On Tuesday, October 10th, 2023, seven civilians belonging to the al-Araj family, including a mother with her five children and their elderly grandmother, were killed and a number of civilians were injured in an alleged Israeli airstrike that destroyed the multistorey al-Araj home in the Nuseirat camp, west of the Al-Dawa area.

Sources said the home belonged to Abu Awad al-Araj; his wife and five children were all killed in the strike. Voice of the Nation Radio reported that the family were recovered from the collapsed building by civil defense and rescue units, and the bodies of the victims were delivered to Al-Aqsa Hospital in the center of the Gaza Strip. Mezan reported that the alleged airstrike also caused major damage to the surrounding infrastructure.

The five siblings who were killed together whilst at home were identified as three brothers Awad al-Araj, Mohammed al-Araj, and Mahmoud al-Araj, and two sisters Sahar al-Araj and Khadija al-Araj. Four of the young children who were killed are depicted in a photo shared by the user Alalmani Salih on Facebook in a post that mourned their death. The young children are depicted standing alongside one another, the elder brother with his hand on his younger brother’s shoulders, smiling at the camera.

The attack also took the lives of the children’s mother, Duha Abdul Hamid Muhammad Shaker al-Hur (Abu Awad al-Araj’s wife) and the children’s grandmother Umm Mohammad Ara (Abu Awad al-Araj’s mother).

Family members and friends, including Abu Saleh, Nahed Basher, Shaher Abu Naje and others identified the victims on social media in the posts that expressed their grief and heartache upon discovering the death of the family. Shaher Abu Naje expressed his sincere condolences and sympathy for  “the neighbor, brother and beloved Abu Awad Al-Araj” who lost all his family members in the incident. Mahmoud Abu Al-Fida wrote in similar words: “Our hearts are with you #My brother Abu Awad Muhammad Al-Araj ??”

Safaa Alhor remembered her cousin Duha Abdul Hamid Muhammad Shaker al-Hur in her tribute. Al-Hur Family Youth Association wrote a tribute to the late Duha Abdul Hamid Muhammad Shaker al-Hur and her five children.

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.