On the evening of Sunday, 15 October 2023, two civilian members of the Al-Agha family, both men, were killed in an alleged Israeli strike in the vicinity of their family’s residence in Al-Satar, Al-Sharqi neighbourhood in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza. Three other family members were killed and have been identified as militants.
The sources differed in the description of the nature of the deadly strike. According to Sufyan Akkad’s Facebook post, the victims were attacked by a reconnaissance missile near their house, while Bilal Agha Abu Basem reported that they were assassinated by drones while they were in Harat Al-Ghawanmeh Street in the Al-Satar Al-Sharqi area. Elagha.net reported, however, that the Al-Agha family members were killed in an airstrike.
Hatem Saeed Ghanem Al-Agha, a 61-year old father and his sons – 28-year old Saji Hatem Saeed Al-Agha (a militant), and 21-year old Sajid Hatem Saeed Al-Agha (a militant) – were all reported to have been killed in the attack. 34-year old Hamad Abdul Hamid Muhammad Al-Agha was also killed in the reported strike, as was 39-year old Fadi Saadi Wasif Al-Agha (a militant). The house where the strike occurred belonged to the late Hajj Younis Khamis Al-Agha, according to the Al-Agha family Facebook. Bilal Agha Abu Basem reported that a total of 27 members of the Al-Agha family had been killed up until that point in the conflict.
When Airwars first published this incident on January 1, 2024, no open sources were found to suggest that Saji Hatem Saeed Al-Agha, a lawyer, was also a militant. As such, Saji Hatem Saeed Al-Agha 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 July 19, 2026, a Telegram account affiliated with Hamas’ armed wing, Al-Qessam Brigades, published a tribute to Saji Hatem Saeed Al-Agha, identifying him as a fighter. The post said that Saji was killed on October 17, but friends and relatives posted in memory of Saji alongside his family members on the 15th, indicating that he was likely killed before the 17th. As such, Airwars kept the record of Saji’s death in this incident, and updated his status from civilian to militant, and changed the minimum number of civilians reportedly killed in this incident from five to four.
On July 25, 2026, the same Telegram account published a tribute to Sajid Hatem Saeed Al-Agha. Similar to the post for Saji, the post to Sajid said he was killed on October 17, but friends and relatives posting in his memory said he was killed on the 15th, indicating that he was likely killed before the 17th. As with Saji, Airwars updated Sajid’s status from civilian to militant and changed the minimum number of civilians reportedly killed in this incident from four to three.
On October 13, 2026, a different Telegram account published a tribute to Fadi Saadi Wasif Al-Agha. As with Saji and Sajid, Airwars updated Fadi's status from civilian to militant and changed the minimum number of civilians reportedly killed in this incident from three to two.
Multiple posts via Facebook and Twitter from mourning family and friends wrote about the loss of the five family members. Moheeb Elagha mourned in his heartfelt testimony on Facebook the death of his uncle Hamad Abdel Hamid Al-Agha, his father’s uncle Hatem Saeed Al-Agha and his two sons, Saji and Sajid, and friend and lifelong companion Fadi Saadi Al-Agha, writing “By God, the affliction is great, and the eyes shed tears and the heart grieves, and we are saddened by your loss.” He also attached the pictures of the deceased relatives – one of them, a young man, was pictured as a graduate of the Palestine University, and an elderly man was shown in a white taqiyah.
A number of media sources such as Shehab News Agency reported the funeral of the family, and Euronews Arabic posted a photo reportedly showing the funeral and a number of Palestinians gathered to say funeral prayers. Additionally, a video was posted by El-Agha.Net, reporting to show the funeral gathering. El-Agha.Net also reported that prayers were held at 10:00 the following Monday 16th October at Jaafar Mosque in west Khan Yunis and that the family members were buried at Sheikh Omri cemetery.
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 strike to the Israeli military.