Geolocation
Airwars assessment
At dawn on November 12th 2023, an alleged Israeli airstrike killed at least four civilians in the Al-Nakhal home on Abu Hasira Street in Gaza City. At least five others were injured, including two children.
Four men were reported killed by local sources: 73-year-old father Mahmoud Hassan Mostafa al-Louh, his 36-year-old son Dr. Hammam Mahmoud Hassan al-Louh, Hammam’s 68-year-old father-in-law Dr. Khalil Ibrahim Ahmed al-Nakhal, and Hammam’s 24-year-old brother-in-law, Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim al-Nakhal.
Nour al-Nakhal, wife of Hammam, and their two children, five-year-old Kanan al-Louh and four-year-old Adam al-Louh were also reportedly injured, along with Hammam’s mother, Dr. Haifa al-Sarraj, and Nour’s brother, 37-year-old Dr. Ibrahim Khalil al-Nakhal. Other family members were also reportedly injured, with other individuals said to be missing and stuck under the rubble.
On the day of the alleged attack, family and community members posted on social media, requesting immediate help for those killed and injured in a strike on Abu Hasira Street. Mahmoud’s daughter, Shaymaa, posted: “Urgent appeal: Please rescue the injured in the bombing of the Al-Nakhala house on Abu Hasira Street. Kindly appeal to the ambulance teams and the Red Cross.”
Around the same time, Ala’a Abed Al Razeq Abo Ouda, one of Mahmoud’s three daughters, posted to Facebook, writing “Dr. Khalil Al-Nakhal’s house on Abu Hasira Street, across from Al Basma Kindergarten, was bombed. We need someone to rescue those who are still alive; we can’t reach anyone…The men were martyred, and Dr. Al-Nakhal’s son is injured and needs a stretcher. We need urgent help.”
Members of the Al-Nakhal family, including Facebook user Mohammad Alnakhala, posted similar appeals.
On Facebook, Mohammed A Almanassra identified Dr. Khalil’s injured son as Dr. Ibrahim Khalil al-Nakhala. He added that there were “other injured people trapped in [the] home. Everyone is still trapped inside the house.”
On the same day, well-known Palestinian content creator Saleh al-Jafarawi posted a video to Instagram that was shared widely across platforms. In the video, Saleh echoes Shaymaa and Ala’a’s calls, saying “There are people dear to my heart, my family. They live on Abu Hasira Street near Al-Shifa Hospital, from Al-Nakhal family. Their daughter called me at Fajr time. She said their home was struck with a missile. Her father and brother were martyred, and her other brother is severely injured and is dying in front of her eyes. She told me that her injured brother is between life and death in front of the hospital and no one is able to help him. Her brother-in-law…[was] martyred as well, and the survivors of the strike are now surrounded.”
Saleh added that he’d been “trying to call the Red cross, ambulances, and national guard, but they all said they can’t reach the area” because “it’s an active conflict zone…If we go anywhere near it we will get bombed.” He finished the video pleading with viewers to contact the Red Cross and ask for their help.
Saleh also said that his friend’s niece was martyred in the alleged strike, but with no other sources referring to a woman/girl being killed, this reference is counted in Airwars’ upper-casualty range only. This assessment will be updated should additional information come to light.
That same day, Mahmoud’s son Mohammed posted to Facebook, writing, “O God, accept our righteous martyrs in the highest heavens, and strengthen our hearts, inspire us with patience, and heal our chests for our separation from my beloved, my compassionate father, Engineer/ Mahmoud Hassan Al-Louh, and my only brother, Dr./ Hammam Mahmoud Al-Louh, who were martyred at dawn on Sunday, November 12, 2023.”
At about 5 pm local time, Rafik Hamadouch posted to Facebook, writing that following his communication with Nour al-Nakhala (Hammam’s wife) and Nour’s sister-in-law Dr. Shaymaa Al-Louh Al-Ashi (who was based “in the USA”), it was confirmed that Khalil, Mahmoud, Hammam, and Ahmed had all been killed.
Rafik added, “In total, 26 people were in the house, including other injured individuals”. In the post, Rafik goes on to name Ibrahim among the injured, as well as Hammam’s wife Nour, their children, and Hammam’s mother, Dr. Haifa Al-Sarraj.
Rafik closed the post writing that the surviving family members were, “unable to leave, recover the martyrs, or treat the wounded, as they have been trapped since 4:00 AM on Sunday…The Red Cross representative in Gaza was contacted, but no concrete response regarding assistance was given because movement is subject to the occupying forces.”
While Rafik referred to Hammam and Nour’s “three children” among the injured, other sources more frequently named and referenced two children when referring to Hammam and Nour. This discrepancy is reflected in the upper and lower injury ranges for children.
