Around dawn on Thursday, October 19th 2023, the home of the Dhair family in Musabah area, near the Khirbet Al Adas junction, north of Rafah, the Gaza Strip, was allegedly bombed by Israeli military aircraft, resulting in at least 19 civilian fatalities, and injuring a number of others, including one victim who was seriously injured.
69-year-old teacher Hassan Shehda Hammad Dhair and his wife Zainab Salem Dhair were killed alongside their sons, daughter-in-law, grandchildren, nephew and relatives.
Their sons were identified as 34-year-old Shehda Hassan Shehdeh Dhair, 30 year-old Badr Hassan Shehdeh Dhair, who were both killed in the incident, and Anas Hassan Dhair. Anas was not killed in the incident but a friend named Abu Al-Azz Abu Hilal reported in a post on Facebook on the evening of October 19th that Anas was staying in intensive care after the incident and asked others to pray for him. Shehda’s wife 36-year-old Ibtisal Musa Shehdeh Dhair and their two daughters, 4-year-old Sally Shehda Hassan Dhair and 1-year-old Habiba Shehda Hassan Dhair. Badr’s wife 28-year-old Rula Muhammad Mansour Dhair was killed along with their son Hassan Badr Hassan Dhair and Anas’s wife 22-year-old Alaa Juma Salim Dhair was also killed along with her daughter 1 year-old Yaqut Anas Shehda Dhair were also killed. Zainab’s nephew 28-year-old Ayman Jumaa Salem Dhair was also killed.
Other family members including 23-year-old Zain Hassan Shedeh Dhair, 25-year-old Marah Hassan Shehda Dhair, who was a photographer, 27-year-old Kariman Naja Shehda Dhair and her three children, her son, 3-year-old Amir Muhammad Jumah Dhair, and two daughters, 5-year-old Amira Muhammad Juma Dhair and Aseel Muhammad Juma Dhair, an infant, were also killed. Multiple sources described victims remaining under the rubble but didn’t identify the number of victims or their names.
An account named Rafah City reported in a post on Facebook the following day that victims were injured in the incident but did not specify how many injured victims there were.
Abu Al-Azz Abu Hilal reported in a tribute post to the Dhair family on Facebook that 19 out 23 ‘martyrs’ from the Dhair family had been so far identified.
Local journalist Mohammed Sami Dhair shared images on Facebook on the morning of October 19th that showed the destruction caused in the alleged incident. One image revealed a care crushed by rubble and another an excavator searching through the rubble. More graphic images shared by Mohammed Sami show civilians carrying a child’s body and another a sheet carrying victims body parts.
Images shared by Rafah City showed the scale of destruction to the area and a crater in the centre of the rubble. Civil Defence members can be seen helping to clear the rubble.
Family members, friends and classmates of the Dhair family made heartfelt tributes and described their grief. Ayman’s friend and classmate made a heartfelt tribute and shared a photo of Ayman smiling in a shopping mall. Another post shared photos of Professor Hassan Shehdeh Dhair with his family members.
Ibrahim Abu Ahallouf expressed his grief at the death of his friend Shehda Hassan Shehda Dhair in a post on Facebook saying “I have a beloved, dear friend, and brother. I lost him … and I did not believe it”. Alongside the post, Abu Shallouf shared a photo of Shehda, from before the incident, on a beach with his young daughter Sally.
Where possible, names have been matched with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of fatalities in Gaza released on October 26th, 2023.
Where the sources identified the belligerent, sources attributed the strikes to Israeli forces.