On Monday, October 16, 2023, seven civilians were killed, including a 39-year-old freelance journalist with Al-Aqsa TV, Issam (Essam) Mohammad Sabhi Bahar, two women and four children, and several others, including an infant, were injured, in an alleged Israeli airstrike on the Bahar family house near the Arab National Hospital in Gaza City.

A Facebook post by Asnaa Adel mourned the death of her relatives and reported the names of the victims: 39-year-old Issam Mohammad Sabhi Bahar was killed together with his 33-year-old wife Yasmin al-Seqali (Yasmeen Jamal Mahmoud Bahar), their 14-year-old son Nizar Rayan Issam Bahar, Issam’s 20-year-old sister Hanan Mohammad Sabhi Bahar, and her three children.

It remains unknown how many people were injured and in what condition they were in. A family relative Iman Ali in his Facebook post shared the images of the wounded children, including an infant, Yusra Bahar. He said that the rest of the family members are “injured or missing”. Al Mayadeen wrote, “Palestinian Al-Aqsa TV journalist Isam Bahar, his wife, and multiple family members were killed in Israeli airstrikes that hit the Gaza Strip.”

Airwars researchers found a further name of a civilian who may have been killed in this incident in the records of Shireen Monitor, a Palestinian organisation documenting names of civilians killed.  32-year-old woman Basma Amal Muhammad Sabhi Bahar, who may be a sister of Issam and Hanan, was reported as killed on October 16, 2023. While she is from the same family as the victims, it was not explicitly mentioned anywhere that she was killed in this strike. The location mentioned was not specific enough to allow Airwars to confidently link this name to this incident, and as such it will not be included in the victims list, though this will be updated should more information emerge.

The Journalists Support Committee condemned the killing of Issam Mohammad Bahar, who worked for the Al Aqsa TV channel, which is run by the Islamist group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. The International Federation of Journalists, Watan News, and Al Mayadeen also reported on his death. Mohsen Alafranji wrote on the social platform Twitter/X that his fellow journalist was killed along with a number of his family members, as a result of an attack on a house where he was sheltering with his family.

Working with Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ), a Jordan-based non-profit, the British media Guardian identified at least 23 individuals killed since 7 October who worked for the largest Hamas-run outlet in Gaza, al-Aqsa media network. “Considered to be the Hamas movement’s official channel, al-Aqsa employed hundreds of people and operated a widely watched TV channel and numerous radio stations until the war curtailed its output. The outlet appears to have had the highest number of journalists killed during the current war,” wrote the Guardian.

In response to a Guardian request for details about multiple al-Aqsa employees who had been killed, an IDF spokesperson said it “does not target civilian objects” but that the outlet “employs terrorists and affords them the facade of journalists”. The spokesperson listed six of al-Aqsa’s dead workers and alleged they were members of Hamas’s armed wing and “assumed the disguise of journalists”. The IDF refused to provide any evidence to support the claims, citing intelligence sources.

One of the al-Aqsa journalists the IDF alleged were terrorists was Issam Baham. A close relative told ARIJ that the deceased journalist Issam Bahar “did not have any political or other activity” and was “only a journalist and a teacher of the Qur’an.”

What appears to be Issam’s personal Facebook account includes posts and pictures expressing support for both Hamas’ political and militant activities. However, there were no such posts suggesting that Issam himself was involved in militant activity, and Airwars did not find such attribution through a review of open sources.

As such, and in line with Airwars’ methodology, he has been recorded as a civilian. This will be updated should additional information become available.

Relatives and journalists left heartfelt tributes on Facebook. M.A. Mohammad Ibrahim described the death of “my friend and brother, the honorable Sheikh Issam Muhammad Bahar, with his wife and son – martyrs as a result of a Zionist bombing. He left for eternal paradise. May God accept you in Paradise,” attaching an image of the middle-aged man in an Islamic prayer hat and white shirt.

The journalist’s cousin, Asmaa Adel, recollected his religious activities too: “We will miss your voice, my cousin, as you give the call to prayer at the mosque and address people ?? We will miss the kind and gentle face of his wife, Yasmine ?? God chose the best people and took them to Him.”

Mustafa Matar wrote about his painful loss in his testimony: “My beloved friend Essam Muhammad Bahar was martyred.. You broke my back, Essam.”

The brother-in-law of the killed journalist, Muhammad Jamal Al-Sikali, wrote in his tribute: “The martyrdom of my sister Yasmine, her husband Sheikh Essam Muhammad Bahar, her son Nizar Bahar, and a number of martyrs from the Bahar family.”

Where possible, the names of the victims have been matched with the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH) lists, which include national ID numbers. Since October 26, 2023, the MoH has released eight lists, along with an additional list of medical professionals, which was released on September 17, 2024. Airwars is matching individuals to the first list where their name appeared. In regard to this incident, names are matched to the first “Palestinian Ministry of Health List of Fatalities in Gaza”, which was released on October 26, 2023.

Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strikes to Israeli forces.