On Tuesday, March 18, 2025, four members of the Abu Shahada family were killed and others injured in an alleged Israeli airstrike that hit their family house located on al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital Street, north of the Filter (Filtar) School in the Khawaldeh area in Deir al-Balah. According to the post by @ajmubasher, they were killed during the Tarawih prayer.

54-year-old Ayman Awad Muslim Abu Shahada; his 48-year-old wife, Najwa Mansour Ismail Abu Rakab; and their two daughters, 28-year-old Abeer Ayman Awad Abu Shahada and 25-year-old Ola Ayman Awad Abu Shahada, were named as the victims. According to sources, including Al Hayat Jamila Jamila and Waleed Abo Meshaikh on Facebook, several other people were missing after the incident, with others being injured.

Following news of the incident, friends, family, and reporters shared their condolences online. Nawaja’s sister shared her grief, asking that God “reward us for our affliction and replace it with something better.” In her post, she requested, “May Allah make it easy for you, have mercy on you, forgive you, and make you steadfast when questioned,” as she wished her sister and her family their final goodbye.

Young Abeer was acknowledged as an ambitious individual and accomplished student pursuing studies in Digital Marketing, including courses from the University System of Maryland. Her academic achievements, including certificates awarded as recently as February 2025, were highlighted as an indication of her dedication and resilience amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

The Facebook post by Deir Hub mentioned: “Abeer was an example of a persevering girl, always striving to develop her skills and achieve her ambition of obtaining a job opportunity.“ The image of the late Abeer attached to the post showed her as a young, smiling woman, wearing a black headscarf and a brown jacket.

Many sources also shared a headshot of Ayman, who was a middle-aged man with a dark moustache, wearing a grey shirt. His son, Abdullah Abu Shahada, mourned the death of his parents and sisters.

Additionally, statements shared described the impact of the loss on the community and extended support to surviving family members, emphasising the broader consequences experienced in the aftermath of the incident.

Where sources identified a belligerent, all sources attributed the strike to Israeli forces. According to the website Genocide in Gaza, the attack happened without prior warning.

Where possible, names have been matched with the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH) lists, which include national ID numbers. Airwars is matching individuals to the first list where their name appeared. In regard to this incident, names are matched to the eighth ‘Palestinian Ministry of Health List of Fatalities in Gaza’ list, which was released on March 24, 2025. Additional ages have been found by cross-checking names against lists of fatalities shared online by Genocide in Gaza (GIGaza) (https://gigaza.org/) website, which has a list of the names of “martyrs” from Israeli forces and includes the name of the victim, their age, their date of death, and the circumstances of their death.