Two civilian members of the Dhahir family were killed and six others were injured by an alleged Israeli strike on their home in the Khirbet al-Adas area in the north of Rafah city, on Sunday, October 22, 2023: father Sami Abdel Khalil Dhahir and his son 18-year-old Khalil Sami Dhahir were killed. 33-year-old Mutair Abdel Salam Dhahir was identified as a militant and was also killed.
According to Siham-Haifa Daoud, the strike occurred between the hours of 1 and 7am; two victims were initially reported killed and others remained missing under the rubble. @ShehabAgency initially alleged that there were “six injuries, two of them very serious”, while journalist Adel Zourub reported that there were dozens of injuries, and the number or details of surviving injured persons has not been identified by other sources. A number of victims were taken to Youssef Al-Najjar Hospital.
When Airwars first published this incident on April 1, 2024, Mutair was identified as an imam in Al-Amin Muhammad Mosque, and no open sources were found to suggest that he was a militant. As such, Mutair 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 22, 2026, a Telegram account affiliated with Hamas’ militant wing, Al-Qessam Brigades, published a tribute to Mutair, identified as a “martyred Qessami fighter”. As such, Airwars updated Mutair’s status from civilian to militant, and changed the minimum number of civilians reportedly killed in this incident from three to two.
Others also took to social media to mourn the victims, including Amir Dhahir, cousin to Mutair and Sami, who posted a picture of Mutair proudly smiling and holding up a certificate, as well as neighbour Muhammad Hassan Abu Eyada and the Dhahir Family Forum, who posted images of the three men from when they were alive. The news agency Al Arabiya posted images of a funeral on Facebook, which was described as the funeral of the victims of three strikes, including the bombing of the Dhahir family home.
Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strikes to Israeli forces.
The identities of Khalil Sami Dhahir and Mutair Abdel Salam Dhahir have been reconciled with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of fatalities published on October 26, 2023. Sami Abdel Khalil Dhahir’s name could not be reconciled.