On the afternoon of October 23, 2023, the al-Salhi Towers were allegedly bombed in an Israeli airstrike, killing at least five people, all women and children, and injuring at least 36 others. The residential apartments in Nuseirat Refugee Camp in the Central Gaza Strip were occupied when the bombing occurred.
Airwars researchers have identified the names of five people who were killed and five people who were injured. Following the incident, friends and family took to social media to share the news of the incident. 23-year-old Maysaa Saadoun (Hamdan) and her one-year-old son Wadih Ahmed Hamdan were killed in the incident. A video posted after the incident shows Wadih’s grandmother, Umm Ahmed Hamdan, hugging her grandson’s bodybag following his killing. Wadih had recently tasted chocolate, she said, for the first time.
Fidaa al-Lidawi was seriously injured in the bombing; according to a post by Facebook user Mahmoud Farajallah, Fidaa’s son, Muhammad Fidaa Al-Lidawi, sustained severe burns in the bombing, whilst Fidaa’s wife and daughter – 35-year-old Professor Rasha Muhammad Safi (Al-Lidawi) and 12-year-old Layan Fidaa Al-Lidawi – were killed in the incident. Sharing updates on Fidaa’s condition, friends and family shared photos and well wishes for his speedy recovery. Of these, many highlighted how Fidaa, pictured as a clown entertaining several children, was “the beloved of children and millions” who “drew the smiles and joy on the faces of children”.
Following the incident, Facebook user Moataz Ali Abu Shawish shared the news that his father, family, and brother, Kamal Abu Ali, and his family were alive after “God saved them” from the bombardment. Another post by Facebook user Emad J. Abushawiesh clarified that Kamal Ali Abu Shawish, Kamal Ali’s family, and Emad J. Abu Shawish’s grandfather were moderately wounded with bruises and wounds.
Dr. Adan Abu Amer sustained fractures and injuries in the incident. Adan’s son, Muhammad Adan Abu Amer, was also injured in the incident and was taken to intensive care, where his situation remained critical. Sadly, Adan lost his young grandson, two-year-old Jihad Khaled Abu Amer, in the incident. Months after the bombing, Jihad’s parents, Khaled Abu Amer and Nashwa Adan, posted tributes to their son, highlighting the difficulty of losing him. Writing on November 25, 2023, Jihad’s father, Khaled Abu Amer, remembered his son’s “sweet voice [which makes] my ears happy when you call me daddy.” Khaled and Nashwa had returned to their home the day previously, and the memory of Jihad was rife: “you, my beloved, are still present in my heart and my conscience.” In a post from January 25, 2024, Nashwa shared how she missed Jojo’s (Jihad’s) voice, the sound of his laugh, and how she missed playing with him and his cars. In February 2024, Nashwa remembered, “For three consecutive days before your [death], you were telling me how much you loved me.. I did not know that you were saying goodbye to me, and how could I know…”
Five months after his death, Nashwa shared how losing her child on that day was “the most painful day she had witnessed in this brutal war and her life.”
Kamal Abu Shawish shared a post on Facebook noting that two missiles hit the house. According to a post on Facebook by the Health and Community Return Association – Awda, 36 injuries, many of which were children, were taken to Al Awda Hospital, and 28 received care in the emergency department as well as the reception of the hospital; of these, 6 cases were transferred to the Al-Aqsa Hospital. Images attached to social media posts exemplified the casualty toll. Photographs shared by Awda show multiple children receiving medical care.
Pictures taken of the aftermath show the extensive destruction wrought on the home: several of Fidaa’s clown costumes can be seen amongst the debris.
On October 9th, 2024 the Airwars Investigations Unit, along with Sky News, published an investigation geolocating and matching airstrike footage released by the Israeli military with incidents in the Airwars archive. In total, Airwars’ team identified 17 strikes leading to civilian harm from the first month of the war, of which the Israeli military itself had published footage. This strike was among the 17. As such this incident has been reclassified as a declared Israeli strike, rather than a likely one.
Airwars has matched all 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.