Nineteen members of the Dawas family were killed and an unknown number of others were injured when their two-story family home on Al-Shaima Street, west of Abbas Kilani roundabout in Beit Lahia, in the north of the Gaza Strip, was reportedly bombed by an Israeli aircraft on Saturday, October 14, 2023. The Ministry of the Interior in Gaza reported the bombing of the Dawas family home on October 14, and stated that the family were buried under rubble and civil defense and ambulance crews were working to rescue them.

Arabi21 reported that there were dozens killed and injured in the incident. A Facebook post by a family member Ramzi Dawas listed the names of seven identified killed victims (four from a previous incident) noting that “there are still martyrs from the family, as many as 15 martyrs whose names are not mentioned under the dots” and called for help in retrieving the bodies from the rubble. Due to this post, the exact address of the incident is likely house Lahia, entrance of Ezba Dawas, west of Abbas Kilani roundabout, Al Shaima Street.

Across all sources, 14 victims were named/identified and reported as killed.

The victims were named by their family members as Maher Dawas (56) and his sons Youssef Maher Dawas (20), Fadi Maher Dawas (30), Abdel Rahman Maher Dawas (16) and Obada Maher Dawas. A woman identified as the wife of Yasser Dawas, her sons Sharaf Yasser Dawas (13) and Muhammad Yasser Dawas (11), and her daughters Malak Yasser Dawas (20) and Shahid Yasser Dawas (16), were all killed. Maher’s sister Jamila Youssef Dawas, also known as Umm Musa, was also killed as well as a set of sisters called Lamya Dawas and Yasmin Dawas. A woman named Noha Abdel Aziz Dawas (44) was also killed. 

Many people and organisations paid tribute to Youssef Maher Dawas, a young poet, writer, and student studying to be a psychoanalyst. He had published an essay with the collective, We Are Not Numbers, in January 2023 called “Who will pay for the 20 years we lost?”, recounting the destruction of his family’s orchard in May 2022 by an alleged Israeli missile strike and how the loss of the orchard, to quote from the essay, “destroyed an important piece of our past. Our family’s history. Our heritage.” Youssef was also a contributing writer in Palestine Deep Dive and the Palestine Chronicle where his last article had been titled “Kidney Transplant and Rebirth: A Palestinian Love Story”. Youssef’s colleagues at WANN described him as a joyful, funny, kind and sensitive person, with a radiant smile and a love of people. Friends reported that he was nicknamed “Joe”, and loved photography, nature, his cats and the author, Ahlam Mosteghanemi. Another friend, Mahmoud Yazgy, said he was dedicated and was quick to take initiative. His mentor, Kate Casa, reported that he was motivated and open-minded and “was anxious to tell his stories so that we in the West could better understand their lives in Gaza”. One colleague, Ahmed Dremly, reported that Youssef asked him, in the first days of the conflict, to join him “to go document all of the massacres that happened in Gaza” and he had turned down the offer.

The Palestine Chronicle posted a tribute to Youssef including a short video of him talking about how he wants to visit places in Palestine more than Paris or the Maldives.

The Tamer Institute for Community Education made a tribute to Youssef, who was a member of the youth literary teams “Yar’at” and “Voices from Palestine”, saying that “he shared his deep love for life in expressing himself even amid the most challenging of circumstances.” Jesse Boylan, writing in John Menadue’s Public Policy Journal, reported that Youssef was interested in politics, economics and video games and that he was learning to play the guitar.

Maher and Jamila’s brother Jaser Dawwas claimed the incident took place without warning.

Where possible, Airwars has matched names with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of nearly 7000 victims’ names and ID numbers released on October 26th.

Where sources identified the belligerent, 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.

Around 11:15 in the morning of Wednesday, 18th October 2023, Israeli forces allegedly conducted an airstrike on the Haboush family home located behind al-Shifa medical hospital near the Gaza port, in the north of the Gaza Strip, killing at least 32 identified members of the extended Haboush family, including at least nine women and at least 18 children. The strike reportedly killed up to 40 family members and injured dozens of them. Among the victims killed in the deadly strike were two mothers, each of whom was killed alongside her five children.

Initial reports by Shehab Agency and Safa News stated that between 12 and 18 members of the Haboush family were killed in the airstrike, with dozens more remaining missing under the rubble. Numerous images have been shared by Awdeh Channel and Facebook user Paradise, depicting the completely destroyed building and a rescue operation in search for those trapped under the rubble. Al Arabiya Palestine and Khabar24 shared heartbreaking videos showing the attempts to rescue people from the rubble. General Directorate of Military Medical Services shared images of the ambulance and emergency crews in dealing with the martyrs and injured where injured people on strechers can be seen.

