On Tuesday, October 31, 2023, between one and three civilians were killed and a number of others were injured when an alleged Israeli artillery shell hit a group of displaced persons in the Al Tawam area in the northern Gaza Strip.

On the day of the alleged strike, various sources on Twitter/X, including @ShehabAgency, @Yasser_Gaza, @Anuarullhaq_kh, @BobiannewsKw, and @quds_feed, reported that a group of displaced persons had been hit by an artillery shell in the Al Tawam area, north of the Gaza Strip.

According to @AlMayadeenLive, the shelling “led to injuries.” Following the alleged strike, multiple sources reported that one person was killed and multiple injured victims were taken to the Indonesian Hospital.

The names of the casualties were not published on open sources.

Al Jazeera Egypt reported on the aftermath of the strike, interviewing journalist Anas Al-Sharif over the phone. Anas Al-Sharif provided additional details on the alleged strike, reporting that a number killed victims had arrived at the hospital. This can be seen in Al Jazeera footage from outside the hospital, where at least two bodies can be seen arriving. One of them is transported on an animal-drawn cart.

When asked by the presenter if the victims had been hit while in a house or car, Al-Sharif explicitly said that they were “directly targeted” while escaping south from the North Gaza Governate towards Deir Al Balah.

He also said that most of the displaced people were women and children.

A photo posted by @ShehabAgency, @Yasser_Gaza, @AlQastalps, @Anuarullhaq_kh, Khabar24agency, Ahmadgaza94117, and others shows a group of women and children exiting a small van near the entrance of the Indonesian Hospital as a man in front of them carries in his arms another man with a visible leg injury and significant loss of blood. A photo shared by @PalinfoAr and @paldf shows an emergency worker pushing a stretcher carrying a corpse that was covered in a blanket.

Photographs posted on Facebook by Ahmadgaza94117, Abu Anwar al-Zaanin, and Manar.samir showed at least three additional casualties. One image taken inside the hospital showed a man lying on a stretcher with a visible leg injury and a tourniquet on his thigh as various medical personnel gathered around him. Another picture showed three people carrying an injured man into the hospital on a stretcher. Two other photos showed emergency workers unloading a man from an ambulance onto a stretcher and wheeling him into the hospital.

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