During the morning of Tuesday, the 17th October 2023, the Israeli Defense Forces allegedly bombed the three-storey residential building belonging to the Abu Salima family, located on First Street in Tal Al-Sultan neighborhood, west of the city of Rafah in the Gaza strip. The strike is reported to have killed at least nine family members, including at least seven children and two women, and injured others.
The airstrike killed a 33-year old mother Lubna Khalil Al-Jamal Abu Salima alongside her five daughters: 10 year old Shatha Bilal Issam Abu Salima, 12 year old Retham Bilal Issam Abu Salima, 9 year old Lana Bilal Issam Abu Salima, 7 year old Maria Bilal Issam Abu Salima, and Habiba Bilal Issam Abu Salima. According to the social media post by Zakariyya Abu Salima, all the girls were children under age of 16. Lubna’s relatives Abdallah Abu Haytham, Mohammed AL Jamal, and Abeer Ismail honoured her memory in social media tributes.
The attack on the Abu Salima family house also took the lives of Lubna’s mother-in-law 67 year old Zainab Ahmed Al-Amoudi Abu Salima and her two granddaughters, 7 year old Janan Attia Khaled Attia and 5 year old Rital Attia Khaled Attia. Canada Kindergarten posted a condolence message on Facebook, writing that “with hearts full of sadness and pain, we mourn the flowers of Kindergarten Canada, the two martyred children / Rital Attia.. Janan Attia (birds in paradise, God willing).” The images of the two young girls in a school uniform were attached to the post. Safe Press Service reported that a man had also been killed in the strike, but this has not been corroborated elsewhere and no identifying information is known.
A Facebook user Fady Rafat posted a video of the immediate aftermath of the strike showing the destroyed building and groups of men trying to pull out victims. Mohammad Ayman Jarbou, Doaa Khaled, and Haitham Ali shared on Facebook images of a large building surrounded by rubble with walls missing and with clouds of smoke arising from it.
Haitham Ali also posted the pictures of rescue efforts and injured people being transported on stretchers. Mohammed Refat Farhat posted a video of a young girl who had been recovered alive, presumably from under the rubble. Gaza News Network reported about the injuries on the site, but the exact number of injured civilians is unknown. Rafah Service Official Account on Facebook shared a video of an injured man on stretchers surrounded by doctors who had just arrived to Kuwaiti hospital.
A social media user Mohamed Hamada commented in a post dedicated to the deceased family members that “My uncle’s wife, Umm Muhammad Abu Salima (Al-Amoudi), passed away. My cousin Bilal’s wife, the entire family, and my cousin’s daughters were subjected to a barbaric bombing of their house in the city of Rafah.” In memory of his family, he also commented “O Lord, bless them with your satisfaction, heal those who remain, and bind our hearts.”
All names but one 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 Israeli military. According to numerous local sources, the attack happened without prior warning.