The day after, Hanaa, one of Mahmoud’s three daughters posted to Facebook, mourning her father, she wrote “There are no words that do you justice, my beloved…You taught us the meaning of steadfastness, and you made us yearn for departure.” In another post, Hanaa shared a prayer to Facebook, where she asked that God “accept [her] father”.
Five days after the attack, Shaymaa Alloh Ashi posted to Facebook, writing “I extend my condolences on behalf of myself and my mother, Dr. Haifa Al-Sarraj, and the children of the martyr, Engineer Mahmoud Al-Louh (Engineer Ala’a, Engineer Hanaa, Engineer Mohammed, and the family of the martyr Dr. Hammam Al-Louh).”
In another post to Facebook, Shaymaa referred to Mahmoud as, “My dearly beloved father, engineer Mahmoud Hassan Al-Loh…” and to Hamma as her “dearly beloved brother, the brilliant doctor, Hammam Mahmoud Al-Loh”.
On April 9th 2024 – the date marking Eid al-Fitr – Hanaa posted to facebook, writing “Today is the first Eid without you, our love [Mahmoud]…and without the beloved Abu Adam [Hamaam]…” She added, “My beloved father, the martyr, always insisted on maximising the Eid rituals, especially if it was the first Eid after the loss of a loved one, he refused to let the dead’s family repeat their sorrows on Eid, especially on the first day…He used to say: (Go and visit the graves at any time, and the eternal resurrection from the dead on the day of Eid)…” Hanaa finished her post, writing, “May God have mercy on you, O Father, and have mercy on you Hammam”.
A few months later, nearly a year after the her father and brother were killed, Hanaa posted to Facebook, writing “When [my father] would speak about those who preceded him as martyrs, he would say: ‘Among them are those who have fulfilled their vow, and among them are those who are waiting’ (while pointing to his chest), ‘and they did not change in the least.’” Here, Hanaa remembers Mahmoud quoting Surah al-Ahzab (33:23). She went on to write that, in speaking of Palestine, Mahmoud would say “’This is a land of steadfastness, and no oppressor thrives here. It is holy land, my dear.’”
Professionally, Mahmoud was remembered as an engineer. Mahmoud graduated from Mansoura University in Egypt, where his Facebook profile specifies that he studied electrical engineering.
An image originally shared by Mahmoud’s son Mohammed but circulated widely, shows Mahmoud and Hammam standing in front of a mosque resembling the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, smiling at the camera. In the image, the elder Al-Louh is seen with dark, greying hair, grey stubble, and a face mask around his chin.
Professionally, Hammam was known as the only kidney disease and transplant specialist in Gaza and “ranked first in the Jordanian and Arab [medical] boards”. At the time of his killing, he was a surgeon at Al-Shifa Hospital. Having graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at Sana’a University in Yemen, Hammam went on to specialise in nephrology in Jordan. According to sources like @HamaCris and @Mohd_Alhaj1992 on X/Twitter, despite job offers and other opportunities, Hammam chose to return to Gaza instead of staying in Jordan. According to his Facebook profile, he moved to Gaza City in 2021.
Sources online referenced Hammam’s decision to stay in Gaza City despite the Israeli military’s October 13, 2023 order in which over one million people were given 24-hours to evacuate south of Wadi Gaza. X/Twitter user Mohammed Alhaj wrote that Hammam “refus[ed] to leave [his] patients behind and go to the south”.
Colleague Omar Taha also shared memories of Hammam: “I remember him at Sana’a University…He was in the second year…He used to discuss medical topics with his fellow sixth-year students and residents – at that time – in an amazing way that made them unable to keep up with him”.
Dr. Manar M. Shawabkeh also posted a tribute to Hammam. Writing to Facebook, he wrote “A few days ago, I contacted [Hammam] to check on him and his family.” Attached to the post was a screenshot of a conversation between Hammam and Manar. In it, Manar says “if there is any way we can help, please let us know.” Hammam responded, writing “I just need your prayers.”
X/Twitter user Hamzé Attar remembered a 2003 “summer scholarship” trip with Hammam “for students studying French”. Hamzé wrote that Hammam was “kind, successful in his studies, and had a heart that could fit the universe!”
Several other independent sources on X/Twitter shared their grief in Hammam’s passing, and praised his courage. The same sources reported variations of a quote attributed to an interview he completed with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! about two weeks before he was killed: “If I leave, who will treat the patients? They are human beings who deserve health care, not animals. Do you think I studied medicine for 14 years to think about my life and leave the patients? No, I won’t leave.”
