Airwars assessment
Israeli airstrikes killed as many as 106 civilians in a series of attacks on the Al Maghazi camp on December 24th, 2023. The Israeli military which acknowledged the attack, claiming that it was targeting Hamas operatives. Israeli forces admitted to the “unintended” harm to civilians, due to “mistakenly” having hit adjacent structures. Military officials also reported that they had used the wrong weapon.
The airstrikes hit residential homes in a block in Al-Maghazi camp near Deir al Balah in the central Gaza Strip. Most sources reported on the strikes after 11pm local time, though Safa news in their reporting put timestamps of 7.57pm when mentioning strikes on the Al-Nawasrah family home in the Maghazi camp. By 9.10pm, the same source reported that two other family homes had also been hit – belonging to the Muslim (Musallam) and Sisalem families, killing at least 15 civilians.
Other sources reporting on the Muslim family often identified the Ghaban family home as having been hit at the same time, while Facebook user Mohammad Ghanam also reported two other homes had been hit; belonging to the Abu Hamida family and the family home of Professor Abu Iyad Abu Rahma.
Speaking to Unicorn Riot, Mahmoud Abu Rahma, a survivor of the incident, said: “Suddenly we were targeted by a very huge missile, and we could not see anything, and fog prevailed everywhere. As we tried to inhale the air, smoke entered our mouths. We fled, not knowing where to go, and our hands and feet were torn apart. The hands of the children and adults and everyone in the place were torn. Thank God we got out in peace, but I don’t know what to say.”
Mahmoud Abu Rahma went on to say that residents of the Maghazi Refugee Camp never received any warning to evacuate. He also described the bombing as “more massive and horrific destruction than we had ever imagined before.”
Another surviving resident, Ashraf al-Haj Ahmed, told Al Jazeera that the attack happened suddenly and without any prior warning. “At around 11:30pm that night, we witnessed a series of large explosions that shook the entire camp”. His relative’s home was among those that were flattened to the ground. Al-Haj Ahmed recalled running towards it as soon as the bombardment woke him up, just a few blocks down. At the scene of the attack, he found a four-story building destroyed “on top of those who were living in it”.
A Facebook user Mohammad Hazem Al-Masry shared a picture of the dead bodies covered with white cloth lying of the ground in front of a building, possibly a hospital. Raya FM reported that the Abu Rahma family home was behind the Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq Mosque in Al-Maghazi camp.
A survivor told the Times of Gaza: “We had around 100 people taking refuge in our home. Suddenly while we were peacefully in the house – we were all civilians, and it was mostly children who were killed. We saw missiles falling on our heads.”
Al Jazeera shared an image by Adel Hana showing the outside of an al-Nawasrah family home that was destroyed in the attack. A series of images taken by Ali Jadallah for Anadolu Agency and shared by Al Jazeera showed men and children looking at the rubble left from one of the buildings and women returning to their neighbourhood just to find rubble.
Death tolls
Local resident Ahmed Maghari told Al Jazeera journalists that many victims were difficult to identify: “We pulled out so many body parts that we can’t even estimate the total number of deaths yet,” Maghari said. “They’re all in pieces, and we’re pulling them out with our bare hands,” he added. “We’ve now gathered at least two piles of body parts.”
Referring to the government media office in Gaza, soon after the incident Alghad TV reported that more than 66 civilians had been killed as a result of the attack. Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital officials said that 68 civilians, including at least 12 women and seven children, had died as reported by Associated Press on December 24, 2023. The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights alleged that at least 86 people were killed in the attack, and many more were injured. Handwritten hospital records later obtained by the Associated Press indicated that 106 people had been killed across eight different families.
At the time, spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Ashraf al Qudra, said that the number of people killed was expected to rise and accused Israel of “carrying out a massacre in a densely populated residential area”. Entire residential blocks were wiped out. “In each home, there’s a minimum of 50 people.” Ahmed Maghari, another Maghazi resident, told Al Jazeera. “A lot of them are displaced Palestinians from other parts of Gaza who were forced to flee their homes.”
