Around 8:42 PM on Wednesday, October 18th 2023, 15 civilian members of the Abu Jasser family, including at least four children and five women, were killed in an alleged Israeli airstrike on their home located in the al-Qasaib neighborhood of Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip. One member of the family was also killed, and has been identified as a militant. A 16th member of the family was killed and has been identified as a militant.
Shehab Agency and Voice of Palestine Radio reported on the bombing, stating that “13 martyrs were recovered,” and adding that the home of the neighboring Lal Shaheen family was “severely damaged” in the strike, with Palestine Now stating there were still people under the rubble.
Social media tributes by Ibrahim Abu Jaser and other relatives helped to identify the names and relations of the 16 family members killed in the strike, one of whom was a militant.
Husam Abu Jasser Abu Mohammed was killed alongside his wife Umm Mohammed Abu Jasser, their sons Jihad Husam Abu Jasser and a 28-year old Mohammed Husam Abu Jasser as well as their daughters, a 16-year old Hala Husam Abu Jasser, a 24-year old Aya Husam Abu Jasser and a 23-year old Ala’a Husam Abu Jasser.
Aya’s husband Ismail Miqdad, Mohammed’s wife 26-year old Dalia Abu Rakba and their children – a son Husam Mohammed Husam Abu Jasser, a daughter Fatna Mohammed Husam Abu Jasser and an infant son Basil Mohammed Husan Abu Jasser were among those killed.
Dalia's brother Mamdouh Ezzat Abu Rakba was also killed, and has been recorded as a militant.
Ala’a’s husband, 29-year-old Abdulrahman Sameer Diab Hijazi (a militant) was also killed, as was his mother, brother, and sister-in-law. Airwars was unable to determine the names of Abdulraham Hijazi’s relatives, but have recorded them as one man and two women. This will be updated should additional information become available.
When Airwars first published this incident on February 1, 2024, no open sources were found to suggest that Abdulrahman Hijazi was a militant. As such, Hijazi 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 June 28, 2026, a Telegram account affiliated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s armed wing published a tribute to Hijazi, identifying him as a ‘martyred fighter’. As such, Airwars updated Hijazi’s status from civilian to militant. At the time of publishing, Airwars had mistakenly recorded the minimum number of civilians killed as 13. As the identifies of 16 were known, before it was known that Abdulrahman was a militant, the minimum number of civilians reportedly killed in this incident should have been 16. However, in light of the information regarding Abdulrahman’s militant status, the minimum number of civilians recorded in this incident has been recorded as 15.
Additionally, Airwars did not originally record Mamdouh Ezzat Abu Rakba, a member of Fatah's armed wing - Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade - among those killed in this incident. However, a review of the incident found a Facebook post from Youssef Al-Sharafi, which named Mamdouh as killed, alongside Dalia, Mohammed Jasser, and their children. At the same time, an October 19, 2023 post from @AymanGouda named Mamdouh as a militant. As such, Mamdouh's death was added to this incident, as was his militant status.
A Facebook user Shadi Jaser wrote that they received the news about the deaths in Jasser family “with hearts filled with sadness and wracked with pain.” A Twitter/X user @GhadirAkram shared her shock and desperation in a post: “My heart hurts.. it will fall out of its place.. Abu Jasser’s family moved to the side of their Lord, martyrs, God willing…”
Al Jazeera Turkey shared a video of Turks in the state of Kutahya holding prayers for the killed members of the family and offering condolences to Abdullah Abu Jaser, a surviving member of the family who studies at the Dumlu Banar University in the area.
Where possible, Airwars has matched 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 strike to Israeli forces. Multiple on social media stated that the airstrike came without warning.