Six people were reportedly killed on October 25th 2023, when an alleged Israeli airstrike hit a group of farmers in Abasan Al-Kabira to the east of Khan Yunis. At least five civilians were reportedly killed. A sixth person was killed and has been identified as a militant.
Four of the people who died in the attack were from the Abu Mustafa family: 39-year old Adel Ibrahim Abu Mustafa, 25-year old Mahmoud Farid Mahmoud Abu Mustafa and 32-year old Muhammad Ghassan Abu Mustafa. The fourth member of the family was as 35-year old Muhammad Salim Abu Mustafa, who has been identified as a militant.
The two other farmers reportedly killed in the attack were 49-year old Hani Nasr Muhammad Hassanein and 26-year old Munther Abdullah Qasim Shamali.
When Airwars first published this incident, no open sources were found to suggest that Muhammad Salim Abu Mustafa was a militant. As such, Muhammad Salim Abu Mustafa 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 July 29, a Telegram account affiliated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)'s armed wing published a tribute to Muhammad Salim Abu Mustafa, identifying him as a fighter. As such, Airwars updated Muhammad Salim Abu Mustafa's status from civilian to militant and changed the minimum number of civilians reportedly killed in this incident from six to five.
A number of sources, including Shehab News Agency and the Palestinian Information Center (PIC), reported that those killed in the attack were working on a farm at the time. Other posts on X/Twitter specified that the farm was a chicken farm.
The Abu Mustafa family resided in Khan Younis.
According to a post by @PalinfoAr on X/Twitter, three of the deceased were taken to the European Hospital in Al-Fukhari, close to Khan Yunis. The report stated that ambulances from the hospital returned to the site of the attack to recover the six bodies of those killed. It is likely this disparity of the death toll was due to confusion at the scene of the incident, as no other sources mention nine deaths. Airwars has nevertheless included an upper range of nine casualties to account for this ambiguity.
Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strike to the Israeli military.
All names have been matched with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of fatalities in Gaza released on October 26th, 2023.