he attached prayers for his family and included a photograph of Hamdi, a middle-aged man in a white T-shirt and white jacket.

Facebook user Muhanad Ahmed remembered his “dear neighbor” Hamdi al-Hanawi. Also on Facebook, user “Reform Man Abu Hamza” mourned the loss of “the son of a lifelong friend and a good and beloved neighbor.”

User Ghazal Hijazi, the cousin of Hamdi’s wife Hoda, wrote a condolence post for the family, where she stated that her cousin was “protected by Abu Hassan [Hamdi] al-Hanawi.”

Pictures of the burial were also circulated on social media: Hamdi can be seen wrapped in a body bag, and small bundles–the children–were pictured alongside.

All of the names have been matched with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of fatalities in Gaza released on October 26th, 2023.

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