At least three identified men, including a 61-year-old educator (contested) and his two nephews, one of whom was a militant, were reportedly killed and up to three civilians injured in an alleged Israeli airstrike around 2:18 am on Monday, 23 October 2023, which struck the home of the Barhoum family behind the Kuwaiti Hospital in Rafah in the Gaza Strip.

Photos posted to Facebook by the account “Journalist Adel Zourob Official” showed the shell of a three-story house blown out in the aftermath of the alleged airstrike. Most of the outermost walls of the building had been completely destroyed. The post said this was the home of the Barhoum family near to the al-Kuwaiti Hospital in western Rafah.

61-year-old Dr. Ibrahim Hamdan Muhammad Barhoum (Abu Salah) was killed in the strike alongside his two nephews, sons of Muhammad Barhoum (Al-Shayeb), 19-year-old Ali Muhammad Hamdan Barhoum (a militant) and 18-year-old Yahya Ahmad Hamdan Barhoum.

Multiple sources, including the Hamas-affiliated Palestine Information Center, posted about the death of Dr. Ibrahim Hamdan Muhammad Barhoum, referring to him as an “educator”. One post from Ahmed_Radwan77 on Twitter/X names Ibrahim as a Hamas leader, with multiple other social media posts referring to him as Commander. Other posts, including those from family members of Ibrahim Barhoum, referred to him as Doctor. In the images shared online by family members and friends, he appears as a man in glasses with a grey beard. However, as his civilian status has been questioned, the civilian casualty range for this incident reflects both possibilities.

Journalist Adel Zourob Official wrote in his tribute to the late Dr. Barhoum “What a fine man and what a fine leader… the brother of the martyr Muhammad Barhoum (Al-Shayeb).” He shared an image where Ibrahim is shown smiling, surrounded by two young boys. Naji Abu Ali Abu Barhoum mourned the death of Ali alongside his uncle Dr. Ibrahim.

Talaat Barhoum shared graphic images, showing Ibrahim's body lying on a stretcher.

Photos shared by Talaat Barhoum on Facebook also showed the grandmother of young Ali and Yahya hunched over one of them wrapped in their funeral clothing bidding them goodbye. A Facebook post from Majdi Jumaa Barhoum reported that the day after the funeral of her son Ibrahim and grandsons Yahya and Ali, she was killed also.

Naji Abu Ali Abu Barhoum mourned the death of Ali alongside his uncle Dr. Ibrahim. He shared an image of a young skinny man in a black shirt and white trousers. Barhoum’s Facebook account also posted a graphic photo where the dead body of Ali Barhoum can be seen, with his face covered in blood and dust.

Local sources reported that Ali’s father “Muhammad Al-Shayeb” was a Hamas leader killed in 2014, and Ali is pictures in a room with a Hamas logo on the wall behind him. However, Airwars did not find any sources directly reporting that Ali was a militant when the incident was published. As such, Ali 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 September 17, 2026, a Telegram account affiliated with Hamas' armed wing, Al-Qessam Brigades, published a tribute to Ali, identifying him as a fighter. As such, Airwars updated Ali's status from civilian to militant and changed the minimum number of civilians reportedly killed in this incident from two to one.

Yahya Barhoum was not killed immediately but died of his injuries as evidenced by multiple social media posts. His cousin Eman Barhoum mourned his death and shared many images of Yahya, a young man in a brown shirt and black trousers, standing in front of the sea.

Multiple sources reported injuries, with a Facebook post from a page called Al-Barahmeh family specifically reporting that three people were injured in the alleged Israeli attack.

Only one source explicitly attributed the airstrike to Israel, a Facebook post from the page, Al-salam Mosque Rafah. However, Airwars has matched the names of all the civilians killed with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of fatalities in Gaza released on October 26th, 2023, which explicitly mentions that names on the list are “victims of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip”. Therefore, Airwars graded this incident as a Likely Strike.