Shortly before 9:08 AM on Friday, October 27, 2023, at least 13 identified civilians, including seven women and five children, were killed and at least 28 others were injured in an alleged Israeli airstrike which hit a residential house of the Muhaisen family located on al-Hoja Street, next to the Yemeni hospital and Abu Hussein School in the Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip.
According to Quds News Network and Safa News, the authorities in Gaza announced that 12 civilians were killed and dozens of others were injured in the incident. Later the number of those killed has risen to 22 as reported by journalist Saher al-Aqraa. Most of the victims, as reported by Palestine News Network SHFA, were women and children.
A Facebook post from “Gazan journalist” reported that 28 injured civilians arrived at a hospital in northern Gaza – some with serious injuries.
Social media testimonies by family members and friends helped Airwars to identify the names of thirteen of the victims.
“May God have mercy on our martyrs, heal our wounded, and heal those afflicted”, read Taghreed Mansor’s post. He identified eleven family members who were killed in the attack.
Amongst those killed was Tagreed’s 80-year-old uncle Haji Eid Muhammad Eid Abdel Gawad (Abu Mansour), Eid’s 79-year-old wife Khadra Sayed Mahmoud Abdel Gawad (Umm Mansour), their 41-year-old daughter Heba Eid Muhammad Abdel Gawad (Muheisen), Tagreed’s 24-year-old sister-in-law Reham Mahmoud Darwish Muheisen, and Reham’s children, two-year-old daughter Juri Muhammad Mansour Abdel Abdel Gawad and a son Jawd Muhammad Abdel Gawad (age unknown).
The attack also killed Reham’s mother, the wife of Mahmoud Muheisen (Abu Sharif), Heba Mahmoud Muheisen (Umm Sharif), and Reham’s siblings, Mahmoud and Heba’s children – 20-year-old daughter Reem Mahmoud Muhaisen, 18-year-old daughter Tasnim Mahmoud Muhaisen, 14-year-old son Omar Mahmoud Muhaisen, and 12-year-old son Abdul Rahman Mahmoud Muhaisen.
Nedal Jawad Abo Islam and Radi Aj in their Facebook posts grieved the loss of their uncle Hajj Eid Muhammad Abd al-Jawad Abu Mansour, his wife, daughter, as well as their five grandchildren.
“May God grant them paradise to the highest level. We belong to God and to Him we shall return, and we wish complete safety for my brother Abu Sharif Mahmoud and his children, your prayers are for them” – read the Facebook post by Majda Muhaisen.
In a video shared by the Jerusalem Compass, the lawyer Jihad al-Kafarneh is seen crying as he holds the dead body of his newborn child, Musk Jihad al-Kafarneh. It was reported that his wife was also killed in the bombing the same morning. “The last hug!” – Almanara Media posted the image of Jihad lying next to his newborn daughter, who was “was not more than six days old”.
@Fatma_Kh_ tweeted images where Jihad is seen kneeling next to the dead body of his wife and daughter. Twitter/X user @Roaastudies shared a video where Jihad was writing the name of his deceased wife on her white shroud, holding the dead body of their infant daughter in his hands.
Posting to Facebook, Aljazeera shared a video of a moment after the bombing. Amongst the chaos, the video portrayed injured civilians – both of whom appear to be women – being carried by a group of males and medical assistants. In addition, the video documented the rescue efforts of the civilians trapped under the rubble – some of whom were young children.
A video posted by the SND news agency showed injured people arriving at a hospital for medical treatment; among them were five children, two men, and one infant. The video was reposted and shared by MD-TV, Isra Hussien and Islam youth on their social media accounts.
The MD-TV identified the strike location as “in the centre of Jabalia camp, next to the Yemeni hospital”, while other sources mentioned that the home of the Muhaisen family was next to Abu Hussein school.
Where possible, names have been matched with the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of fatalities in Gaza released July 24th 2024.
Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strike to Israeli forces.