At around 1:20 p.m. on Monday, the 23rd of October, 2023, at least 47 identified civilians, all members of the al-Aidi, al-Zain, Brika and the Dabour families, including at least 28 children and 13 women, were reportedly killed and 11 civilians were injured in an alleged Israeli bombing of the three-storey Al-Aidi family house located in Rafah’s Al Geneina (al-Juneinah) neighbourhood in the southern Gaza Strip.
According to the sources, the Dabour family members were displaced to Rafah from Beit Hanoun in order to search for safety.
Twenty-five members of the Al-Aidi family and eleven members of the Dabour family were reportedly killed in the attack. The names and the ages of those who died from the Al-Aidi family were listed by several different online sources.
Sources, including X/Twitter account @WWIIIAR (a news site covering the Gaza conflict) posted the names of the civilians reported killed in the incident, accompanied by a graphic photo that appears to show at least three dead bodies on the floor of a hallway.
The Al-Aidi family:
57-year-old Nafez Othman Abdel Qader Al-Aidi was killed alongside his 50-year-old wife Rabab Mahmoud Mohammad Al-Aidi and their three children – 21-year-old son Nabil Nafez Othman Al-Aidi, 17-year-old daughter Sabreen Nafez Othman Al-Aidi, and 13-year-old daughter Taleen Nafez Othman Al-Aidi.
Maram Youssef Al-Kafrawi, wife of 30-year-old Mahmoud Nafez Othman Al-Aidi (injured) and daughter-in-law of Nafiz and Rebab, was killed with her six-year-old son, Ahed Mahmoud Nafez Al-Aydi, and four-year-old daughter, Rabab Mahmoud Nafez Al-Aydi.
The second wife of Mahmoud Nafez Othman Al-Aida, Maryam Hamdi Abdel Hadi, was also identified among the killed victims. Maryam Abdel Hadi was reported to be Egyptian.
Mahmoud Nafez al-Aidi, who lost his wife, two children, parents and brothers when his family’s building was bombed, gave a testimony to B’Tselem field researcher Muhammad Sabah on 30 October 2023. He related:
“I lived with my wife and our two children, ‘Ahed (8) and Rabab (5), near my parents in the a-Naser neighborhood, which lies east of the city of Rafah. On the second day of the war, Israel started shelling the area. Shells fell very close to our homes, so we had to leave along with all the neighbors. We went to stay with my cousin, Nabil al-‘Aidy, who lived in a three-story building with six apartments in the neighborhood of al-Juneinah in Rafah. We stayed in an apartment on the first floor along with my parents and brothers. In the opposite apartment were other relatives. Things were relatively quiet in that neighborhood. We only went out to stock up on groceries and didn’t run into any trouble, because the area was pretty quiet.
On Monday, 23 October 2023, at about 1:20 P.M., I went out to the grocery store while my family was getting ready for lunch. As soon as I stepped out of the building, I was thrown about 50 meters away. I jumped back to my feet and wanted to run to the building to check on my wife, kids, father and mother and brothers. Some passers-by found me bleeding from the head and took me to a pharmacy, where my head was bandaged. I went back to the building and found our apartments completely destroyed. I was shocked. I fainted and fell down.”
Mahmoud continued telling his tragic story:
“I woke up in a-Najar Hospital. I had fractures and bruising, and the doctors wanted to keep me there, but I insisted on going back to look for my family. When I arrived, I found neighbors there, including my friend Anas al-‘Adaisi, and they all helped search for my family. We got 11 injured people out and a lot of bodies. Only the next day were we able to extract the bodies of my wife, kids, parents and brothers. The bodies were dismembered.
It was a horrible sight, indescribable. It broke me to see my boys like that. I’m in a terrible state. I don’t know how I’ll deal with what happened to me. I never imagined I’d end up in this situation. I never imagined I’d lose my family like this. I’m alone in the world now. Everything I cared about is gone.”
Mahmoud’s cousin, 37-year-old Muhammad Nabil Al-Aidi, lost three of his children in the attack: his 15-year-old daughter Remas Muhammad Nabil Al-Aidi, 10-year-old son Adam Muhammad Nabil Al-Aidi, and nine-year-old son Renad Muhammad Nabil Al-Aidi, while his 36-year-old wife Asmaa was moderately injured and was still in hospital as of 24 October 2023 when Muhammad spoke to a B’Tselem researcher.
