Around dawn on 9 November, 2024 at least six civilians were killed and a number of others injured in a declared Israeli airstrike on Fahd al-Ahmad al-Sabah School in Gaza City’s al-Tuffah neighbourhood. The Israeli military said the strike targeted and killed a senior member of the Islamic Jihad militant group.

The incident was first reported around midnight by Safa News, who said there was shelling at the school which shelters displaced people in eastern Gaza City. The initial death toll was three, with an unknown reported to be wounded. The number rose to five by morning, and was later confirmed to be six. A video shared by Al-Jazeera journalist Anas Al-Sharif reported the news, accompanied by a video of five or six bodies wrapped in blankets serving as makeshift shrouds. Only the face of the child is visible from beneath the smallest of the shrouds.

The IDF released a statement that “Yesterday (Saturday), with the direction of precise IDF and ISA intelligence, the IAF conducted a precise strike and eliminated the terrorist Muhammad Abu Sakhil, head of operations for the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip. Abu Sakhil operated in a command and control center that was embedded inside a compound that previously served as the ‘Fahed al-Sabah’ School in the northern Gaza Strip. The terrorist was a significant figure for the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization in the planning and execution of terrorist activities and coordinating attacks with Hamas against Israeli civilians and IDF troops operating in the Gaza Strip. Additionally, he was involved in compiling situational assessments.” The statement added that “Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence.”

Three members of two different families were killed: Mohammed Ismail Abu Sakhil, his 22-year-old daughter Zahraa Mohammed Abu Sakhil, and his 25-year-old son Ahmed Mohammed Abu Sakhil, 38-year-old Mohammed Nabil Atta al-Sawafiri, his pregnant wife 33-year-old Samah Khalil al-Suwairki al-Sawafiri, and their young son three-year-old Qusay Mohammed Nabil al-Sawafiri.

Ahmed and Zahra were both journalists employed by the Al-Elamiya News Channel. The platform wrote a statement on Facebook confirming two of their journalists had been killed along with their father: “We reiterate that targeting journalists and civilian facilities constitutes a flagrant violation of international laws and human rights. Our colleagues Ahmed and Zahraa were examples of committed journalists who never hesitated to convey the truth amidst challenges and dangers, emphasising the noble message of the media in revealing the facts and conveying the voice of the oppressed.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists specified that Ahmed was a photojournalist.

One of Zahraa’s colleagues, Ibrahim Abo Moghasieb, also confirmed her death in a Facebook post and shared photos of Zahraa in her press vest, including one where she appeared to be speaking mid-report in a tent camp.

In one Facebook post, their father, Mohammad Abu Sakhil was remembered as “the memoriser of the Book of God, the owner of the beautiful voice, the fighter for decades.” The post was accompanied by two photos of Mohammed. Another Facebook user, Abu Al-Baniyat Ali Abdul Salam Shamila, referred to Mohammad as “the martyred mujahed” – a term typically used to refer to militant fighters, and a third user, Hassan Abu Sakhil, remembered Mohammed as “the nationalist and unifier”. The sources that remembered Mohammed as a “fighter” and “muhajed” did not reference militant activity, and Airwars was unable to find an explicit connection between Mohammed and an armed group. As such, Mohammed’s civilian status has been recorded as contested. This will be updated should additional information become available.

Aya Abu Sakhil wrote that she had lost her father, sister, and brother. “Tears burned our eyes for your loss, my beloved, the most precious thing I have,” she wrote of her father, who she said would be joining his wife and “martyred cousins” in his death. Addressing her sister, she wrote that Zahraa “longed to become the greatest journalist,” and that she had “attained the greatest degrees.” Of her brother, Ahmed, she wrote of waiting “to hear [his] wonderful laughter.” She shared photos of the three members of the Sakhil family with her post. Mohammed is pictured wearing a matching black sport coat with a matching button up shirt underneath, holding an iPhone with his hands crossed as he looked into a camera. In the photo of Zahraa, she is seen wearing a blue press vest and a pink hijab as she smiles for the camera. Her brother, Ahmed, is pictured in front of a field and a bright sky, wearing a green jacket with his hands in his pockets. He shares a smile similar to the one in his father’s photo.

One of Ahmed’s friends posted on Facebook mourning his death. “You left me early, my heart aches for you … I will not forget you, my soul of a soul,” he wrote. He attached a photo of a press vest surrounded by rubble and another of Ahmed smiling for the camera in a clothing store, wearing a NASA t-shirt and holding prayer beads in his hands.

Two cousins of Mohammed Nabil Al-Sawafiri confirmed his death in a post on Facebook accompanied by a photo of Mohammed sitting outside, wearing a green puffer jacket and a white baseball cap.

A photo of a child wrapped in a makeshift shroud wearing an Adidas hoodie was posted accompanying the news of the al-Sawafiri family being killed which matches the image of the child shown in the video of the shrouds collecting following the incident, suggesting it could be Qusay.