At around 10 PM on Wednesday, 18th October, 2023, between 12 and 14 members of the Barika family were killed, including an elderly couple, five children and four women, among them a pregnant mother and her unborn baby, when an alleged Israeli airstrike hit their family home, west of the city of Rafah. At least twelve civilians, most of them children, were injured. An additional member of the family was killed and has been identified as a militant.
Shehab Agency initially reported 10 killed and a number of of injured in the attack. Referring to Palestinian sources, YPAgency reported that the death toll had risen to 13. A Facebook user Nonaa later wrote that 15 members of the Barika family had been killed, and that the death toll may rise as others could still be beneath the rubble.
Social media tributes by family and friends helped to identify the names of the thirteen killed members of the Barika family.
A grandfather, 54-year old Haji Ahmed Khalil Rajab Barika (Abu Ihab) was killed alongside his wife 51-year old Taghreed Sabri Suleiman Barika, their two sons – 22-year old Jamal Ahmed Khalil Rajab Barika (a militant) and 29-year old Iyad Ahmed Khalil Rajab Barika and their three daughters – 17-year old Haneen Ahmed Khalil Rajab Barika, 27-year old Rawan Ahmed Khalil Rajab Barika, and 14-year old Maram Ahmed Khalil Rajab Barika. Abu Ihab also lost his brother, 56-year old Haji Kamel Khalil Rajab.
The attack also took the lives of their two daughters-in-law, wife of Jamal 23-year old Shams Amer Abdel-Rahman Barika and 30-year old Nidaa Ibrahim Hamma, and their grandchilren – a grandson (son of Iyad) 4-year old Ahmed Iyad Ahmed Barika, a granddaughter (daughter of Iyad) 6-year old Revan Iyad Ahmed Barika and a granddaughter (daughter of Nidaa) 7-year old Menna Imad Muhammad Baraka.
When Airwars first published this incident on February 1, 2024, no open sources were found to suggest that Jamal Ahmed Khalil Rajab Barika was a militant. As such, Jamal Ahmed Khalil Rajab Barika 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 20, 2026, a Telegram account affiliated with Hamas’ armed wing, Al-Qessam Brigades, published a tribute to Jamal Ahmed Khalil Rajab Barika, identifying him as a fighter. As such, Airwars updated Jamal Ahmed Khalil Rajab Barika’s status from civilian to militant, and changed the minimum number of civilians reportedly killed in this incident from 13 to 12.
A Facebook user Akhmed Zorub posted a condolence message for his neighbours, the Barika family, and shared images of some of the victims. A family relative Abboud Mahmoud Barika wrote that “I cry with all the broken heart and sadness of the news”, and also shared some images, including those of the deceased children. Another family relative, Ahmed Khaled Barika, posted that “Today I bid farewell to my uncles and their children and grandchildren”. In his post, the images of some women who were killed in the strike could be seen.
Among the victims killed in the airstrike was an unborn girl Fatima Alzahraa. Twitter/X user @Sorita921 posted a picture of a baby half wrapped in a body bag, reporting that “a newborn girl came out of her martyr’s mother’s womb after seven months of pregnancy”. A Facebook user Nonaa Zakarea posted a graphic image of the dead fetus. It is unclear which of the women who was killed was pregnant.
A Facebook user Dejavo Soli reshared photos depicting groups of murdered children covered in ash and dust being wrapped up in body bags, with the comment; “these are not burnt dolls and put in bags. They are all extinguished, people of Gaza. For what sin were they killed? We belong to Allah and to Him we shall return”.
A number of civilians, most of them children, were also reported as injured in the deadly attack. Television network AJMubasher shared a heartbreaking video on Twitter/X of a young boy covered in dust from the rubble crying in distress from pain and calling his father. This video and pictures of the injured civilians shared by the Twitter/X user @Flood_Al_Aqsa and a Facebook user Jehan Yousef helped to ascertain at least twelve injured people, most of them small children. A child, Muhammed Barika, was reportedly taken to the hospital after the attack, but it is unclear whether the child received treatment or if it was successful.
A Facebook user Ibrahim shared a video online with the comment “Funeral of the Barika family massacre”. Large groups of men were depicted carrying bodies through the city to their burial place. People stood in a row along the street with their heads down and eyes closed, mourning the deaths of the murdered family.
The local sources mentioned “bombardment” and did not indicate whether that was artillery strike or airstrike. Several sources shared photos depicting a large heap of rubble, where a now destroyed building once stood, surrounded by groups of men searching in the darkness for missing people beneath.
Airwars has matched all of the names with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of nearly 7000 victims’ names and ID numbers released on October 26th.
Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strikes to Israeli forces.