Speaking with Amy, Hammam also said that in the weeks prior, he would remind his children that “at least we still have a house with a door to close”. He said that his four- and five-year-old children “ surprisingly […] accept[ed] this as a comfort”. In the interview, Hammam reminds listeners that other families, similar to his own, had been displaced, forcing them to live amongst “waste water [and] garbage”.
Following his death, on November 13, Democracy Now! aired an interview with a friend and former colleague of Hammam’s, Dr. Ben Thomson. In the interview, Ben said “If he was here talking to you, he would have been very clear about what he wanted…he was an optimist, yes…but he also…faced…very difficult circumstances…every day: seeing his colleagues being killed, working in hospitals with no water, no food, no electricity, knowing that his patients who required dialysis treatment three times a week to survive, knowing that they’d be dead within a week without electricity, all thousand of them throughout Gaza…knowing that, he still went to work.”
Speaking to Hammam’s spirit, on August 26th 2023, Hammam re-shared a Facebook post describing a story involving Viktor Frankl, “one of the most important psychiatrists of the twentieth century” who “survived death camps in Germany”. The post tells the story of a call that Frankl received late one night from a woman who was contemplating ending her life. Frankl talks to her, and at the end of the call, she says she will not end her life. He asks her what persuaded her to keep living, and she said it was Frankl’s decision to listen to her at midnight. The post ends with the line “A world where there is someone willing to listen to the pain of others is a world worth living in.”
Photos shared of Hammam show a dark haired man in a lab coat, stethoscope around his neck, wearing glasses, with hands clasped on the desk in front of him, as he smiles toward the camera.
Dr. Khalil al-Nakhal was also grieved, alongside his son, Ahmed. Posting to Facebook, Reema Nakhal referred to Dr. Khalil as “the Director of the Anesthesia Department at Al-Shifa Hospital.”
Also on Facebook, user Mohammed A. Almanassra remembered Khalil as “honourable and esteemed” and referred to Ahmed as an engineer.
Other users offered prayers for “Dr. Ibrahim Khalil al-Nakhal and the rest of the injured who are trapped in their home”.
Posting to Facebook, Khalil’s second cousin Leena Nakhal added that, “A group of family members are still under the rubble”. Posting to Facebook, Akram Nakhal echoed this sentiment.
At the time of writing, Airwars was unable to find sources detailing what happened to those who were reportedly still trapped under the rubble. This assessment will be updated should more information come to light.
A photo shared of Khalil shows an older man with grey hair, wearing a suit, smiling at the camera.
The majority of sources, including family sources, shared that a family house was struck, with most referring to the home as Khalil’s, which was in the vicinity of Al-Shifa Medical Complex. Sources agree that Hammam, Mahmoud, Khalil, and Ahmed were killed inside. Ibrahim was injured, and other family members were reportedly trapped under the rubble.
Mahmoud is survived by his wife Dr. Haifa al-Sarraj, his daughters Shaymaa, Ala’a, and Hanaa, and his son, Mohammed.
Hammam is survived by his wife Nour al-Nakhal, his five-year-old daughter Kanan, his four-year-old son Adam, and perhaps another child; as well as as his mother, brother, and sisters, named above.
Where possible, names have been matched with the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH) lists, which include national ID numbers. Since October 26, 2023 the MoH has released six lists, along with an additional list of medical professionals, which was released on September 16, 2024. Airwars is matching individuals to the first list where their name appeared. In regard to this incident, names are matched to the fifth Palestinian Ministry of Health List of Fatalities in Gaza list, released on June 30th 2024.
Khalil and Hammam’s names were also matched to a list released by the MoH on September 17th 2024. According to the MoH, the list includes the names, IDs, and professional information associated with health professionals who were killed between October 7, 2023 and July 31, 2024.
Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strike to the Israeli military.
The incident occured around dawn.
The victims were named as:
Family members (9)
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the vicinity of the Al Basma Kindergarten (روضة البسمة) in Gaza City (مدينة غزة), for which the generic coordinates are: 31.527059, 34.440291. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
Summary
Sources (85) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (89) [ collapse]
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Source: @iirode0
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Source: @Mohd_Alhaj1992
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Source: Mohammed A. Almanassra
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Source: Al doctor Mohammed Hassan Al Thanibat -
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Source: Rabetat a’elat Al Louh -
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Source: Nihal Mustafa -
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Source: Leena Nakhal -
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Source: Hanaa Mahmoud Alloh -
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Source: Mostafa Elstohy -
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Source: Mohammed Ali Al shehab -
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Source: Hikayat w Ebar -
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Source: Waleed Shami -
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Source: Medicine & surgery at Mutah university -
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Source: Dr. Ala'a Naddaf -
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Source: Mohammed Alloh -
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