On 12 October 2023, an alleged Israeli strike hit the home of Magdy Abu Hilal, on Aed al-Bashiti street in the El Geneina neighbourhood of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip killing at least two civilians, including at least one child, as well as one individual identified as a militant. Journalist Adel Alzaarab Official said the strike was conducted in the evening.

Multiple sources identified the victims as brothers, 34 year old Musab Magdy Abu Hilal (a militant) and 24 year old Jihad Magdy Abu Hilal, portrayed as two young men, who were the sons of Magdy Abu Hilal and Umhm Musab Abu Hilal. Their third brother, Abdullah, had allegedly died two days before, according to Suhayb Abu Nada on Facebook. A third victim, a child, was identified as Khalil Asaad Ardah Al-Shaer. His exact age was not specified.

On Facebook, Umm Mohammad Abu Hilal referred to “two massacres” which hit her family the same day, the first one killing two brothers, and the second one leading to the death of Amani Muhammad Hassan Abu Hilal and her children. The second incident has been coded separately as ISPT0145a. Several local sources claimed that 12 members of Abu Hilal family were killed – though Airwars could only identify eight victims in the two separate attacks. @esraasaid2 on Twitter affirmed that among those 12 victims, three infants “born 10 days ago” were killed, without specifying in which incident they were killed or providing their names while another source indicated that the youngest victim was a 10 day-old baby.

Airwars’ maximum death toll estimates for this incident and for ISPT0145 was set at 12, as no further information was available regarding these four additional victims. As such, it is possible that the maximum number of victims overlaps. Airwars will update its estimates when more information comes to light.

A relative of the family, Um Mohammad Abu Hilal, mourned the two brothers Musab and Jihad on social media.

When sources identified a belligerent, they attributed the strike to the Israeli forces.

Note on militancy

When Airwars first published this incident, no open sources were found to suggest that Musab Magdy Abu Hilal was a militant. As such, Musab Magdy was recorded as a civilian. This was in line with Airwars’ methodology which is employed across all conflicts we document, and informed by international standards regarding the ‘presumption of civilian status'. Specifically, as outlined by the International Committee of the Red Cross, civilian status is assumed until evidence is identified to the contrary.

On October 22, 2026, a Telegram account affiliated with Hamas' armed wing, Al-Qessam Brigades, published a tribute to Musab Magdy Abu Hilal, identifying him as a fighter. As such, Airwars updated Musab Magdy's status from civilian to militant and changed the minimum number of civilians reportedly killed in this incident from three to two.