During the morning of the 25th of October 2023, an Israeli airstrike allegedly hit the al-Bayouk family home in Qizan Al-Najjar, south of Khan Younis, in the Gaza strip. The incident reportedly killed 22 civilian victims killed, including ten women and seven children, whose bodies were progressively recovered from the rubble, and at least 10 civilians were injured.

Shehab Agency reported the incident on its Twitter/X account, putting the death toll at six deaths. This information was corroborated by Twitter/X users @m_0f00 and @palestine_graph and @qudsfeed_brk. Amr Tabash reported on Facebook “The arrival of a child martyr and dozens of injuries” to the hospital, which is documented by a video showing the arrival of a child’s body to the hospital carried by a paramedic and the consequent checking of the doctors to certify the death. The video also showed other victims arriving at the hospital by ambulance, including an unconscious man lying on a stretcher and a young man who was limping, helped by a number of paramedics.

Such scenes were also included in the news coverage of Al-Ghad TV. At that moment, the channel reported one death and 10 injuries, which according to sources continued to rise progressively due to victims still under the rubble. In such regard, Mohamed Al-Bayouk indicated in his Facebook post, for instance, that when the death toll had already risen to 15, there were still “searches underway for 10 people missing under the rubble”. Mohamed ended his post asking “God for mercy, forgiveness, and granting them the highest paradise”.

Tributes of family members and friends helped Airwars to identify the names of 22 victims killed.

The first family group consisted of 53-year-old Imad Abd al-Bayouk, the grandfather, and 48-year-old Suha Hamada Khalil al-Bayouk, the grandmother, their 17-year-old son Omar Imad Abd al-Bayouk, their 12-year-old daughter Nada Imad Abd al-Bayouk, their 25-year-old daughter Shaima Imad Abd al-Bayouk and Shaima’s children, four-year-old son Ahmed Muhammad al-Bayouk and one-year-old son Alyan Muhammad al-Bayouk, their 22-year-old pregnant daughter Iman Imad Abd al-Bayouk and Iman’s child two-year-old Amal Hamada al-Najjar. Their daughter-in-law, Ruaa Salim Wafi al-Bayouk, as well as her child, one-year-old Imad Abdul Qader Emad al-Bayouk.

The second family group consisted of a grandfather, 61-year-old Ahmed Abd Ibrahim al-Bayouk – Imad’s brother – and his 51-year-old wife Amal Nayef Ibrahim al-Bayouk, the grandmother, their sons 31-year-old Abd Ahmed al-Bayouk, 26-year-old Hossam Ahmed al-Bayouk, Mahmoud Ahmed al-Bayouk, and their daughters – 35-year-old Ikram Ahmed Abd al-Bayouk, 31-year-old Suhair Ahmed Abd al-Bayouk, 28-year-old Mai Ahmed Abd al-Bayouk and 20-year-old Suhad Ahmed Abd al-Bayouk.

In the third family group were 22-year-old Samar Riad al-Bayouk and her less than one-year-old daughter, Amal Muhammad al-Bayouk.

Following the incident, friends and family relatives grieved the deaths in the al-Bayouk family, writing in tribute to the victims. Abdul Qader al-Bayouk, under Facebook username Abdulkader, mourned on Facebook the death of his wife, Ruaa, who he described as “my wife, my beloved, and the joy of my heart”, and the death of his child, Imad, the day of his birthday, writing “my son, my love, and my support. Today was his birthday, the youngest mayor, my beloved bird of paradise”.

Abdul also had words for his mother, Suha, writing “my beloved, the joy of my heart, the light of my eyes, my tenderness, and the crown of my head. The kind, dear, beloved, and laughing join the ranks of the martyrs”, and the rest of his family. He described Omar as his “littler brother and love, with a good heart”, Nada as his “little sister, my sweetheart and my love” and his sister Shaima as his “dear sister, the one with the laugh”. Regarding his sister Iman, he wrote “the martyr Iman Imad al-Bayouk is pregnant on the ninth day, and today she was supposed to give birth to a boy through surgery. My dear sister”.

Omar A Abdeen, friend of Abdul Qader, wrote on Facebook “Our neighborhood is very sad with the passing of those poor, poor families who were so exhausted by life…and they were patient and patient”. He wrote in memory of Imad Abd al-Bayouk, saying “the one who was always laughing and kind, whom we sat with every day and who I bear witness to watching before leaving, has gone”, and in memory of Abdul’s son, Imad, and his wife Ruaa, writing “The little Imad, who I teased every day and told him that his father had long-standing friendship and companionship, is gone… May God have mercy on his educated, creative mother”.

He also remembered Hossam and Omar, writing “May God have mercy on Master Hossam and Master Omar…the masters of falafel makers in the region”. He ended his post sending support to his friend, writing “May God give you patience, my friend, and strengthen your heart, Abdul Qader al-Bayouk, with the loss of your father, brothers, wife, and son”.

Omar mentioned two injured family members – Abu Ahmed (father of Ahmed) and Umm Al-Abd (mother of Abdul) – wishing them speedy recovery.

Omar also shared several pictures of the aftermath of the incident, portraying the rubble left from the al-Bayouk family home. Such images are also depicted by a video posted by Aya on Facebook, where the rubble can be seen alongside the hole left in the floor from the reported airstrike.

Hanin Al-Bayouk, the brother of Shaima Imad’s husband and uncle of Ahmed Muhammad and Alyan Muhammad also mourned the incident, and wrote “My brother’s sons and their mother Shaimaa al-Bayouk and her family, we consider them martyrs in the sight of God. May God forgive them and accept them. God is sufficient for us, and He is the best Disposer of affairs”. He included two pictures of a young boy wearing a blue Nike tracksuit and another of a baby smiling wearing a blue jacket, likely pictures of Ahmed and Alyan

Furthermore, Elagha grieved on Facebook the death of Samar and her infant daughter Amal, sharing pictures of a man crying over their deaths and two graphic pictures of the dead child’s body. The picture of Amal’s body covered in a white sheet was also shared by Eman, who also shared an image of several bodies completely covered in white sheets stained by blood and placed in a row. Eman lamented “My aunt, my aunt’s husband, my aunt’s daughters, my aunt’s children, her granddaughter, and her daughter-in-law have passed away”, and writing in tribute to them, wrote “To Allah we belong, and to Him we shall return… Survival belongs to God Almighty alone. O reassured soul, return to your Lord, satisfied and pleasing, so enter among My servants and enter My Paradise.”

Where possible, the names of the victims have been matched with the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH) lists, which include national ID numbers. Since October 26, 2023, the MoH has released six lists, along with an additional list of medical professionals, which was released on September 17, 2024. In regard to this incident, most of the names were matched to the first and second “’Palestinian Ministry of Health List of Fatalities in Gaza” lists, which were released on October 26, 2023, and January 07, 2024, respectively. The ages of some victims have been found by cross-checking names against lists of fatalities shared online by Genocide in Gaza, which has a list of “martyrs” of Israeli forces.

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