Airwars assessment
On October 21, 2023, an alleged Israeli airstrike killed 34-year-old Islam Omar Al Ashqar, a Dutch citizen and wife of Palestinian journalist Khaled Al Ashqar, and injured Haya Al Ashqar and Sham Al Ashqar, Islam and Khaled’s daughters, and Umm Hadi Al Ashqar, Islam’s mother, in the Nuseirat refugee camp in Deir al Balah, Gaza.
Momen Al Ashqar, a cousin of Islam Omar Al Ashqar, reported that all of his mother’s family was injured by the strike that killed his relative. Images posted by Hosam Al Ashqar to Facebook show that the strike caused extensive damage to a residential building.
Khaled Al Ashqar learned of his wife’s death and the injuries of his children while reporting live from Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. After hearing the news, he said on air: “Save us from the crimes of genocide. [Israel] is brutal and does not differentiate between anyone. My wife is not the first, so my cousin, her son, and her brother-in-law were with her…I lost the love of my life today.” Videos from Shehab Agency show Khaled Al Ashqar holding his injured daughter in the hospital as medics attend to her and a video posted by Khaled Abu Ahour shows Karam Al-Ashqar, another of Khaled and Islam’s children, crying for the loss of his mother.
Islam Omar Al Ashqar and her four children had arrived in Gaza a few days before October 7th, to visit relatives. After the outbreak of violence, the family fled to Nuseirat refugee camp, which Israel had designated as for the displaced. However, a café and restaurant inside the Nuseirat Market was bombed by Israeli forces, according to Khaled Al Ashqar and Cairo24 News. A post from Hossam Al-Ashqar described the strike as hitting “the house of my uncle Abu Tariq Al-Ashqar”.
A tweet from photojournalist @HosamSalemG gave condolences to his colleague Khaled Al-Ashqar and “thank God for the safety of his brother’s children, our colleague Muhammad Al-Ashqar” who was also affected by the bombing. A post from Omar Basher described Islam as “one of the kindest and most generous people”.
Where sources identified a belligerent, all sources attributed the strike to Israeli forces.
Airwars was able to match Islam Omar Al Ashqar’s name to the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of names, October 26th 2023.
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 (4)
Summary
Sources (22) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (34) [ collapse]
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Source: @Muatsim -
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Source: @HosamSalemG -
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Source: Groups -
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Source: Groups -
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Source: Elmaalem68 -
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Source: Momen -
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Source: Alashqar -
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Source: Alashqar -
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Source: Alashqar -
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Source: Alashqar -
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Source: Alashqar -
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Source: Alashqar -
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Source: Alashqar -
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Source: Alashqar -
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Source: Alashqar -
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Source: Alashqar -
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Source: Alashqar -
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