On October 28, 2023 two people were injured by an alleged Israeli airstrike against the Al-Farra family home in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip. A man, 33-year-old Hozyfa (Hudhayfah) Tayseer Ayesh Al-Najjar, was killed and has been recorded as a militant.
According to one Facebook post by Ahmed Shbair, the airstrike was carried out by Israeli forces. Mohammed Gamal and Nashret Masawi also reported that two people had been injured in the alleged airstrike with no further information about their names, ages, or gender.
On a Facebook post, a cousin of Hozyfa named Ahmed Shbair expressed that “this incident occurred when all internet connections were down in Gaza and we could not contact the family. Hopefully my aunt and her family will be strong over this tragedy, hopefully your heart will be strong my aunt”.
When Airwars first published this incident on October 24, 2024, no open sources were found to suggest that Hozyfa (Hudhayfah) Tayseer Ayesh Al-Najjar was a militant. As such, Hozyfa Al-Najjar was recorded as a civilian. This was in line with Airwars’ methodology which is employed across all conflicts we document, and informed by international standards regarding the ‘presumption of civilian status‘. Specifically, as outlined by the International Committee of the Red Cross, civilian status is assumed until evidence is identified to the contrary.
On April 26, 2026, a Telegram account affiliated with Hamas’ armed wing, Al-Qessam Brigades, published a tribute to Hozyfa Al-Najjar, identifying him as a “martyred Qessami fighter”. As such, Airwars updated Hozyfa Al-Najjar’s status from civilian to militant, and removed the count of civilians reportedly killed in this incident.
Images shared by the Facebook account of Baraa al Rantisi depict Hozyfar after the airstrike, in a white body bag with his face exposed. Other images show a white closed body bag with Hozyfa’s name written in arabic.
Airwars has matched Hozyfar’s name with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of victim’s names and IDs released July 24th 2024.