In the early hours of Wednesday 25th October 2023, four civilians – including one man, one woman, and two children – were reportedly killed and others injured by an alleged Israeli airstrike on the Abu Ghaben family home, located west of the Shuhada square in the Beach Camp (al-Shati Refugee Camp) near Gaza City in the Gaza governorate.

Four individuals killed in the strike were identified by friends and family members, whilst a number of sources, including Shehab Agency, citing the Gazan Ministry of Interior, reported multiple injuries. No specific number of injuries was provided by any source. Abu Abdullah Muhammad, however, writing on Facebook, noted that, in addition to those killed, “everyone in the house was injured.”

Those identified to have been killed in the strike were all members of the Abu Ghaben family. 25-year-old Mahmoud Basil Abu Ghaben (Abu Uday) was killed alongside his 26/27-year-old sister-in-law Alaa Ibrahim Abu Ghaben (al-Badrasawy), whose two young sons, six-year-old Zain Muhammad Abu Ghaben and Amer Muhammad Abu Ghaben, her only children, were also killed.

Many mourned those killed on social media and paid tribute to them.

Mohammad Bassam Abu Ghaben, writing on Facebook, described Mahmoud Basil Abu Ghaben as “good-natured and beloved”. He shared an image of the smiling Mahmoud sitting in an outdoor setting, wearing a black sweater. He had dark hair and a dark beard.

Iskander Abu Tuha Abumufid, announcing the death of his “good friend” Mahmoud Basil Abu Ghaben, wrote of his grief, “The heart can’t take it anymore…” Meanwhile, colleague Mahmoud Adel Youssef al-Madal described Mahmoud Basil Abu Ghaben as “The good-natured, laughing coworker from the camp.”

Nour Abu Ghaben, mourning Mahmoud Basil Abu Ghaben, Alaa Ibrahim al-Badrasawy Abu Ghaben, and Zain Muhammad Abu Ghaben, asked “May God have mercy on you.”

Sameer Ghaben shared a similar tribute, adding a photo of the young Zain dressed in a white T-shirt, grey jeans and white sneakers, and sunglasses.

Two months after the incident, on 20th December 2023, English-language Twitter/X page ‘Martyrs of Gaza’ posted a commemoration of Alaa Ibrahim al-Badrasawy Abu Ghaben and her two sons Zain Muhammad Abu Ghaben and Amer Muhammad Abu Ghaben, writing that they were killed together on October 25, 2023. According to the page, “Alaa had two children, ‘Amr [Amer] and Zain. Zain, her beloved, never left her side, always with her. Everyone loved Alaa; she worked as a makeup artist and had many dreams and aspirations. Alaa was preparing herself to travel. Two days before the war, she received her passport to go to Egypt with her mother. She had plans to open a project in Sweden with her sister since she worked as a makeup artist. Zain, her son, 6 years old, in a conversation with his aunt Wafa, said: ‘Aunt Wafa, take me with you, hide me; I don’t want to die.’”

According to Adib al-Saawi, writing on Facebook, the bodies of those killed in the strike, as well as some of the injured, were recovered by the Palestinian Civil Defense.

The names of those killed in the incident, except that of Amer Abu Ghaben, have been reconciled with the Sixth Ministry of Health list of fatalities released on 16th September 2024. The age of Mahmoud Basil Abu Ghaben was also identified from this list. Whilst some sources placed Alaa Ibrahim al-Badrasawy’s age at 26, the Ministry of Health list placed her age at 27.

The names and ages of some victims have been confirmed by cross-checking names against lists of fatalities shared online by Shireen Monitor, an organization that has a list of “Martyrs of Palestine” from 2023 onward.

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