Eight people, including three children, all from the Al Rayees family, were killed on November 5, 2023, when two alleged Israeli missiles hit their seven-story house, the Al-Safadi Building on Al-Sinaa Street.

@Hakeam_ps, a neighbour of Al Rayees family, described their own escape and forced displacement after their house was destroyed in the same strike, adding that they were now isolated without electricity. The source said “What happened could never be described, more like an earthquake, but more violent… Dust stormed the house, fragments everywhere. My mother and her grandchildren were in a state of panic and fear”.

The family members were killed across three generations: grandfather Azmi Al Rayees and his wife Enaya Al Rayees were killed alongside their son, Dr Maisara Azmi Al Rayees, and their daughters, Uraib Al Rayees and Izza Al Rayees. Izza’s three children Karim Ramez Samir Nabhan, Adam Ramez Samir Nabhan, and Sham Ramez Samir Nabhan were killed as well.

Several local sources reported that the bodies of the victims killed could not be rescued due to a lack of suitable equipment to search through the rubble of the family home. @HuDa_NaIm92 said that some neighbors were “digging with their hands under piles of stones and rubble”. Mai Mare on Facebook reported that “There is no hope of retrieving them. There is no equipment, no gasoline or diesel, no bulldozers, nothing.”  Leqa’a Al Saadi said on Facebook that Muhammad Al Rayees and Moayad Al Rayees, two brothers from the Al Rayees family who reportedly survived the attack, “tried in every possible way to search for their family and extract them from under the rubble, hoping to find them or some of them alive”.

The next day, on social media, Amr Tabaza called Palestinians in Gaza to help reach the members of Al Rayees family buried under the rubble, saying “The building is 7 floors… and no one has reached them so far.”. On November 7th, on Twitter, @Ali_Hisham added that Maisara Al Rayees had been buried under the rubble for two days and asked for help to “exhume his body to tell him goodbye one last time”. A second strike was reported in the same location just days after the incident, with additional casualties alleged. This incident will be assessed separately by Airwars.

Dr Maisara Al Rayees was described as a maternal and child health specialist and a graduate of a prestigious UK Foreign Office Chevening Scholarship through which he studied at King’s College London for his master’s degree. Mai Mare said that Maisara worked with Doctors Without Borders. The same source indicated that she had met Maisara two months ago to send him “a special invitation to meet with British Foreign Secretary Cleverly to talk to him face to face about Gaza”. Mai added: “Just last month, I contacted Maisara and asked him if they would like me to work on a video for the Chevening Scholarships as a photo story, telling the story of [him and his wife’s] love, education and work in Gaza, but today, my heart is heavy and worn out with this news.” One source described Maisara as ambitious, kind and calm; someone who loved to help people. He had recently married his partner Laura Al Hayyek, whom he met on the scholarship programme. Laura Al Hayyek, an employee of the United Nations and a graduate of the Chevening Scholarship, was reported as killed in the bombing by some sources. However through private communication, Airwars researchers have been able to confirm that she was not present when the strike occurred.

Uraib Al Rayees was described as creative. He was said to be a dentist and a painter.

A BBC article published five days after the strike reported that “The Foreign Office on Wednesday said it was “devastated” and offered condolences to the surviving family and “Chevening Alumni community” over the death of Dr Al Rayees but didn’t give any details about what happened to him, or where.” The handling of this incident reportedly led to internal complaints within the Foreign Office that the government was showing a “permissive approach” to Israel “breaching international humanitarian law””.

Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strikes to Israeli forces.

Due to the scale and urgency of Airwars’ assessment process, all images have been automatically uploaded to each assessment with the graphic filter applied to protect users. We have also included all images identified from the sources, which may also include any imagery of combatants.

The local time of the incident is unknown.