Geolocation
Airwars assessment
Shortly before 10:47 PM on Tuesday, October 31st 2023, at least 21 members of the Abu al-Eish and al-Helou families, including at least nine women and seven children, were reportedly killed and dozens injured in an alleged Israeli airstrike on the home of the Abu al-Eish family in the Block 2 of Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip.
The Abu al-Eish and al-Helou families were both sheltering in the home of a member of the Abu al-Eish family at the time of the attack. The al-Helou family had already been displaced from their home further north in Gaza, and other displaced members of the Abu al-Eish family were also sheltering in the Jabalia home. Multiple reports claimed that the entire al-Helou family was killed in the strike, with a video shared by Al Jazeera Egypt showing an elderly woman from the Abu al-Eish family speaking about how her entire family had been killed.
Social media testimonies by family relatives and friends helped to identify the names of 21 victims, but the eventual death toll may be higher as many were reported missing or still under the rubble.
Abu al-Eish family
38-year-old Adham Shaker Abdel Fattah Abu al-Eish and his wife, 33-year-old Hanan Saleh Abdel Fattah Abu al-Eish, were killed in the attack alongside their three sons, 13-year-old Firas Adham Shaker Abu al-Eish, 12-year-old Shaker Adham Shaker Abu al-Eish, and eight-year-old Muhammad Adham Shaker Abu al-Eish and their daughter, 14-year-old Aya Adham Shaker Abu al-Eish.
Three more siblings were reportedly killed in the attack, namely, 22-year-old Ali Atta Muhammad Abu al-Eish along with his sisters, 25-year-old (or 26-year-old, according to some sources) Baraa Atta Muhammad Abu al-Eish and 23-year-old Israa Atta Muhammad Abu al-Eish.
Abdulkareem Ahmed Irshaid wrote a tribute to the late Ali, sharing a picture of the young bearded man in a red T-shirt, smiling at the camera.
According to posts from friends and family, Israa was an engineer. @Dr_Mkhandaqji mourned the loss of Israa in a Facebook testimony, writing that she “was a kind and gentle person who loved life, was hardworking and well-mannered to the extreme.”
Historian Abdel Moumen Al-Maqli shared three images of Israa, a beautiful young woman wearing a beige hijab and a black dress with a red ribbon with Arabic letters inscribed on it, standing next to a middle-aged man, probably her father.
Baraa Atta Muhammad Abu al-Eish was a 25-year-old graduate from Tanta University and a newly qualified doctor. Her death gathered a lot of media attention. This was partly due to some time she had spent as a foreign exchange student in the US, making her known to a journalist at the Wall Street Journal who reported her death. Additionally, a post on Twitter/X by Kashif Chaudhry (@KashifMD) reported Baraa’s death as part of a post about the website healersforpeace.org which was tracking the number of healthcare workers killed since 7 October 2023. Baraa’s death brought the number up to 129 healthcare workers killed by 1 November 2023.
Twitter/X user @OsaidesserMD wrote a tribute to the late Baraa: “Dr Bara Abu Elaish was killed yesterday in the #Jabalia_Camp massacre along with 21 members of her family. Bara has recently graduated from medical school and was about to start her new job as a DOCTOR but her dreams were murdered along with her beautiful soul”, sharing also a collage of her deceased family members and an image of Baraa in a black hijab. Historian Abdel Moumen Al-Maqli shared a black and white headshot of Baraa.
The Wall Street Journal reported the death of Baraa as she was known to a journalist at the paper whose wife had taught Baraa while she was a foreign exchange student at Cleveland Heights High School in Ohio. Baraa had attended an exchange programme there in 2014 and assisted the journalist’s wife with some elementary school classes, and she was referred to as ‘a sweet girl’. The Wall Street Journal reported that Baraa was 26 at the time of her death.
Among the victims within the Abu al-Eish family was also a 30-year-old woman named Etemad Nasr al-Din Abu al-Eish mentioned in a post by Muhammad Abu Al-Eish as his niece along with Baraa, Israa and Hanan.
Al-Helou family
The grandmother and grandfather of the al-Helou family, 56-year-old Safiya Noman Muhammad al-Helou and her husband 69-year-old Adeeb Muhammad Mahmoud al-Helou were reportedly killed in the attack, alongside nine members of their direct family, including Adeeb’s two sisters, 66-year-old Etaf (Attaf) Muhammad Mahmoud al-Helou (Abed) and 75-year-old Ratiba Muhammad Mahmoud al-Helou (Umm Fidaa).
Adeeb and Safiya’s three sons, 32-year-old Ahmed Adeeb Muhammad al-Helou, 17-year-old Mahmoud Adeeb Muhammad al-Helou and 30-year-old Abdullah Adeeb Muhammad al-Helou, and their two daughters, 22-year-old Malak Adeeb Muhammad al-Helou and 26-year-old Lina Adeeb Mohammaed al-Helou (Abu al-Eish), were also reportedly killed.