The death toll rose after more bodies were recovered from the rubble. A Facebook user Moaz Ismail reported that there were 100 victims of the attack, sharing an image of the funeral were dozens of bodies in white shrouds are seen lying on the ground surrounded by large crowd of mourners, engaged in funeral prayers. Al Jazeera also shared a striking image showing the funeral from above, while an image by Ashraf Amra for Anadolu Agency showed an injured man lying on a stretcher attending a funeral. In another report Al Jazeera shared an image of a Palestinian woman dressed in black, grieving over the bodies of her loved ones.
Al Jazeera Palestine shared a Facebook video also showing dozens of bodies in white shrouds with the inscription “68 martyrs from one family”. The video showed a man lying on the ground, embracing a dead body of his loved one.
A Twitter/X video by @sI3RAlpzpeAAjjv also showed bodies of the dozens of victims in the hospital of Al-Aqsa and people who came to search for their relatives. A Twitter/X account @palestino_free shared a graphic image of a dead infant accompanying a caption relating the image to the incident in Al-Maghazi camp.
Two sources, @TamamBeitJirja and @RamAbdu, alleged that Israeli forces later fired on mourners at the funeral for the al-Nawasra family in the Al-Maghazi cemetery the next day, on Decemeber 25th 2023, reportedly killing 5 people.
Names identified
Airwars gathered names from testimonies of family relatives posted after the incident, with a number of details shared in a Facebook post by Beit Hanoun about casualties within the Nasser Family. This testimony as well as tributes by the family relatives Dina Nasser and Hassan Nasser helped to identify some victims of the deadly bombardment and their family connections. 49 civilians killed in this strike have been identified by Airwars researchers so far.
Dina’s and Hassan’s uncle Samih Ali Nasser (Abu Imad) was killed alongside his wife and their five children – three sons (one of them named Badr Samih Nasser) and two daughters. Samih’s sister and wife of the late Jamal Abd Rabbo Al-Zaanin, Naima Ali Nasser was also killed along with her four children – a daughter and three sons. Dina’s cousin and nephew of Samih, Haitham Hani Nasser (Abu Yahya) was killed along with his children, a son called Yahya and a daughter named Nour. Beit Hanoun City shared an image of the late Samih – a middle-aged man in a black shirt and a grey suit.
Another of Dina’s aunts, the wife of Maher Al-Shanbari, Rawda Ali Nasser (Umm Qusay) was also killed alongside her three children – a son and two daughters. The death of Rawda was mourned in a tribute by AWDA Health & Community Association where she was remembered as a nurse and colleague who used to work at the Al Awda Health and Community Center – Beit Hanoun. AWDA wrote “to the martyrs who are more honorable than us all… a thousand mercy” and shared an image of Rawda, a middle aged woman in a white hijab.
Hassan’s three cousins were killed with their families: Iyad Rafiq Hussein Nasser (Abu Mahdi) was killed alongside his wife and their nine children (one of them Doua Iyad Rafiq Nasser); Muhammad Rafiq Hussein Nasser (Abu Arab) was killed alongside his nine family members, including his son Arafat Muhammad Rafiq Nasser; and Hussein Rafiq Hussein Nasser (Abu Jihad) was killed alongside all his family members. It is possible that some of these family members are accounted for in the previous tally – Airwars has taken a conservative approach in our lower estimates to avoid duplication.
Nidal Rafiq Hussein Nasser was also named among those killed, alongside all his family members including his only daughter. Ahmed Fouad Abdel Hadi Nasser (Abu Amin) was killed along with his niece Mai Jihad Fouad Nasser, and his cousin Ahmed Rafiq Hussein Nasser.
Al-hawaneen center shared some images of the victims on Facebook, including Ahmed Fouad Nasser, Haitham Hani Nasser and Badr Samih Nasser. From the images Ahmed and Badr appear as middle aged men while Haitham looks very young, possibly a teenager.
