Three members of the Dhahir family were killed and six others were injured by an alleged Israeli strike on their home in the Khirbet al-Adas area in the north of Rafah city, on Sunday, October 22, 2023: father Sami Abdel Khalil Dhahir, his son 18-year-old Khalil Sami Dhahir, as well as 33-year-old Mutair Abdel Salam Dhahir, who was an imam in Al-Amin Muhammad Mosque, were killed.

According to Siham-Haifa Daoud, the strike occurred between the hours of 1 and 7am; two victims were initially reported killed and others remained missing under the rubble. @ShehabAgency initially alleged that there were “six injuries, two of them very serious”, while journalist Adel Zourub reported that there were dozens of injuries, and the number or details of surviving injured persons has not been identified by other sources. A number of victims were taken to Youssef Al-Najjar Hospital.

Mutair Abdel Salam Dhahir was remembered by Taher Al-Nahal in a heartfelt post on Facebook as his “brother, friend, and companion who has memorised the Book of God, the imam of the al-Amin Muhammad Mosque in Khirbet al-Adas, the owner of a kind soul and a beautiful smile.”

Others also took to social media to mourn the victims, including Amir Dhahir, cousin to Mutair and Sami, who posted a picture of Mutair proudly smiling and holding up a certificate, as well as neighbour Muhammad Hassan Abu Eyada and the Dhahir Family Forum, who posted images of the three men from when they were alive. The news agency Al Arabiya posted images of a funeral on Facebook, which was described as the funeral of the victims of three strikes, including the bombing of the Dhahir family home.

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

The identities of Khalil Sami Dhahir and Mutair Abdel Salam Dhahir have been reconciled with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of fatalities published on October 26, 2023. Sami Abdel Khalil Dhahir’s name could not be reconciled.