Shortly before 6 p.m. on March 18th, 2025, one individual was reportedly killed in Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip, as a result of the alleged Israeli airstrike. The victim was identified through social media testimonies as a 28-year-old man, Yahya Mahmoud Khalil al-Astal (Abu Tariq).

The age of Yahya Mahmoud Khalil Al-Astal was verified by cross-referencing names with the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH) casualty lists, which include national ID numbers. Since October 26th, 2023, the MoH has periodically released updated lists, along with an additional list of medical professionals published on September 17th, 2024. Airwars matches individuals to the first MoH list in which their name appears. In this case, Yahya’s name appeared on multiple lists, but was the first mentioned in the eighth “Palestinian Ministry of Health List of Fatalities in Gaza”, which was released on March 24, 2025.

The name of Yahya also appeared on the list of Shireen Monitor and Genocide in Gaza, which has the lists of “martyrs” of the Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip. According to the Genocide in Gaza, Yahya was 28 years of age at the time of his death, married and was killed in the alleged Israeli airstrike on Khan Younis, which happened without prior notice. His given name, Abu Tariq, suggests that he had at least one son named Tariq.

Expressions of grief and remembrance for Yahya circulated widely on social media. The al-Astal family website published a statement announcing his death and shared a photograph of him wearing a black blazer, white shirt, and black-and-white polka-dot tie, smiling into the camera. This image was widely reshared across social media platforms.

On Facebook, Belal Ibraheem offered prayers for his “beloved cousin and brother,” sharing another image of Yahya in a casual t-shirt, smiling warmly despite the background showing rubble and ruins. Other users, such as Mohammad al-Astal, posted more somber photographs showing Yahya’s body in a white shroud as relatives and community members mourned beside him.

Many social media sources referred to the victim as “Sheikh”, and Facebook user Sufyan al-Aqqad referred to him as “the martyred scholar and memorizer of the Holy Quran.” Apparently, Yahya was a religious scholar, although the sources do not provide additional information.

According to the Facebook post by “Khan Younis City gathers us”, Yahya al-Astal was killed “before the Maghrib call to prayer”, which was due at 17:59 local time.

Although the social media sources did not attribute the death of Yahya to any belligerent, his name was found on the Palestinian Ministry of Health list and on the websites Shireen Monitor and Genocide in Gaza. All these lists contain the names of the victims of the Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip, and hence are considered an attribution of their deaths to the Israeli military. The Genocide in Gaza also explicitly claimed that he had been killed in the alleged Israeli airstrike on Khan Younis.