A social media testimony by Haboush family on Facebook helped to identify 32 family members killed in the strike, sharing images of some of the victims.

A 66-year old grandfather of the Haboush family, Suleiman Naaman Rabah Haboush, and his 62-year old wife Ibtisam Arslan Salem Haboush were killled alongside their four sons and three daughters as well as grandchildren.

Heba Suleiman Haboush, a surviving daughter of Suleiman Haboush, said in a Facebook post in reference to her father:  “May God have mercy on you, dear. May God have mercy on you, Hanoun. I am proud to be your daughter. God bears witness that you have been the best father, husband, and brother. You gave everything to serve your religion and your country. Praise be to God for having the honor of being a martyr.” She also shared an image of an elderly man with a grey beard in a traditional Muslim attire.

Suleiman and Ibtisan’s eldest 33-year old son Musab Suleiman Naaman Haboush was killed along with his wife, a 30-year old  Lubna Ahmed Hamdi Haboush (Al-Naji), and their 8-year old son Suleiman Musab Suleiman Haboush. A younger son, a 29-year old Izz al-Din (Azzedine) Suleiman Naaman Haboush, was killed alongside his wife Makram Khalifa and their 2-year old son Zakaria Azzeddine Suleiman Haboush. Their other son Suleiman Ezz El-Din Haboush survived the attack and was injured.

The deadly strike also took the lives of a 20-year old son of Suleiman and Ibtisan, Abdul Rahman Suleiman Naaman Habous, their 16-year old son, Muhammad Suleiman Naaman Haboush, and their three daughters – 22-year old Sandus Suleiman Naamn Haboush, Islam Suleiman Haboush, and 27-year old Walaa Suleiman Naaman Haboush. Their grandchildren, a 7-year old girl, Sareen Naaman Suleiman Haboush, a girl, Malak and a boy, Alyan Al-Ashqar were also killed.

The late Islam Suleiman Haboush used to be a researcher, and Hala Khaled dedicated a Facebook tribute to her, sharing an image of woman in white burqa presenting in front of a notebook. Islam contributed to writing a book “Popular Resistance” published by Dar Al-Muqtasab.

The strike mostly took lives of women and children, including two mothers, each of whom was killed alongside her five children.

A 33-year old, Shaima Raed Mahmoud Haboush al-Amiri, was killed alongside her three sons: Osama Noman Suleiman Haboush (15), Suleiman Noman Suleiman  Haboush (13), and Ibrahim Noman Suleiman Haboush (10) as well as her two daughters, Maria Noman Suleiman Haboush (9) and Fatima Noman Suleiman Haboush (2).

One more mother,  Amina Ahmed Haboush al-Amri, was killed alongside her son Saleh Noman Haboush (8), and four daughters – Cyrine Noman Haboush, Ibtisam Noman Suleiman Haboush (3),  Bilsan Noman Haboush (2), and Marwa Noman Rabah Haboush.

The deadly airstrike took the lives of three young siblings, a 7-year old boy, Abdul Rahman Mahmoud Naeem Haboush, and his two sisters, a 15-year old Dima Mahmoud Naeem Haboush and a 10-year old Talin Mahmoud Naeem Haboush.

Last but not least, a 22-year old woman, Jennat Zaki Youssef Haboush, was mentioned among the killed victims.

According to the post by Heba Suleiman Haboush, the only survivor of the bombing of the house was the young boy Suleiman Ezz El-Din Haboush who can be seen on the attached image with a bandage covering his head and an injured eye. Heba also shared the heartbreaking videos showing the funeral of Haboush family members as well as their bodies wrapped in white cloth stained with blood.

Dozens of others were reported wounded. A video shared by Khaled Safi on the social media platform Twitter/X showed a crying injured girl with her face and clothes covered in dust and stained with blood. The video is captioned “A survivor from the rubble of the Haboush family home, which was recently targeted by [Israeli] aircraft”.

Later, Twitter/X  user @alsha_mi reported about 40 killed members of the Hanoush family, referring to her friend based in Gaza: “Muhammad Haboush, my friend from Gaza, I have been communicating with him every day since the beginning of the bombing. Today they were bombed in Gaza and 40 martyrs from the Haboush family died… Can you imagine the number 40 martyrs from the family who were martyred in an instant.”

Where possible, names have been matched with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of fatalities in Gaza released on October 26th, 2023.

Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strikes to Israeli forces. According to the Facebook post by Haboush family, the attack happened without any prior warning.

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 at approximately 11:15 am local time.