Their grandchildren, Lina’s two daughters, Elena Saeed Abu al-Eish and one-year-old Ayla Saeed Abu al-Eish, were also reportedly killed by the strike. A tweet from @Jales_tinian2 added that Lina’s husband (based on their children’s names, the husband’s name would be Saeed Abu al-Eish) was also among those killed, however Saeed posted on his personal Facebook on November 28, 2023 about the attack on his family, so he has not been included among the list of those killed.
Facebook user Wafa al-Helou mourned the death of many members of her family, writing “With hearts full of contentment, full of sadness and separation, and full of confidence in God that they have moved to the neighborhood of Him who is more merciful to them, we bid them farewell to Paradise as martyrs, God willing.” She shared a family photo showing eleven family members standing behind a festive served table.
Talooli Shaffy also shared many images of family members on Facebook, including elderly women in hijabs, young men and children. He wrote about his aunt Etaf “My aunt, the martyr Etaf Al-Helou, Umm Muhammad Etaf Abed, had the kindest heart in our country, with whom we spent our childhood.”
Multiple Facebook posts from family members reported that Lina’s two children Elena and Ayla were both under the age of two years old. Al-Ghad News reported that a child was amongst the first of those killed in the attack brought to the Indonesian Hospital, and the Rafah Health Administration Facebook page showed a graphic photo of an infant who was killed in the attack, most probably Elena or Ayla Abu al-Eish.
A Facebook post from Izzeldin Abu al-Eish mourned the passing of their family members. The post identified Abdullah Adeeb Muhammad al-Helou as a doctor. Their post also shared a collage of photos of those who were reportedly killed in the airstrike. This included photos of at least three very young children and at least five children in total of varying ages.
This attack on the Abu al-Eish and al-Helou families attracted a high level of international media attention, especially given that many of those killed in this attack were relatives of the Canadian-Palestinian doctor and author, five-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Izz al-Din Abu al-Eish. Izz al-Din was born and raised in Jabalia, and was the first Palestinian doctor to work in an Israeli hospital.
Arabi 21 News reported that Izz al-Din Abu al-Eish appeared on Piers Morgan’s television show following the attack carrying photos of his deceased family members. Izz al-Din reported that his family members were in his sister’s house when it was bombed, killing many members of their family. Izz al-Din shared two photos of his nieces and nephews, one while they were alive and one showing them in their funeral shrouds following the attack.
In relation to the total number of casualties from the attack, original reports from Shehab News and Wafa News claimed that eight people had been killed in the attack and arrived at Indonesian Hospital alongside a number of wounded people. Muhammad Abu al-Eish shared in a Facebook post that many were wounded and in critical condition, while other reports stated that many were still trapped under the rubble.
A post on Twiiter/X from user @Bisan_Shrafri reported that the home was filled with dozens of displaced people, including children and grandchildren of the two families, at the time of the attack. @sabrifarra24 stated that the homes that were bombed in Jabalia camp belonged to Saleh Abu al-Eish and Fayez al-Helou.
All names of the victims except for Elena al-Eish and her father Saeed, 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.
The incident occured at approximately 10:47 pm local time.
The victims were named as:
Family members (10)
Family members (11)
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention an attack on Block 2 of Jabalia refugee camp (مخيم جباليا), north of the town of Jabalia (جباليا), for which the generic coordinates are: 31.538711, 34.495107. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (43) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (54) [ collapse]
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: @PalinfoAr -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: @PalinfoAr -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Em.moha.77 -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Talooli Shaffy -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Talooli Shaffy -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Talooli Shaffy -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Talooli Shaffy -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Talooli Shaffy -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Talooli Shaffy -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Talooli Shaffy -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Talooli Shaffy -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Talooli Shaffy -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Talooli Shaffy -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Talooli Shaffy -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Abdulkareem Ahmed Irshaid -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Muhammad Abu Al-Eish -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Rafah Health Administration -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Rafah Health Administration -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Rafah Health Administration -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Rafah Health Administration -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Anas Al Sharif -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: EG News -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: EG News -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Izzeldin.abuelaish -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Izzeldin.abuelaish -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Izzeldin.abuelaish -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Izzeldin.abuelaish -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: @16_Gouda -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: @muslim2day -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: @muslim2day -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: @adham922 -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: @HossamAlAstal -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: @Ahmed_Khaled97 -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Historian Abdel Moumen Al-Maqli -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Dr.Laila Ghannam -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Dr.Laila Ghannam -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Amal Hadad -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Amal Hadad -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Amal Hadad -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Historian Abdel Moumen Al-Maqli -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Historian Abdel Moumen Al-Maqli -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Historian Abdel Moumen Al-Maqli -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Saeed.aboelaish -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: @OsaidesserMD -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: @OsaidesserMD -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Cleveland.com News -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: @storyfromgaza -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: @storyfromgaza -
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.