During the afternoon of Tuesday, October 24th 2023, 15 civilians were reportedly killed and 16 others were injured as a result of an alleged Israeli bombing on the home of the Zorob family, near Al-Aqsa station, west of Rafah, Gaza Strip. A 16th person was killed and has been recorded as a militant.
In multiple posts on social media, family members reported the names of 16 individuals reportedly killed in the incident including engineer Abdullah Musa Mahmoud Zorob (a militant), his wife Lamis Mahmoud Noman Zorob, and their three sons 5-year-old Musa Abdullah Musa Zorob, 2-year-old Ibrahim Abdullah Musa Zorob and 7-year-old Muhammad Abdullah Musa Zorob.
When Airwars first published this incident on June 1, 2024, no open sources were found to suggest that Abdullah Musa Mahmoud Zorob was a militant. As such, Abdullah Musa Mahmoud Zorob 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 May 20, 2026, a Telegram account affiliated with Hamas’ armed wing, Al-Qessam Brigades, published a tribute to Abdullah Musa Mahmoud Zorob, identifying him as a “commander”. As such, Airwars updated Abdullah Musa Mahmoud Zorob’s status from civilian to militant, and changed the minimum number of civilians reportedly killed in this incident from 16 to 15.
The same post cited in the second paragraph also reported that many other members of the Zorob family had been killed, including Abdullah’s mother, 53-year-old Salwa Musa Ibrahim Zoroub, his sisters Fatima Musa Mahmoud Zoroub and Islam Musa Mahmoud Zoroub, and his brothers 17-year-old Omar Musa Mahmoud Zoroub and 24-year-old Muhammad Musa Mahmoud Zoroub. Mohammed Zorob also stated that three children were killed and all were brothers; this included Abdullah’s nephews Muhammad Ahmed Khalil Zorob (who was 8 or 9 years old), Abdullah Ahmed Khalil Zorob (who was one year old) and Bilal Ahmed Khalil Zorob who was four years old. Murad Zourob also reported on the death of 1-year-old Hamsa Bilal Khalil Zoroub, 12-year-old Hala Bilal Khalil Zoroub and another victim by the name of Hala Bilal Khalil Zoroub. Though similar in English, the names are spelled differently in Arabic; it remains possible, however, that this was a repeated name.
The initial death toll was thought to be lower. Facebook user Ayoub Chemali first reported that seven victims had been killed and dozens had been injured in the incident. Another account, Awdeh plus+, initially reported that five people were killed and 16 people were injured.
Family member Sherein Zourob, reported in a post on Facebook that many remained in critical condition and others were buried under the rubble. Magda Mahmoud reported in a post on Facebook that the four victims had been taken to Al Najjar Hospital following the incident and Mouaz Al Hamas shared a photo of the four victims, including at least two children, arriving at the hospital and being carried inside.
Another hospital, the Kuwaiti Hospital, reported that a number of victims, both killed and injured, had been brought in following the incident. Kuwaiti Hospital also shared images of severely injured children being treated.
A family member named Mahdi Zorob shared images on Facebook of the destroyed home and victims bodies being removed from the rubble. The caption reported that 11 family members had been killed.
Images of the aftermath of the incident, taken by Fares Abu Sharakh, show the scale of the destruction. A large sandy crater can be seen alongside significant damage to the neighbouring buildings.
Family members paid tribute to the victims and gave their condolences to Hajj Mahmoud Zorob, Salwa’s husband, and Abdullah, Islam and Fatima’s father, on the deaths of his family members. In a tribute post on Facebook, Baraa M Barhoom, described Abdullah Musa Mahmoud Zorob as an educator and mentor and attached an image of Abdullah from before the incident. Adel Zourob described Abdullah as being “dedicated to his family and people”.
Though local sources including Sherein Zourob, Omer albargi and Mahdi Zourob reported on the Israeli bombing, many of the sources conflicted on the number of people that had been killed. The exception was Murad Zourob, who listed all 16 names. Journalist Adel Zourob stated the ages of the three children, @Hamzaalnamla tweeted images of the house that was destroyed and Ayoub Chemali post included a video of the scenes from the site of the bombing.
Where possible, Airwars has matched names with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of nearly 7000 victims’ names and ID numbers released on October 26th.
When sources identified a belligerent, all sources attributed the strike to the Israeli military.