On Sunday, October 22nd 2023, the house of the Abu Anza family in Tal Al Sultan, west of Rafah, in the southern Gaza strip was reportedly hit in an alleged Israeli strike. Initial reports stated that the incident resulted in 10 injuries and no deaths, however it was later reported that a young man had been killed. Sources which include imagery show at least seven civilians injured.

Journalist Adel Zourab reported in a post on Facebook that the victims were taken to the Kuwaiti Hospital for treatment.

An Abu Anza family member, Khaled Abu Anza, posted on October 24th that Sulaiman Abu Younis had been killed. The post includes a picture of Sulaiman, a smartly dressed young man, from before the incident. There were no other references to this casualty in the related reporting.

The day after the alleged strike, a family member named Umm Samer Abu Anza posted an image of a young boy, severely harmed with a head injury. He was pictured with another young boy, with less severe injuries, who was sat by him, trying to talk to him. Text on the image said “Listen to me!! Mohammed Fayeq“. In the background of the image another young boy with injuries, bleeding from his ear, can be seen sitting up on a medical bed. Umm Samer Abu Anza did not clarify if the young boy, named Mohammed Fayeq, had survived his head injuries.

Images posted on Facebook by journalist Adel Zourab and taken by Fares Abu Sharkh on the day of the incident show medical attention being given to three men. These images showed two men in an ambulance, one lying on his side and one on his back, both in visible pain. Later images show both the men being treated for their injuries in a medical facility; the level of medical attention they received suggests that their injuries may have been severe.

Another image shows a younger man sitting up while a medic is cleaning a small head wound. Another image showed a dusty young boy lying on a medical bed while a medical professional checked his blood pressure.

Al Manara Media posted a video on October 23rd of an eyewitness describing the alleged bombing of the Abu Anza family home. The man in the video, covered in dust and standing outside a medical facility, claimed that all of the victims were civilians and that the incident took place without warning.

Adil Abu Taha was the first to post an estimate of the casualties as a result of the reported strike, putting the number of injured at 10. Included in the reporting are photos of at least three men and four young boys with injuries.

Multiple sources corroborated that the house had been empty but the damage to the building was significant, and that neighbours and passers-by had been injured in the alleged strike.

A day after the reported strike, images taken by the journalist Dua Khaled and reposted by numerous new agencies showed extensive damage to buildings in the surrounding area, including a mosque. Nufal Al-Khars posted that the house is opposite the Abu Shamala Mosque and that the “UNDP” was bombed. Later reports by an Facebook account named “Return is my right and my choice” reported that the mosque was also damaged.

Dua Khaled’s images showed a wall with a mural of a young child drawing and some books. Everything around the one standing wall is rubble. Another picture showed a child in the foreground in front of the painted wall holding a toy and a football, both covered in dust.

Sulaiman Abu Younis’ name was not found in the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of names, released October 26th 2023.

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