In the early morning of July 15, 2024, four members of the Al-Sharfa family – a married couple with their two small children – were killed by an alleged Israeli bombardment on their home in the Al-Tuffah neighbourhood, east of Gaza City.

Lawyer Ibrahim Hamdi al-Sharafa was killed alongside his wife Sally Yassin al-Sharafa, their son Hamdi Ibrahim al-Sharafa, and their daughter Almas Ibrahim al-Sharafa. Multiple sources emphasized that “the entire family” was killed.

Various sources, such as MsdrNews and Activist Mohammed Saeed on Facebook, described the destruction of a residential apartment belonging to the Al-Sharafa family, where all four family members were killed.

Independent sources confirmed the four deaths on Facebook, listing the Al-Sharafa names and sharing grief. Photos of the father and lawyer Ibrahim Hamdi al-Sharafa were shared in such posts, for example by the Al-Tuffah neighbourhood Facebook page, which wrote, “The neighbourhood’s moon, Ibrahim Hamdi Al-Sharafa. And his wife…Join the constellation of neighbourhood moons” alongside Ibrahim Hamdi’s photo, showing a young man in his 30s with a combed brown hair and a trimmed beard, wearing a suit.

A video shared by Facebook user Beso Ana demonstrated surviving friends’ commitments to praying for the “soul of martyr/Ibrahim Hamdi Al-Sharafa, his wife and children”. The video, of a phone open to a picture of Ibrahim, was taken in Mecca.

Other photos shared by Ibrahim Hamdi’s cousin Tasneem Huweiti on Facebook showed toddler Hamdi Ibrahim being held by his father, their hair in matching combed-back styles, and Almas Ibrahim in a separate photo, a baby girl smiling a toothless smile in the direction of the camera. The photos were captioned, “…the eye sheds tears, the heart grieves, and we are saddened by your departure…”.  Based on the images, the children were no older than two years of age.

Where sources identified the belligerent, multiple sources used the word “targeting” and pointed to the involvement of the “occupation”. Such references likely point to the Israeli military.