Muhammad recalled the events on that tragic day:
“On Monday, 23 October 2023, at around 1:30 P.M., I took my son Ahmad (15) to get his hair cut at a barbershop about 150 meters from our house. Everyone is shaving their sons because there isn’t enough water for washing. Suddenly, I heard a very loud bombing. At first, even though it was so strong, I thought it was far away. But then I saw a lot of dust and smoke billowing around the house and couldn’t see clearly what was going on there. I quickly ran home and found the building completely destroyed. There was nothing left standing.”
Muhammad added that he lost three of his children and dozens of people from my extended family, many of them young children, women and babies, while his mother was badly injured, and there were still people under the rubble.
He described the emotions and the feeling of devastation that he had:
“I’m still in total shock. I can’t grasp what happened and can’t process it. A three-story building gone in seconds. Since midday yesterday, I’ve been looking for my other relatives under the rubble. Of course, I don’t know who is still alive and who was killed. I’m praying to find survivors. The grief is too much to bear. We can’t take any more people killed, family members or anyone else. “
40-year-old Hani Mohammad Ali Al-Aidi was killed alongside his 38-year-old wife Sawsan Al-Arja and their son, Moaz Hani Mohammad Al-Aidi, who was just five months old.
37-year-old woman Reem Khamis Barakat, the wife of Ahmed Nabil Al-Aidi, was killed alongside her 13-year-old son, Yazan Ahmed Al-Aidi.
32-year-old Israa (Asraa) Khaled al-Aidi, the wife of Ali al-Aidi, was killed along with their three sons: nine-year-old Nabil Ali Nabil Al-Aidi, eight-year-old Wissam Ali Nabil Al-Aidi, and a two-month-old infant Qais Ali Nabil Al-Aidi.
Three children of Bilal Nabil Al-Aidi were also the victims of the strike: a 10-year-old girl, Ghazal Bilal Nabil Al-Aidi, a six-year-old girl, Hala Bilal Nabil Al-Aidi, and a five-month-old baby boy, Nabil Bilal Nabil Al-Aidi.
A seven-year-old girl, Siwar Moeen Abu Saleh Suleiman, and a 21-year-old woman, who was described as a pharmacist, Sally Nabeel Ali Al-Aidi, were also reported to have been killed in the alleged bombing.
A friend of Sally Al-Aidi mourned her death and paid tribute to her life in a post on Facebook. Rawan Jehad described Sally saying, “beautiful smile, talk and heart, my love, Sally, you are very dear to me.”
Another friend of Sally, Mariam Fareed, reported in a Facebook post that Sally was found dead after being buried under the rubble for 21 hours.
A relative of the Aidi family, Doha Naser, described Rabab as having “a tender heart” and wrote that her daughter, Sabreen, had dreams of becoming a doctor.
The Dabour family:
Based on the X/Twitter account of journalist @Yasser_Gaza, eleven members of the Dabour family, including seven children and two women, were also killed in the strike. He also reported that “the Dabour family, residents of Beit Hanoun (north Gaza) was displaced to Rafah (south Gaza), thinking it was safer, but they were killed by Israel.”
44-year-old Mazan (Mazen) Muhammad Khalil Dabour was killed alongside his five children: his 17-year-old son Khaled Mazan Muhammad Dabour, 19-year-old daughter Azza (Ezza) Mazen Muhammad Dabour, 14-year-old son Muhammad Mazen Muhammad Dabour, seven-year-old daughter Rahaf Mazen Muhammad Dabour, and a 15-year-old daughter, Mai Mazen Muhammad Dabour.*
A brother of Mazen, 39-year-old Osama Muhammad Khalil Dabour*, was killed along with his wife, Sumoud Abu Harbid, and their three children: nine-year-old son Sherif (Sharaf) Osama Muhammad Dabour, six-year-old daughter Dana Osama Muhammad Dabour, and three-year-old daughter Elaine (Alin) Osama Dabour.
Sumoud Abu Harbid is possibly a 29-year-old Sumoud Suhail Rajeh Dabour, matched to MoH ID 804786549.
Amer Dabour, a 34-year-old father of three from Beit Hanoun, recounted in a testimony he gave B’Tselem field researcher Muhammad Sabah on 14 November 2023, how he lost many members of his family in the deadly strike. He told Muhammad that before the war, he lived in Beit Hanoun with his wife, children, and four brothers. On 10 October 2023, he moved with his family to an empty apartment belonging to his relatives in the neighborhood of al-Juneinah in Rafah. There were other families in the building, from the al-Aidi and al-Zain extended families. “In our apartment, there were about 20 of us – my family, along with my brothers and their wives and children,” Amer told B’Tselem.
