At dawn on Saturday, October 21st, 2023, an alleged Israeli airstrike hit the al-Bahtini’s family home located in front of al-Julani Mosque in the al-Tuffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City, reportedly killing at least 23 civilians spanning three generations and causing an unknown number of injuries, according to sources. One militant, 37-year-old Ahmed al-Bahtini, was also killed.
Among those killed in the strike were al-Julani Mosque’s Imam, 58-year-old Sheikh Arafat al-Bahtini Abu Muhammad and his wife, along with their children and grandchildren: 37-year-old Sheikh Ahmed al-Bahtini Abu Anas and his son, 14-year-old Jamal al-Din Ahmed al-Bahtini; Jihad al-Bahtini, his wife, their infant son Omar al-Bahtini, and Jihad’s mother, Umm Alaa, as well as Jihad’s cousins, 34-year-old Hamza Badr al-Din al-Bahtini and Yasser al-Bahtini.
Condolence messages honouring the late Arafat and his family were posted by various neighbours, including Farhan Bustan and Ahmad Eisa. On Facebook, they shared candid pictures capturing moments of joy, with Arafat and each of his younger relatives smiling. One particular photograph depicts Arafat happily holding two of his grandsons.
Other family members, including Jihad’s older brother, Hossam Dwaima, Ahmed al-Bahtini’s brother-in-law, Samer Sweesy, and Jihad’s nephew, Sondos Mohammed, shared additional photographs featuring Jihad, Umm Alaa, and Omar. Another acquaintance, Abed Nassar, noted that Ahmed had a “beautiful voice,” and Abdul Rahman Abu Nasser reposted a video recorded in April where Ahmed can be heard reciting in al-Jawalani Mosque during the 25th night of Ramadan. On Twitter/X, user @Ahmed_marzouq19 shared a video documenting the recovery efforts subsequent to the bombardment, while @raf743477 also conveyed his farewell to his friend Arafat in a tweet.
Almashhad News reported that “imam and preacher of Al-Julani Mosque and 33 other members of his family died” in the strike while Hossam Dwaima posted that 23 people had been killed. Twitter/X user @yahialvb mentioned “injuries” as a result of the bombardment, but no further information has been made available.
On April 18, 2026, saraya.ps, Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s (PIJ) official website, published a list of PIJ commanders killed since October 7, 2023. Ahmed al-Bahtini was named as a Platoon Commander in the ‘Rocket Unit – Gaza Brigade’. As such, his civilian status was changed to ‘militant’.
Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strikes to Israeli forces.
Where possible, names have been matched with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of fatalities in Gaza released on October 26th, 2023.