Shortly before 20:04 on Sunday, 29 October 2023, at least seven identified members of the al-Kurd family, including four women and two children, were killed and at least five others, including a young girl, were injured when their home near to the Awad Tower in the Al-Geneina neighbourhood of Rafah was reportedly hit by an Israeli airstrike. An eighth member of the family was also killed and has been identified as a militant.

Safa news agency was the first to report the incident at 20:04, writing about six “martyrs” from the attack on the al-Kurd family home. A Facebook account called Official journalist Adel Zourub shared photographs from the attack showing a totally destroyed building with many people attempting to move the rubble in the full darkness of the night to try and find any survivors. The photos also included one of a young girl on an operating table with her leg bandaged and covered in dust. However, her identity is not known at the time of writing.

Fatma Ḿ Ṧw Facebook post listed the names of the eight family members who had been killed in the attack. A post on Facebook from Abu Ismail Abdullah Ismail Al-Kurd also gave the names of eight people killed in the attack, as well as listing three injuries.

Zaki Shukri al-Kurd was injured in the strike, sustaining a fractured elbow. However, his 47-year-old wife Kifah Ismail Shukri al-Kurd was killed alongside her 44-year-old sister Abeer Ismail Saeed al-Kurd and their five children with Zaki – three daughters: 18-year-old Sondos Zaki Shukri al-Kurd, 21-year-old Nour Zaki Shukri al-Kurd and 16-year-old Shahed Zaki Shukri al-Kurd, and two sons: 10-year-old Muhammad Zaki Shukri al-Kurd and 14-year-old Abdullah Zaki Shukri al-Kurd.

Zaki’s brother, Saeed Shukri al-Kurd was injured, having a fractured femur, alongside his two sons, Ahmed Saeed Shukri al-Kurd and Mahmoud Saeed Shukri al-Kurd who were reportedly taken to intensive care. His third son, 21-year-old Shukri Saeed Shukri al-Kurd (a militant), also lost his life in the attack.

When Airwars first published this incident on September 23, 2024, no open sources were found to suggest that Shukri Saeed Shukri al-Kurd was a militant. As such, Shukri al-Kurd 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 July 17, 2026, a Telegram account affiliated with Hamas’ armed wing, Al-Qessam Brigades, published a tribute to Shukri al-Kurd, identifying him as a fighter. As such, Airwars updated Shukri al-Kurd’s status from civilian to militant, and changed the minimum number of civilians reportedly killed in this incident from eight to seven.

Facebook user Sweet Palestine mourned the loss of his two aunts, Kifah and Abeer, and their children, and shared the collage of their photos.

All names have been matched with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of fatalities in Gaza released on July 24th, 2024.

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