The founder of the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund Steve Sosebee posted a memorial for Izzeddin Nawasrah who was killed in the bombing of Maghazi and told his story: “Izzeddin was 16y in 2018 when an Israeli sniper shot him in the leg during a Great Return March protest in Gaza…. He lost his leg and forever was to live as a cripple. We wanted to get him walking again so he could finish school.” Izzeddin came to the US for care in 2019. “Izzeddin came without his family and was welcomed by the Palestinian community in Harrisburg, PA. He stayed for months, having a new leg built and learning to walk again. During his time in the US Izzeddin learned to represent the youth of Gaza. He was always smiling and positive, despite his injury, and trying to inspire other young people. He learned to give speeches and inspire others. Once Izzeddin returned home, I started a group with 10 other amputees who we treated over the years and they called themselves “We Can!” I started to mentor them on how to run humanitarian programs and projects, especially food distributions for poor people in Gaza’s camps. We also created an amputee program in Gaza, which Izzeddin played an important role. Hundreds of kids with limb deficiencies joined together to support each other and created a community… Izzeddin had a special talent in taking photos so we trained him in that so he could support our communications efforts. He was good. The murder of this shining young man is just one of countless stories of senseless death and misery. We cannot let the killing of Izzeddin to stop us.”
In a post on Facebook, published the morning after the incident, Ahmad Ghanam Abu Akar reported the death of Nidaa Al-Hajj Ahmed and five of her young children. Four daughters named Nidaa, Lian, Lana and Rana as well as her six-month-old boy, Hamada. Abu Akar offered his condolences to Nidaa’s husband, Ibrahim Al-Hajj Youssef, and their eldest son, Muhammed, who survived the incident but had been injured. Abu Akar reported that the bodies of Nidaa and her five children had not yet been recovered.
Among the victims of the strikes was a Palestinian artist, playwright and actor named Ahed Abu Hamda. He was 25 years old and a drama teacher who worked with Theatre Days, a Gaza-based community theatre. His death was reported by the organization Artists On The Frontline reported on Wednesday, 27th December. Candid images posted on social media showed Ahed in a theatre engaging in some drama training with other young people.
An elderly man named Hajj Ahmed Hassan Abdel-Jawad was reportedly killed amongst others killed and injured in the bombing that hit the Abu Rahma family home. A Facebook page called Al-Maghazi Now reported his death and posted a picture of him from before the incident.
Injured civilians
Referencing the government media office in Gaza, Alghad TV reported that dozens of civilians were also injured as a result of the attack on al-Maghazi camp. A Facebook user Rashed Kabariti also wrote about dozens of injured civilians recovered after the strike on the homes of Musallam, Sisalem, and al-Nawasra Families.
A video shared by Al Jazeera Egypt on Facebook showed rescue efforts and how injured civilians were evacuated from the place of the airstrike. A video posted by Ahmad El Hajj on Twitter/X showed how a group of men were carrying out a body (unclear whether a person was injured or killed) to an ambulance in the darkness. Similarly, Twitter/X user Heba rawashdeh shared images of men carrying a person on a stretcher in the darkness.
The Palestinian Red Crescent published footage from al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital, in Deir al-Balah, showing dazed and bloodied children covered in dust. There were also dozens of white body bags.
Alhaya media also shared images of injured children and adults taken by Hani Abourezq for Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda. They featured a girl with a damaged eye and a big scar across her forehead, a small girl with a bandaged head, another small girl with a head injury and an elderly woman covered with dust with a wound on her forehead.
Associated Press journalists at a hospital in Deir al-Balah watched frantic Palestinians carry the dead, including a baby, and other wounded individuals. One bloodied young girl looked stunned while her body was checked for broken bones.
Among the injured was a daughter of Abu Rami Abu al-Ais who shared his story with Al Jazeera. Abu Rami said that he and his family had been sheltering in Maghazi ever since he left his home in the al-Zahra neighbourhood. “We had a home in al-Zahra, which came under attack. After coming here, the house we were staying in was bombed again.”
Aftermath of the strikes and rescue efforts
Al-Maghazi camp is one of the most densely populated refugee camps in the Gaza Strip, hosting many displaced people from Northern Gaza. An article published by Al Jazeera reported that, according to the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNWRA), the camp typically housed around 30,000 people but had grown to over 100,000 due to the displacement of residents from the north of the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the campaign.
Describing the aftermath of the strikes, Al Jazeera wrote that residents of the camp returned to their neighbourhood to find only blocks of concrete lying where their homes had stood. “These houses are destroyed. Our house was bombed,” Abu Rami Abu al-Ais commented to Al Jazeera on Monday, December 25th, standing in the debris. Another survivor, who lost several family members in the incident told AP “There’s no safe place in the Gaza Strip.”
