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Airwars Assessment
On the morning of 7 November 2023, six people, including four children, were reportedly killed when an alleged Israeli airstrike hit the home of the Fouda family in the Bashit area of Yebna Refugee Camp in southern Rafah, Gaza. Safa News reported that four children were killed in the alleged Israeli attack and multiple sources, including Kuwait Specialized Hospital via Facebook, reported dozens of injuries as a result of the alleged Israeli airstrike. According to a Facebook post from the page “Fouda in Palestine and the Diaspora” the attacked home belonged to Ahmed Youssef Fouda (Abu al-Saeed).
A young man, 29-year-old Osama (Ahmed Youssef) Fouda and his 12-year-old sister, Rama Ahmed Youssef Fouda, were both reportedly killed in the attack. Safa News reported that Osama died of his injuries, and a graphic video shared on Facebook by Kuwait Specialized Hospital, where the injured were taken, showed Osama arriving in an ambulance with a severe leg injury. Ahmad Altazeb wrote on Facebook that they had spoken with Osama the day before his death about Shahada, the Islamic declaration of faith. Photos of him were shared by various sources of the young man smiling, including one on the beach. Ibrahim Abdulnabbi, via Facebook, wrote that everyone in Yebna Camp had memories of Osama.
Photos were also shared of Rama, his younger sister, including one photo shared on Facebook by their mother, Umm Saeed Fouda, of Rama in a red top with her arms crossed. She stated in her post that Rama was killed by American missiles.
An infant, Ahmed Saeed Ahmed Fouda, was reportedly killed in the attack and his father, 32-year-old Saeed Ahmed Youssef Fouda, a brother of Osama and Rama, was initially reported injured. However, both the Palestinian Ministry of Health List of Fatalities in Gaza and the website Genocide in Gaza indicated that he had been killed.
A Facebook post from Ibrahim Abdulnabbi claimed that Ahmed Saeed Fouda was just one year old at the time of his death. According to the website Genocide in Gaza, he was less than one year old.
Among the injured were the mother of Osama, Saeed and Rama, Umm Saeed, as well as Saeed’s wife and two daughters. On Facebook, Kholoud M Desoki and Hani Almayzein wished them healing.
The two other children reportedly killed in the attack were named as three-year-old Abdulrahman Ahmed Marwan Abu Taym and seven-year-old Ahmed Mustafa Abdel Rabbo Bashir. A photo shared by Noureddine Abu Hilal on Facebook showed four bodies wrapped in funeral shrouds, all of which were small, with one very small shroud, suggesting that they were all young children.
A post from the mother of Osama and Rama, Abu al-Saeed Fouda, mentioned a five-month-old baby referred to as Hagidi Ahmed, who she claimed was killed in the attack, and another Facebook account, Dawlat Mohammed Em Ali, then posted a photo of a smiling baby in a yellow onesie, also referring to him as Hagidi Ahmed. The post was probably referring to Ahmed Saeed Fouda.
Montaser Mohammed Abdel Nabi was reportedly injured in the attack, as written in a Facebook post from his cousin Ibrahim Adulnabbi, who also reported the injury of Saeed Fouda. Ibrahim reported that Montaser sustained a fractured skull as a result of the attack.
Where possible, the names of the victims have been matched with the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH) lists, which include national ID numbers. Since October 26, 2023, the MoH has released a number of lists, along with an additional list of medical professionals, which was released on September 17, 2024. Airwars is matching individuals to the first list where their name appeared. In regard to this incident, names are matched to the second “Palestinian Ministry of Health List of Fatalities in Gaza”, which was released on January 7, 2024.
Various sources, including Rafah City Official Page, claimed there were several to dozens of injuries in the Israeli airstrike, with multiple sharing photos of the scene. Mahmoud Press on Facebook shared a graphic image of people working amongst the collapsed rubble of the building to attempt to extract those injured and killed. Meanwhile, photos of the home shared by Moa’az Alhams on Facebook showed large portions of the ceiling totally collapsed and large chunks of cement rubble littered throughout the home.
Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strike to the Israeli Military.