At dawn on Tuesday, October 17th 2023, between 16 and 26 civilians were reported killed, including at least seven women and five children, one of whom was an infant. Dozens of others, including children, were also reported wounded in the alleged Israeli airstrike on the home of the Abu Lebda family near the Kuwaiti Hospital in the town of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip. A 17th person was killed and has been identified as a militant. According to Firas Abu Shakhr, the attack happened without prior warning.
Safa News reported on there being “dozens of martyrs and wounded” in the bombing, with TRT News sharing videos of the wounded and killed being carried by grieving family members away from the rubble of their destroyed home, and of a surviving woman’s heartbreaking screams for her children, “Where are my six children? Where are the Arabs?” TRT reported that wounded and killed civilians were transported on foot because it was not possible to transport them in ambulances, which were already over capacity with wounded civilians. It also quoted medical sources as saying the bombing resulted in “26 dead, including children and women, and dozens of wounded.”
A Facebook account Diwan of the honorable Abu Lebda shared very disturbing videos of the aftermath of the attack showing the wounded children crying from pain. Firas Abu Shakhr shared the pictures of the injured civilians, including children, whom doctors tried to resuscitate.
Many sources described the bombing as a “massacre”, with a Facebook user Sari Baraka noting, “My aunt, her children, her husband, her husband’s family, their wives and their children were martyred in a massacre…. Not all bodies have been recovered and the number of martyrs has not been counted yet”.
Social media testimonies by family relatives and friends helped to identify the names of 17 killed members of the Abu Labdeh family.
A 61-year-old man Saleh Mahmoud Abu Labdeh (Abu Khaled) was killed alongside his 61-year-old wife Kawthar Abu Labdeh (Umm Khaled), their two sons – 32-year-old Khaled Saleh Mahmoud Abu Labdeh and 33-year-old Ahmed Saleh Mahmoud Abu Labdeh (a militant) and their 21-year-old daughter Shahad Saleh Mahmoud Abu Labdeh. Khaled Abu Labdeh was killed along with his wife and his infant daughter, while Ahmed was killed along with his wife and his 5-year old son Saleh Ahmed Saleh Abu Labdeh.
Hisham Abu Lebda wrote a touching Facebook testimony to his late uncle Saleh abu Labdeh, saying, “You are gone, uncle. Who wants to call us now?” He shared an image of his uncle, an elderly man in a checkered shirt. The late Ahmed Saleh was remembered in the post by Ramy Saleh who shared an image of a young man in a striped shirt.
When Airwars first published this incident, no open sources were found to suggest that Ahmed Saleh Mahmoud Abu Labdeh was a militant. As such, Ahmed Saleh Mahmoud Abu Labdeh 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 May 27, 2026, a Telegram account affiliated with Hamas' armed wing, Al-Qessam Brigades, published a tribute to Ahmed Saleh Mahmoud Abu Labdeh, identifying him as a fighter. As such, Airwars updated Ahmed Saleh Mahmoud Abu Labdeh's status from civilian to militant and changed the minimum number of civilians reportedly killed in this incident from 17 to 16.
Among the victims of the deadly attack was also Abu Khaled’s 50-year old sister-in-law Kholoud Ibrahim Ahmad Al-Najjar Abu Labdeh, the mother of Fadi Abu Labdeh, alongside her two sons, 20-year-old Tariq Salah Abu Labdeh and 16-year old Muhannad Salah Abu Labdeh, and her two daughters, 22-year-old Alaa Salah Abu Labdeh and 30-year-old Hanin Salah Abu Labdeh. Hanin was killed with her two sons, 7-year-old Mohammad Ahmed Mahmoud Abu Labdeh, 4-year-old Marwan Ahmad Mahmoud Abu Labdeh and 5-year-old daughter Joan Ahmad Mahmoud Abu Labdeh. According to the Abu Ahmad Aburazan Alnajjarm condolence message on Facebook, Khouloud’s husband Salah Abu Fadi and her son Fadi abu Lebda survived.
Fadyi Abu Labdeh, who survived the bombing, mourned the death of his mother, brothers, sisters, uncle and their families. The husband of the late Hanin Abu Labdeh, Ahmad Ibn Mahmoud, wrote a Facebook tribute to his deceased wife and children, sharing images with three young children with school bags.
A Facebook account Diwan of The Honorable Abu Lebda posted pictures of some of the killed members of Abu Labdeh family, including pictures of the young children.
All names civilians have been matched with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of fatalities in Gaza released on October 26th, 2023.
Where sources identified the belligerents all sources attributed the strikes to Israeli forces.