Geolocation
Airwars assessment
On October 25th 2023, an alleged Israeli airstrike reportedly hit a house where the Al-Dahdouh family were taking refuge, in the Nuseirat Refugee Camp in Central Gaza, killing at least 13 named family members of Wael Al-Dahdouh, bureau chief for Al-Jazeera in Gaza, including nine children. At least five other family members sustained injuries in the strike. The family had moved following the Israeli military’s instruction on October 13th to move south for safety.
Al Jazeera News reported that Wael Al-Dahdouh had been covering the on-going conflict from the Al Jazeera office and that Wael was surprised when he heard that Israeli attacks had taken place in the area his family were taking shelter in, as this area had been deemed safe by the Israeli Military. The family had been evacuated from the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood in the Northern Gaza Strip.
Wael Al-Dahdouh’s wife, Amna Shaaban Ibrahim Al-Dahdouh (44) was reportedly killed, alongside their son, Mahmoud Wael Hamdan Al-Dahdouh (16) and daughter, Sham Wael Hamdan Al-Dahdouh (6), as well as their grandson, Adam Magdy Jaber Al-Dahdouh (45 days).
According to an Al Jazeera news report, Wael Al-Dahdouh’s other children Sondos Al-Dahdouh (Adam’s mother), Kholoud Al-Dahdouh, Batoul Al-Dahdouh and Yehya Al-Dahdouh all sustained injuries but survived the airstrike, and were being treated at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. Hanan Al-Dahdouh, Wael’s 81-year-old mother in law, suffered injuries to her hands and face.
Siblings who were the daughter and son of Wael’s cousin, Ayman Al-Dahdouh (20) and Hadeer Al-Dahdouh (30) were both killed, along with Hadeer’s children Mayar Muhammed Amin Al-Dahdouh (9), Malak Muhammed Amin Al-Dahdouh (6), Mays Muhammed Amin Al-Dahdouh (4), and Majd Muhammed Amin Al-Dahdouh (1). In addition Amna Shaaban Jaber Al-Dahdouh, Lian Shaaban Ibrahim Al-Dahdouh, and Nidaa Shaaban Ibrahim Al-Dahdouh were also killed.
In a tweet by @iirodeØ posted to X/Twitter, it was reported that Wael Al-Dahdouh’s ‘wife, daughter and son were martyred in one moment’.
Al Jazeera’s correspondent said that there were more than 100 people in the building which was struck, including a large number of members of the Dahdouh family. The Guardian reported that the Health Ministry put the total death toll at 21 people. In a post to Facebook by Al Jazeera Palestine, it is also claimed that, alongside the Al-Dahdouh family, the airstrike also impacted members of the Awad family.
During an Al Jazeera Egypt news report, reporter Hisham Zaquot narrated as footage of Wael Al-Dahdouh walking through the Al-Asqa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah to find his family members was broadcast.
In a video posted to Facebook by Al Jazeera Palestine, Wael Al-Dahdouh can be seen crouched behind the body of his deceased son, Mahmoud, according to the video’s caption. The Qatari Al Jazeera network also broadcast images of Wael saying farewell to his son with a number of citizens gathered around him, offering their condolences.
The Twitter account @wael333444 shared that Mahmoud Wael Hamdan Al-Dahdouh aspired to be a prominent journalist, like his father. PBS News reported that as Wael Al-Dahdouh wept over the death of Mahmoud, he said “You wanted to be a journalist”. Mahmoud studied at the American International High Street in Gaza, and according to his father, spent his spare time recording and editing video clips. In a video filmed by Mahmoud with his sister Kholoud and shared on Youtube, Mahmoud exclaimed that “This is the fiercest and most violent war we have ever lived in Gaza”. Both siblings stare straight into the camera to say “Help us to stay alive.”
On the day of the incident, Mahmoud Hassan Al-Misrati shared a post on his Facebook account of watching Wael Al-Dahdouh broadcast live from a separate raid in the Gaza Strip moments before discovering the fate of his family, detailing that Wael suddenly cut off from the broadcaster. His voice, however, remained clear and he could be heard talking on the phone saying “Who is who?”.
A post from Reham Abu Allan stated that 45-day old Adam Magdy Jaber Al-Dahdouh was the only child of his parents, and that his parents had been trying for four years to have children.
According to an Al Jazeera news report, when Wael Al-Dahdouh’s daughter, Bisan Al-Dahdouh, heard that there had been an airstrike in the area where her family was sheltering, she headed to the Al-Asqa Martyrs Hospital. She recounted that “The first body I saw at the hospital was Adam, my sister Sondo’s first and only son.”.
It has been reported that Amna, Wael’s wife, was preparing a meal when she was killed. Hasan Shoubaki described Amna and Wael’s relationship: “I have never seen a man as affectionate and close to his wife as Wael, and his dearest Umm Hamza was a homeland and a world filled with peace and affection. During his time in the operating room of the hospital in Amman, his lifelong companion did not stop praying for him.”
According to a post from Hasan Shoubaki, four of Amna’s brothers had been killed by Israeli forces in years past, while Wael has lost two of his brothers to Israeli missiles in the past decade.
Al Jazeera spoke with Ali Dahdouh, Amna’s brother, who said “Amna was my only and youngest sister. We are nine brothers and one sister. We live next to each other in Tal al-Hawa, southwest of Gaza City, and we all evacuated to Nurseirat after the Israeli orders. I used to have breakfast with Amna and her husband, Wael, every Friday. Our relationship was very strong.” Ali was not home when the attack occurred, and told Al Jazeera that his injured mother Hanan was unconscious and not yet aware that her daughter died, and that “My mother is very attached to her. It’s a big catastrophe.”
Fares Ghannam posted a condolence message to his “childhood friend” Ayman, along with a picture of him smiling at the camera. Samah Dahdouh, sibling to Ayman and Hadeer, had returned home to Tal al-Hawa just a day before her family was killed. She told Al Jazeera that “They were all gathered at home, and now they’re all gone, my sister and all her children. I was on the verge of losing my mind. I couldn’t make it to the hospital from Gaza to Deir el-Balah at night. I arrived this morning. I couldn’t bid them farewell.” According to Samah, Ayman was engaged and was preparing for marriage when he was killed.
Describing Wael as a colleague as well as offering his condolences, the account Documentaries2000 posted to Facebook a video compilation of Wael emotionally mourning a deceased young man and a deceased child. When mourning the young man, he is accompanied by a teenage boy who has sustained a head injury.
According to CNN, the Israeli military has confirmed that they carried out a strike in the area, saying that they had targeted “the infrastructure of the Hamas movement” and @amanpour provided the same information during an on-air segment. However, “CNN cannot independently confirm the source of the blast at the house”.
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 (18)
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the town of Nuseirat (النصيرات), for which the generic coordinates are: 31.450065, 34.392934. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
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