Airwars assessment
On Thursday, October 26th 2023, at least 35 people were reportedly killed and a number of others wounded in an alleged Israeli airstrike on the home of the al-Hour family, at the entrance to 35th Street in Al-Zabt, near to Ahly Al-Nuseirat Club in the Al-Nuseirat Camp, in northern Gaza.
Ziyad Hussein Shaker al-Hour and his wife, Samiha Abu Zeid were reportedly killed alongside their children and grandchildren.
Their son, 36-year-old Muhammad Ziyad Hussein al-Hour (Abu Ziyad) was killed with his wife 33-year-old Mervat Hisham Ahmed Maghazi and their three children, who were not named by sources. Airwars has identified the names of three children on the Ministry of Health list of fatalities who are likely Muhammed and Mervat’s children.
Ziyad and Samiha’s other son, 29-year-old Tariq Ziyad Hussein al-Hour also reportedly died in the attack with his wife, 23-year-old Haya Hani Hussein Al-Hour and their two-year-old daughter, Lana Tariq Ziyad al-Hour. Additionally, Ziyad and Samiha’s two daughters, 21-year-old Heba Ziyad Hussein al-Hour and 37-year-old Iman Ziyad Hussein al-Hour (Shaheen) were reportedly killed, as were Iman’s children. It is unclear how many children Iman had, and how many were killed, with sources referring only to ‘children’ in the plural.
Other members of the extended al-Hour family were also killed. The owners of the house that was destroyed in the alleged strike, husband and wife, 59-year-old Abdul Rahman Hussein Shaker al-Hour and Umm Bilal were reportedly killed. According to multiple sources and posts from family and friends, Abdul Rahman was a doctor.
Their two sons, teenager Yazan Abdul Rahman al-Hour and 33-year-old Bilal Abdul Rahman Huseein al-Hour were also reportedly killed alongside Bilal’s wife, 29-year-old Nisreen Saeed Abdel Majeed al-Hour (al-Banna) and four children of Bilal and Nisreen, who were not named by sources. Airwars has identified the names of four girls on the Ministry of Health list of fatalities who are likely the children of Bilal and Nisreen based on their ages and surname matches.
34-year-old Tahani Abdel Rahman Hussein al-Hour (Shana), a daughter of Dr. Abdul Rahman, was reportedly killed as a result of the alleged attack, alongside her daughter 11-year-old Rehab Mahmoud Muhammad Shana and three sons, ten-year-old Abdullah Mahmoud Muhammad Shana, eight-year-old Osama Mahmoud Muhammad Shana and three-year-old Suhaib Mahmoud Muhammad Shana. A Facebook post from Al Hattab Ahmed mourned the loss of Tahani, and posted a photo showing her four young children. Her husband Mahmoud Muhammed Shana was not killed in the incident. Family and friends expressed their condolences to him on the loss of his entire family.
Baraa Al-Hour’s wife and children also reportedly died in the alleged Israeli airstrike; it is unclear how many children died. Airwars has identified the names of two children who are likely Baraa al-Hour’s children. This brought the minimum number of reported deaths as a result of the incident to a minimum of 35.
Friends took to social media to grieve members of the al-Hour family. Tariq was remembered as a keen football player, and friends prayed that he would ascend “to the heaven of eternity.” Relative Hussam al-Hour posted a picture of Tariq with a football, and described him as “beloved.” Fayez Mohareb, also on Facebook, emphasized Tariq’s love of football, sharing a photograph of a smiling Tariq at a football game, being hoisted into the air in celebration by his fellow teammates. In multiple photographs, Tariq is wearing the University of Palestine’s football uniform.
Haya and Tariq were mourned by Haya’s sister, Ruba Hany. Ruba’s “first companion,” Haya was remembered as “her mother’s darling,” while Ruba grieved “caring, smiling, generous” Tariq. Their daughter Lana, Ruba remembered, was the family’s “angel.”
The cousin of Bilal, Asif Al-Hor, posted multiple photos to Facebook of the family members he had reportedly lost in this alleged attack. With their death, Asif posted that he “lost the most precious thing [he] had.” Bilal, Asif wrote, was “not only my cousin, but my brother, my friend, my companion, and my support in adversity.”
Sources varied in their reporting on the number killed in the attack, but this is likely due to the fact that it took some time to recover bodies from the rubble and account for all those killed. This is supported by a Facebook post from Al Hattab Ahmed, claiming that three days after the reported attack, bodies had yet to be recovered from the rubble: “To date, no bodies have been recovered, including the children.”
Shehab News originally reported that five people were killed in the attack, with Alkofiya News later reporting that 18 people had been killed. However, a Facebook post from Saleh.e.eltaweel reported that more than 30 people were killed in the attack, alongside a photo of the multi storey home completely collapsed.
Twitter/X user Hakeam_ps posted that the four storey home had reportedly been housing a number of displaced peoples at the time of the attack, likely accounting for the high death toll.
It is unclear exactly how many people were injured as a result of the alleged attack, but Twitter/X user Meqdad Jameel (@Almeqdad) alleged that “a number” of injured had been taken to Al-Aqsa Hospital in the aftermath of the attack. The injured arrived, he claimed, with the “body parts” of the deceased.
In the following days, multiple photos were posted of the funeral gathering for those reportedly killed in this attack. A Facebook post from Nuseirat1 showing many people gathered in front of a high number of shrouded bodies. A video shared on Facebook by Al Jazeera Palestine shows mourners clutching the body bags and crying over the remains.
Where possible, names have been reconciled with published Palestinian Ministry of Health lists produced after October 26th and before July 2024. With thanks to journalist Alexandre Horn from CheckNews for identifying relevant sources during this period, and Data Tech for Palestine for centralising the datasets.
Airwars identified the names of nine children who were likely killed in this incident and are possible matches to Bilal and Nisreen’s children, Muhammed and Merfat’s children and Baraa Al-Hour’s children.
Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strike to the Israeli Military.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Family members (34)
Summary
Sources (45) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (41) [ collapse]
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.