Himyar media shared striking images taken for Reuters that showed the widespread destruction of the buildings in the al-Maghazi camp from above.
Abu Rami Abu al-Ais, a displaced person who had been sheltering in al-Maghazi camp, told Al Jazeera that people were still collecting the remains of their friends, neighbours and relatives with their bare hands.
“We found the remains of women and children who were blown up. Their body parts have been scattered over a span of about three blocks,” due to the intensity of the strikes, al-Ais said. “It was a very dark and painful night for Maghazi,” he recalled. “The widespread and sheer destruction is indescribable.”
Al-Ais also added that there were no excavators that could help speed up the process of recovering people from under the blocks of concrete. The lack of much-needed fuel to operate bulldozers and vehicles meant that – just like civil defence teams in Gaza – residents were digging with their bare hands to attempt to recover as many victims from under the rubble as they can.
A number of videos showing the rescue efforts and excavation of dead bodies were shared on social media. A video shared by Twitter/X account @zamanalwsl showed how local residents were searching the rubble for survivors. A very graphic video shared by Twitter/X account @sa12yj showed a dead body of a young man or a teenager found amidst the rubble and being taken away by a group of men. A Facebook video shared by Al Jazeera Palestine captured the rescue efforts and the moment that people see a hand of the victim under the concrete block – but it is not clear whether this person was dead or alive.
Reaction from the Israeli military
In a statement sent to CNN and other media, the Israeli military (the IDF) confirmed that they were responsible for the strikes: “During operations in the Gaza Strip against Hamas terrorist targets, IAF fighter jets struck two targets adjacent to which Hamas operatives were located on December 24, 2023.”
“Before the strikes were carried out, steps were taken by the IDF to mitigate harm to uninvolved civilians in the area. A preliminary investigation revealed that additional buildings located near the targets were also hit during the strikes, which likely caused unintended harm to uninvolved civilians,” the IDF said further as reported by CNN on December 28, 2023.
According to the Israeli media outlet Haaretz, on Thursday, December 28, 2023, Kan public broadcaster reported that, according to a Israeli military official, “the type of munition did not match the nature of the attack, so extensive collateral damage was caused – which could have been avoided.”
Associated Press also reported that Eylon Levy, an Israeli government spokesman, told Britain’s Sky News that the wrong munition was used in the strike, leading to “a regrettable mistake.”
CNN reported that IDF had said the strikes would be further investigated by the General Staff’s Fact Finding and Assessment Mechanism. The Times of Israel reported that the army “regret(ted) the harm caused to uninvolved civilians and was acting to draw conclusions and learn lessons from this event”.
At the time of publication of this incident, the outcome of the investigation has not been made public.
Name reconciliation
Where possible, names have been reconciled with published Palestinian Ministry of Health lists. With thanks to journalist Alexandre Horn from CheckNews for identifying relevant sources, and Data Tech for Palestine for centralising the datasets. In the process of reconciliation it became clear that the surnames Nasser and al-Nawasrah are used interchangeably and refer to the same family. The civilian casualty list below has recorded the surnames in line with the MoH lists.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
The victims were named as:
Family members (39)
Family members (7)
The victims were named as:
Geolocation notes (1) [ collapse]
Reports of the incident mention Al Maghazi (المغازي). Analysing audio-visual material from sources, we have narrowed the location down to the following exact coordinates: 31.427802, 34.382557.
Summary
Sources (100) [ collapse]
Media
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Source: CNN newsMen recover the body of a victim killed in the aftermath of an overnight Israeli strike at al-Maghazi refugee camp on December 25, 2023, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. (Photo by Mahmud HAMS / AFP) -
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Israeli Military Assessment:
Original strike reports
During “operations in the Gaza Strip against Hamas terrorist targets, IAF fighter jets struck two targets adjacent to which Hamas operatives were located on December 24, 2023,” the IDF said in a statement sent to CNN.
“Before the strikes were carried out, steps were taken by the IDF to mitigate harm to uninvolved civilians in the area. A preliminary investigation revealed that additional buildings located near the targets were also hit during the strikes, which likely caused unintended harm to additional uninvolved civilians.”