On Wednesday October 18th 2023, at least eight civilians were killed, 22 injured and 18 reported to be missing under the rubble, when an alleged Israeli airstrike hit the Abu Makhda family home in Deir al-Balah neighbourhood in the Central Governorate, in the Gaza Strip.
Deir Al Balah Now posted on Facebook the names of five of the victims, which were corroborated by the casualty list produced by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza: 48-year old Najat al-Hawl, her husband 52-year old Dr. Salem Abu Makhda, their two sons 27-year old Anas Salem Abu Makhda and 22-year old Muhammad Salem Abu Makhda, and their daughter 17-year old Islam Salem Abu Makhda. Anas and Muhammad have not been counted as civilians due to an allegation they may have been militants (see below), though this was unconfirmed. This will be updated in event of additional information.
A post from Facebook user Sameh Hakim referred to the death of his aunt, Imtathal Ahmed Abu Makhda, along with the death of Dr. Salem and his family.
There were expressions of grief from the victims’ personal and academic communities, especially for Dr. Salem Abu Makhda, a professor in the Faculty of Sharia and Law at the Islamic University of Gaza and the Deputy Dean of the faculty who taught and supervised Master’s degree students. Salem Makhda was also described as the “deputy” to the Dean of the college, Dr. Tayseer Ibrahim. Ibrahim was the head of the judiciary in Gaza, which was under the control of the Hamas militant organisation. He was killed on October 12th, 2023 (ISPT0169) in an alleged Israeli strike.
A student of Salem Akhda, Abo Esmet Hasaneen, shared a Facebook post in which he lamented the loss of his “forensic supervisor in [his] master’s degree.” An accompanying picture shows the two in academic regalia. Dr. Salem Abu Makhda was described as a “pillar of the Faculty of Sharia and Law at the Islamic University” by another one of his students Mohammed El Madhoun in a Facebook post. El Madhoun wrote: “(…) he was the best doctor, friend, and close to the heart, and he did not spare our day with his knowledge and good character. May God accept him.”
Amr Abu Qsim further expressed his pain of losing his brother, posting pictures of Dr Salem Abu Makhd and his two sons, smiling proudly, in what appears to be a classroom.
Maher Hawali also expressed his grief for their sister Najat Hamid Al-Houli (Umm Osama)’s death, describing her as “my dear, caring, loyal, truthful, chaste, and pure sister, the educator of the memorizers and memorizers of the Qur’an” along with her husband, who was described as a “distinguished scholar, jurist, writer, and virtuous preacher and educator.” Their children Anas Salem Abu Makhda, Muhammad Salem Abu Makhda and Islam Salem Abu Makhda were described as those “who memorises the Book of God.” While both Anas and Muhammad were described as “mujahid” in the obituary – a phrase commonly used for Palestinian militants – it is unclear whether this expression referred to their potential combatant status. There were no other references to the brothers as fighters.
Jinan University in Lebanon also expressed its condolences for the family and academic colleagues of Dr. Salem Abu Makhda and his family.
Multiple news outlets, including journalist Abdul Rahman al-Ebadale, reported ten civilians dead, 22 injured and a further 18 Palestinians missing under the rubble, with ambulances and civil defence crews attempting to access the injured. Journalist Ahmad Qudeih put the number of killed at 12. Due to the possibility that two of the deceased were militants, the minimum civilian deaths has been recorded as eight.
Nadia Chedli Ben Rhaiem posted four pictures to Facebook depicting the aftermath of the airstrike, including a picture of four men carrying an injured person in a white sheet and a photo of a man throwing water on a collapsed building to extenuate the flames.
In parallel, the Interior Ministry in Gaza and the Embassy of the State of Palestine in Tajikistan corroborated this version of events in a Twitter/X post, the latter sharing a video depicting the scenes of chaos shortly after the airstrike. The video shows the collapsed building and the street covered in debris and thick dust, while men attempt to remove people from the rubble. While one person is shown carried in a white body bag, two others – a man and child – were transported by stretcher or carried. It is unclear whether they are deceased or severely injured.
A Facebook post from Um Mohammed identified the location of the Abu Makhada family home as in the Bishara neighborhood in Deir al-Balah.
Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strikes to Israeli forces.
Where possibly, names have been matched with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of fatalities in Gaza released on October 26th, 2023.
Due to the scale and urgency of Airwars’ assessment process, all images have been automatically uploaded to each assessment with the graphic filter applied to protect users. We have also included all images identified from the sources, which may also include any imagery of combatants.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
