At around 10 PM on Sunday, October 29th, 2023, 18 members of the Mushtaha family, including six women, one of them pregnant, were killed and dozens were reportedly injured after an alleged Israeli airstrike hit their home on Lababidi Street in Gaza City. A nineteenth member of the family was killed and has been identified as a militant.
The incident was reported by the Palestinian Information Centre on its official X/Twitter account and by Awdah TV on its official Facebook account. Both sources confirmed that the alleged attack had occurred on Lababidi Street and wrote about “dozens of martyrs and injured.”
Family members quickly posted mourning messages on social media, sharing lists where their lost relatives were named one by one. “Pain of separation, Goodbye, my beloved ones”, wrote Mohammed M. Mushtha. “By God, we are sad, but in the eyes of God, you are winners.”
Social media tributes helped to identify 19 family members killed.
Dr. Ameed Awni Mushtaha was killed along with his wife, Rania Naeem Mushtaha and their three sons, Anas Ameed Mushtaha, Muhammad Ameed Mushtaha and Ahmed Ameed Mushtaha. The posts shared by family and friends on social media did not specify whether Dr. Ameed was a medical or academic doctor.
Ameed Awni’s brother, 54-year-old Raed Awni Mushtaha, was killed along with his wife, 43-year-old Reda Naeem Mushtaha, their son, 26-year-old, Awni Raed Mushtaha (a militant) and his wife, 22-year-old Sahar Mamdouh Al-Alami, who was pregnant at the time. Ameed and Raed Awni’s sister, Nahil Aouni Mushtaha, was killed alongside her daughter, Farah Amer Mushtaha, and her son, Ahmed Amer Mushtaha.
Yasmine Muhammad Shaaban Mushtaha was killed along with her husband, Alaa Nasser Mushtaha, and their four children, Obadaa Alaa Nasser Mushtaha, Dina Alaa Nasser Mushtaha, Ahmed Alaa Nasser Mushtaha, and Yamen Alaa Nasser Mushtaha. Also Umm Alaa Nasser Mushtaha, the mother of Alaa, was listed among the deceased.
When Airwars first published this incident, no open sources were found to suggest that Awni Raed Mushtaha was a militant. As such, Awni Raed Mushtaha 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 April 28, 2026, a Telegram account affiliated with Hamas' armed wing, Al-Qessam Brigades, published a tribute to Awni Raed Mushtaha, identifying him as a fighter. As such, Airwars updated Awni Raed Mushtaha's status from civilian to militant and changed the minimum number of civilians reportedly killed in this incident from 19 to 18.
Alaa Nasser Mushtaha’s uncle, Abu Muhammad Mushtaha Mansour, posted a message: “With hearts that believe in God’s will and destiny, I mourn and offer my condolences to the members of our family on Lababidi Street, and I especially mention my nephew, his children, his wife, and his mother.”
With a collage made of the portraits of seven family members, surrounded by the dome of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Palestinian Flag, Nidal Mushtaha honoured his deceased relatives: “By God, I do not know with what eulogy I should sympathize with you, my beloved ones.”
Where possible, Airwars has matched names with the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza’s list of victims’ names and ID numbers, released since October 26th, 2023.
Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strikes to Israeli forces.