Shortly before 11am on Wednesday, October 18th 2023, at least 26 Palestinian civilians, including at least seven women and seventeen children, one of them a 4-month-old infant, were reportedly killed and between 35 and 44 civilians were injured in an alleged Israeli airstrike on two homes, the Abu Ishaq family home and the Fafsis family home, in the center of the town of Bani Suheila located east of Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip.
The Anadolu Agency provided the lowest estimate stating that 12 civilians were killed in the attack. However, numerous local sources listed 26 names of civilians killed. As per Airwars methodology, given the broad consensus on this upper range as well as the names identified by sources, the minimum number of civilians killed in this incident has been recorded as 26.
Numerous members of the Abu Ishaq, Al-Ala and Al-Buraim families were killed in this incident. 17 of the 26 people killed were children, and 14 of them were younger than ten years old. The ages of the victims, provided by Diya Alregeb in a post on Facebook, often differed from the ages provided by the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Where reports differed, an age range has been provided.
Among the victims killed in the strike were a young mother, 25-year-old Israa Musa Suleiman Al-Barim Abu Ishaq, and her three children, at least one of them an infant. Pictures of the children and baby were circulated on Twitter/X. The son was identified as Sabri Muhammed Sabri Al-Buraim (4 to 5 years old) and the two daughters were named as Maria Muhammad Sabri Al-Buraim (between 4 months and 2 years old), and Rima Muhammad Sabri Al-Buraim (less than a year to 3 years old). Their father, Muhammed Sabri Abu Ishaq, also posted a message saying: “We belong to God and to Him we shall return. Oh God, reward me for my calamity and give me something better than it. I count in the sight of God as my wife, Israa Musa Abu Ishaq, and my dearest children, Sabri, Maria, and Rima.”
Another mother, 30-year-old Sabreen Nabil Rizk Abu Ishaq Abu Khater was killed alongside her daughters, Amal Yasser Musa Abu Ishaq (6 or 7 years old) and a 4-year-old Israa Yasser Musa Abu Ishaq. Sabreen and her children were remembered in a Facebook tribute by Mohammad Abu Khater who called her the “family daughter”.
Among the other victims were four more women: Amal Muhammad Al-Abd Abu Ishaq Al-Qahwaji (59 to 63 years old), 35-year-old Lameya Attia Khalil Abu Ishaq Al-Jia’an, 35-year-old Tahreer Samir Suleiman Abu Ishaq and Inas Musa Suleiman Abu Al-Ala Abu Ishaq (27 or 28 years old).
Inas was possibly the older sister of Israa Musa Suleiman Abu Ishaq and the mother of two sisters killed in the incident, 5-year-old Siwar Muhammad Khalil Abu Al-Ala and Salma Muhammad Khalil Abu Al-Ala (2 to 4 years old).
33-year-old Rula Khalil Attia Abu Taima Al-Jiaan was killed alongside two female relatives of hers, 18-year-old Aya Attia Khalil Abu Taima Al-Jia’an and two-year-old Maria Zaid Nafez Abu Taima. The exact family relationships were not clear.
Multiple sets of siblings were killed in the incident. Namely three brothers, Hammam Hossam Musa Abu Ishaq (16 or 17 years old), Muhammad Hussam Musa Abu Ishaq (13 or 14 years old) and Karam Hossam Musa Abu Ishaq (2 or 3 years old). A set of two sisters, Aseel Ahmed Samir Abu Ishaq (9 to 11 years old) and 5-year-old Salam Ahmed Samir Abu Ishaq were killed alongside their cousin, Joud Adel Samir Abu Ishaq (9 or 10 years old) and her little sister 5-year-old Jannah Adel Samir Abu Ishaq.
Another two boys, whose family relationships are not clear, were killed and were named as Naji Imad Jamil Abu Assi (2 or 3 years old) and Mahmoud Rani Abu Saada (3 or 4 years old).
The deadly strike also took the life of a 31 to 33-year-old family member named Ibrahim Youssef Suleiman Abu Ishaq.
The estimates of those injured varied between 35 and 44 civilians, where 44 injured were reported by a Facebook user Diya Alregeb. Videos and photos were shared of civilians being recovered from the rubble and brought to Nasser Hospital. Women and children were reported among those injured. Moreover, videos showed large amounts of smoke emerging from the buildings after the airstrike hit the homes. People were also reported to still be stuck under the rubble as large crowds gathered to help in efforts to dig them out as per photos from Atef Abu Al-Ala’s post.
The names of all victims identified by sources have been matched with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of fatalities in Gaza released on October 26th, 2023. However, the ages provided by the Ministry of Health list of fatalities were slightly different to those identified by sources. Where ages differ between the list and the sources a range has been provided.
Where sources identified the belligerents all sources attributed the strikes to Israeli forces.
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 incident occured in the morning.
