On Wednesday evening, November 8, 2023, an alleged Israeli bombing struck a residential block in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip. The incident resulted in massive civilian casualties, with up to 19 killed and “dozens” injured. At least seven civilians, including four children, were killed in the al-Masry family. Sources also mentioned that the houses of two families – Abu Subha and al-Masry – were destroyed as a result of the strike. Those injured were taken to the Indonesian Hospital.
@ShehabAgency on Twitter/X shared the news that there were “A large number of martyrs and wounded as a result of the occupation targeting a number of inhabited homes in the Beit Lahia project in northern Gaza.” Following this, many other sources online added more context to the incident. @Tufan_ALaqssa (Twitter/X) added that there were “4 martyrs and dozens wounded” as a result of the strike at the Abu Subha and al-Masry residences. Updated counts from multiple sources indicated that the death toll had risen to 19. Shehab Agency alleged 45 had been wounded; all other sources reported “dozens”.
No specific information about the identities or family relationships of those killed or injured was provided in the available social media sources, though the images indicated that casualties included men and children of various ages.
Airwars researchers were able to identify the seven victims from the al-Masry family based on the information provided by the website “Genocide in Gaza” that also has a list of the names of “martyrs” from Israeli forces which includes the name of the victim, their age, their date of death, and the “circumstances of martyrdom”. Researchers found the names of victims by using the surname of a family based on a targeted family home, in this case, al-Masry.
32-year-old Muhammad Saad Shahada al-Masry was killed alongside his 28-year-old brother, Khalil Saad Shahada al-Masry, and his three daughters: nine-year-old Dana Muhammad Saad al-Masry, 11-year-old Lujain Muhammad Saad al-Masry, and five-year-old Nazha Muhammad Saad al-Masry.
32-year-old Enaam Anwar Abdullah al-Masry and a 12-year-old boy, Abdul Wahab Ahmed Abdul Wahab al-Masry, were also killed in the strike.
The Genocide in Gaza profile of Khalil Saad Shahada al-Masry contained his image of a young man with dark hair and a dark trimmed beard, wearing a black T-shirt and standing in front of a beach umbrella. The profile of the deceased girl Lujain featured her image, a girl with long black hair wearing a red T-shirt and standing outdoors in nature.
According to the website “Genocide in Gaza”, the family’s house was attacked without prior warning.
Where possible, the names of the victims have been matched with the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH) lists, which include national ID numbers. Since October 26, 2023, the MoH has released eight lists, along with an additional list of medical professionals, which was released on September 17, 2024. Airwars is matching individuals to the first list where their name appeared. In regard to this incident, names were matched to the third and fourth “Palestinian Ministry of Health List of Fatalities in Gaza”, which were released on April 1, 2024, and April 30, 2024, respectively.
@ShehabAgency also shared a picture of the wounded civilians being brought to the Indonesian Hospital. The image shows the scene of the hospital with multiple medical staff in the background and the remains of approximately 10 civilians on the floor.
Multiple photographs documenting the incident were shared by Al Sahfi Abed al-Rahman al-Abadla on Facebook. The images capture the aftermath, showing extensive structural damage and debris, wounded civilians receiving treatment in a hospital surrounded by medical staff and EMS personnel, and various perspectives of rescue operations. These operations feature civilians attempting to save those trapped beneath the rubble, including a group of five men carrying a rescued civilian and another rescue possibly taking place on an upper floor of the damaged buildings. The final image shows EMS staff rescuing children from the scene and helping them into an ambulance.
Wakalt Falsten Al Youm Al Ikhbaria shared similar photos on Facebook, with two additional images showing other angles of the rescue operation. One photo shows a young man carrying a severely injured child, and another shows a group of civilians carrying a retrieved civilian on a makeshift stretcher.
Al Jazeera Egypt shared a video on Facebook showing the immediate effects of the strike: the video depicts large-scale infrastructural damage, and civilians being rescued from the rubble by EMS staff and others on the scene. The video was also shared by other social media users on Facebook.
Where sources identified belligerents, all sources attributed the airstrike to the Israeli military.