Then he recalled the circumstances of that tragic day:
“On Monday, 23 October, at around 1:00 P.M., I went to get my hair cut and buy some things with my cousins Khaled al-‘Aidy (31), Ibrahim Abu Sala’h (26) and Ahmad Abu Sala’h (22). We went about 500 meters from the house. Meanwhile, my wife went out with my mother-in-law Zeinab (61), and my kids went to the neighbors, who are relatives of ours from the al-Kurd family. We reached the barbershop, and while we were sitting there, we heard a loud explosion. The whole place shook.
I immediately called my brother-in-law Ahmad, who’d gone to buy a portable charger, and he said the strike was very close, but he didn’t know exactly where because everything was full of dust and smoke. A few minutes later, we realized the building we were sheltering in was the one bombed. We ran there and found it almost completely destroyed. I was in shock. The sight was horrifying. There were a lot of people there. We tried to move the rubble to look for people buried underneath. We took the people who weren’t injured to Rabe’ah al-‘Adawiyah School, west of Rafah.”
Amer said that he lost his brother Mazen (44) and Mazen’s children: ‘Azzah (20), Khaled (17), Mai (16), Muhammad (15), and Rahaf (8), as well as his brother Ousamah (38), his wife Sumoud (29) and their children: Sharaf (9), Dana (6) and Alin (3). Luckily, his wife and children survived, although they had to face utter poverty later on.
“I haven’t showered or changed my clothes in more than 15 days. I don’t have any clothes other than the ones I’m wearing. I lost all my clothes, and so did my wife and children. I also lost two mobile phones. We’re surviving, but it feels soulless,” lamented Amer.
In his testimony to B’Tselem, Amer provided different ages of some family members as compared to the Ministry of Health list. According to him, Azzah was 20, Mai was 16, Muhammad was 14, Rahaf was eight, and Osama was 38.
The al-Zain family:
According to the list that accompanied the testimony of Mahmoud Nafez al-’Aidy to B’Tselem, eight members of the al-Zein family were killed in the strike. 44-year-old Refaat Mahmoud Mohammad al-Zain was killed alongside his four children: three sons, 17-year-old Mahmoud Refaat Mahmoud al-Zain, nine-year-old Mohammad Refaat Mahmoud al-Zain, and three-year-old Ahmed Refaat Mahmoud al-Zain, and 14-year-old daughter Saja Refaat Mahmoud al-Zain. Among the victims were also two sisters of Refaat, 32-year-old Raghdah Mahmoud Mohammad al-Zain and 26-year-old Enas Mahmoud Mohamed al-Zain, and a 25-year-old woman, possibly their cousin Halimah Mustafa Mohammad al-Zain.
According to the Shireen Monitor, Enas Mahmoud Mohamed al-Zein was working as a nurse at Al-Nasr Children’s Hospital, and her wedding was scheduled for October 17, 2023. She was killed on October 23, 2023, and her body remained under the rubble until October 24.
The Brikah family:
According to the list that accompanied the testimony of Mahmoud Nafez al-’Aidy to B’Tselem, two members of the Brikah family were among the victims of the strike. 19-year-old Sabrin Husam Fathi Brikah was killed along with her sister, 15-year-old Rimas Husam Fathi Brikah.
Images shared on Facebook by family member Mahdy al-Aidi showed a funeral taking place for the victims of the alleged Israeli bombing. The family gathered next to the shrouded bodies to pray for them.
On the 25th of October, one Facebook user named Alaa Hharbeed, mourning the death of Osama Dabour and his wife Samoud Abu Harbid, posted commemorative photos of their three young children.
Facebook users Waem Raed and Wafaa Ahmad, in turn, posted a collage of pictures of some of the 22 children who were killed in the deadly strike.
The official Facebook page of Rafah City posted a series of photographs on the 23rd of October, showing the destroyed Al-Aidi family home, which it commented was “inhabited by women and children only”. The images showed that the home had been turned to rubble, and men were searching amongst the ruins for the survivors.
On the day after the alleged bombing, the 24th of October, Ibrahim Aidi wrote, in a Facebook post, that the al-Aidi house, which had been destroyed was “inhabited by more than 80 displaced people. Most of them are children, and so far 45 people are still missing under the rubble”.
Where possible, names have been matched with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of fatalities in Gaza released on October 26th, 2023.
Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strike to Israeli forces.