At least 26 civilians were killed across three generations of an extended family, including 12 children, in an alleged Israeli strike on the al-Azayza family home on October 12th. A “large number” of others were also injured in the attack in the Deir al-Balah neighbourhood of the Gaza Strip.

The deceased were members of three families. Both Saeed Youssef al-Azayza (75 years old) and his wife Ward Muhammad al-Azayza (60 years old) were killed, along with their children and grandchildren. Their daughter, Amira al-Azayza (23 years old), was killed, as was their son, Lupine al-Azayza (47 years old). Lupine’s wife, Fathia al-Azayza (42 years old) was killed, as was their daughter, Elia Lupine al-Azayza (7 years old).

Another of Saeed and Ward’s daughters, Luna al-Azayza (48 years old), was also killed alongside her children: two daughters, Malak Abu Tawahinah (21 years old) and Kinda Abu Tawahinah (19 years old), and a son, Muhammad Abu Tawahinah (10 years old). Luna’s sister, Amna al-Azayza (40 years old), was also killed along with her husband, Tariq al-Halisi (57 years old), and their three children: their two sons, Ziad al-Halisi (9 years old) and Ali al-Halisi (8 years old), and their daughter, Ola al-Halisi (11 years old).

Members of another branch of the same family were also killed in the strike: Saeed Youssef’s brother, Muhammad Youssef al-Azayza (62 years old), and daughter-in-law Balsam Basil al-Azayza (30 years old). Her son, Saeed al-Azaizeh (8 years old), was killed, as was his sister, Ward al-Azaizeh (6 years old). Balsam’s husband Hussein M A. Halooly survived the strike and posted a condolence message for his wife and the rest of his family online.

Members of another family, the al-Halisi family, were also killed in the strike. Names were identified as Abdel Nasser al-Halisi (64 years old) and his wife, Arwa al-Halisi (36 years old), their children: sons Muhammad al-Halisi (10 years old), Abdullah al-Halisi (9 years old), Abdul Rahman al-Halisi (2 years old) and Abdul Aziz al-Halisi (4 years old), and daughter Batoul al-Halisi (5 years old).

The al-Azayza family were related to renowned photojournalist Moataz Azaizeh, who shared multiple commemorative posts on his social media. Reportedly, after not being able to communicate with his family, Moataz went to the site of the bombing in order to cover the strike, only to find his family amongst the deceased. “My family is in pieces” he told Alaraby News as he documented the removal of body parts of members of his family; some of which were difficult to identify.

A tweet from @Mohammedaboselm described working at Deir Al-Balah Martyrs Health Center with “Uncle Al-Hakim Abu Al-Saeed” (Saeed Youssef al-Azayza) and described him as a “kind, humble, and smiling man who never failed to serve the people of the city of #Deir_Al-Balah”.

Al Abbas bin Abdul Muttalib B Basic School posted on Facebook a condolence message for their colleague Fathia al-Azayza, her husband and her daughter, including an image of their very young daughter dressed up as a doctor.

The strike was reported to have destroyed the entire home and caused damage to neighboring residences.

The search for remains was still ongoing in the following days. Due to the destruction, multiple sources including Anadolu Agency reported that not all remains had been identified at the time, with earlier lower estimates of deaths put at 11 by Anadolu Agency and Nabd News reporting 14. Anadolu Agency also added that “eyewitnesses reported that civil defense and health crews were removing the rubble to save those remaining inside (their number was not specified)” indicating that some civilians may have survived and were injured.

Alaraby News also indicated that there were “a large number injured” in the bombing without providing numbers. Airwars has quantified this as 12-24, to account for this ambiguity.

Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strike to Israeli forces. Multiple sources specified that the strike occurred without warning.

Every name identified in the strike was found by Airwars among the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of names released on October 26th, 2023.