Around 3 p.m. on Friday, October 17, 2025, eleven members of the Abu Shaaban family, including two women and seven children, were killed when Israeli tanks attacked the Peugeot pickup truck transporting the family on Salah al-Din Street at the Al-Kuwaiti Roundabout in the Al-Zeitoun neighbourhood, south of Gaza City. A twelfth person, a family member, was the sole survivor, managing to escape the area and report the tragedy.
The Israeli military reportedly claimed that the vehicle had crossed the “yellow line,” behind which the occupation army withdrew. The “yellow line” is a term that became widespread following the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, which came into effect on October 10. It refers to the areas within the Gaza Strip to which the Israeli army withdrew and where it is now stationed.
Responding to questions from the BBC regarding the incident, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said a “suspicious vehicle was identified crossing the yellow line and approaching IDF troops operating in the northern Gaza Strip” on Friday, prompting it to fire “warning shots” towards the vehicle. It said the vehicle “continued to approach the troops in a way that caused an imminent threat to them” and “troops opened fire to remove the threat, in accordance with the agreement.” The strike status for this incident has been updated to declared based off of this statement from the IDF, reported by the BBC. This will be updated should additional information become available.
According to pchrgaza, civil defense teams initially recovered the bodies of nine people, including four children and two women. The bodies of two additional children were initially missing, and it was later reported that their bodies had been attacked by dogs, separating them from the site of the killing.
In the final list of casualties circulated by online sources, seven children were reported killed. Twitter/X account @PalinfoAr reported the incident in the evening of Friday, writing that the death toll in this incident was eleven members of one family. The bodies were transferred to the Baptist (Al-Ahli) Hospital in Al-Zeitoun.
Civil Defense in Gaza and @Mohamed Ali Alsanusi on Facebook initially reported that one injured boy was rescued, but other sources did not corroborate the information on the injuries. Therefore, it is likely that he succumbed to his injuries.
The family was reportedly attempting to return to their home in the Zeitoun neighbourhood and inspect their house. According to the statement by Hamas, a tank shell was fired directly at their vehicle.
The news website Alsiasi provided the names and ages of the victims.
38-year-old Ihab Mohammed Nasser Abu Shaaban was killed alongside his 36-year-old wife Randa Majed Muhammad Abu Shaaban and their four children: three sons, 12-year-old Nasser Ihab Mohammed Nasr Abu Shaaban, six-year-old Ibrahim Ihab Abu Shaaban, and five-year-old Muhammad Ihab Abu Shaaban, and a 10-year-old daughter Jumana Ihab Abu Shaaban.
Ihab’s sister, Samar Muhammad Nasser, was killed along with her husband, 43-year-old Sufian Othman Shaaban, and their children, 10-year-old Karam Sufian Shaaban, eight-year-old Anas Sufian Shaaban, and 12-year-old daughter Nasma Sufian Shaaban.
On Facebook, Mnazly Fawzi mourned the loss of his “dear friend and beloved neighbour”, Sufyan Othman Shaaban (Abu Othman), and his family. He wrote, “Our eyes are filled with tears, our hearts are heavy with grief, and we are truly saddened by your loss.”
Abu Shaaban Family Council – Gaza on Facebook also mourned the loss of the family.
A video shared by WAFA News Agency on Facebook showed a number of corpses in white shrouds being brought from a vehicle and later lying on the ground. Speaking at the family’s funeral held at the Baptist (Al-Ahli) Hospital, speaking to WAFA News, a paramedic said that artillery shells killed nine citizens who were pulled from the scene, adding that there were two other family members – children – who were also reportedly killed. Another paramedic said that the bodies of the two missing children were likely attacked by dogs after the Israeli tank fire.
Hossam Youssef on Facebook shared a graphic image of seven white shrouds, reporting that the “Abu Sha’aban family that was destroyed,” adding that seven children were among those killed. In the image, the faces of four small children are visible through the shrouds, with some of them carrying the traces of blood. Three other shrouded bodies are also visible in the image, though it is unclear if they are the bodies of the three other children reportedly killed in this incident.
The images shared from the place of the incident by @refugeesps on Twitter/X showed the destroyed vehicle and the body of one of the children on the ground, partly blurred.
This incident was widely condemned as a violation of the ceasefire agreement. In particular, Hamas condemned in a statement what it described as Israel’s “major violation” of the agreement, demanding that the Israeli occupation be “restrained” from committing these “massacres.”
The sources conflicted on the nature of the attack. While Hamas and claimed that the family was killed from a tank shell, some other sources, including Civil Defense in Gaza, claimed that there was artillery shelling.