Incident Code
Incident Date
Location
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Geolocation
Airwars Assessment
Just before 8:12 PM on December 4, 2023, a number of homes in Jabalia al-Balad, north of the Gaza Strip, were struck by an alleged Israeli airstrike and/or artillery strike, resulting in more than 15 reported fatalities among civilians and multiple injuries, most of them from the Asaliya family.
Reports of the incident spread across social media, with users such as Boumedienne Naado on Facebook providing early details, noting injuries and fatalities. As additional information emerged, other accounts, including Al Hadath Palestine, stated that the number of fatalities was “more than 15”. Some testimonies, including one from Zaki Asaliya, suggested that there were “more than 20 martyrs” from their family, the Asaliya family.
One social media user, Wasim Nbahan, shared a personal testimony about his “beloved brother, the friend, Abdul Rahman Asaliya” who was killed in the incident, accompanied by a photograph of 25-year-old Abdul wearing a dark grey T-shirt and beige trousers. Additional details about other victims were not found in local sources.
Wasim Nbahan also posted a video showing a fire blazing in the background, with the sound of explosions and aircraft audible throughout the footage.
The age of the named victim has been found by cross-checking his name against lists of fatalities shared online by Shireen Monitor, an organisation which has a list of “Martyrs of Palestine” from 2023 onward. This name was then matched to the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH) lists, which include national ID numbers. Since October 26, 2023 the MoH has released multiple 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 sixth ‘Palestinian Ministry of Health List of Fatalities in Gaza’ list, which was released on September 16, 2024
Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strike to the Israeli military.
Assessment Updates
Geolocation Notes
Reports of the incident mention the neighbourhood of Jabalia al-Balad (جباليا البلد), for which the generic coordinates are: 31.525062, 34.484781. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.