On November 8, 2023, an alleged Israeli airstrike struck a residential house belonging to the Abu Shahada family near Al-Nuseirat Refugee Camp, in the central Gaza Strip, killing at least 21 members of the family, including seven women and 12 children, and injuring others. The house was reportedly located in the Abu Salim Land / Al-Sawarha (Al-Zureiqat) area, west of the camp. The strike caused extensive destruction to the building and resulted in a high number of civilian casualties from a single extended family.
Initial reports emerged during the late morning. At 11:30, Safa.ps reported that two civilians had been killed following an Israeli airstrike on the Abu Salim Land area of Al-Nuseirat Camp. At 12:06, Safa.ps updated the toll to 14 killed, noting that rescue crews were still searching for missing persons beneath the rubble. Around the same time, other local news pages and media outlets reported that a residential house had been hit and that casualties were continuing to rise.
Shortly afterward, social media accounts on X reported higher casualty figures. The account @ShehabAgency published a post stating that 17 people, most of them children, had been killed after Israeli aircraft bombed a house in Al-Nuseirat Camp. Similar reports citing 17 fatalities were posted by @PalinfoAr, @LensFullStory, @TheLensPost, accompanied by photographs from the scene. A post from Al Sahfi Mahmoud Bakr Al Louh mentioned “injured” from the attack but did not provide more information. Al Jazeera Palestine later published video footage reporting 18 killed, including children, following the bombing of the Shahada family home in Nuseirat. Video material showed significant destruction at the site and civil defense and medical response activity.
As recovery operations continued, additional casualty updates were shared by individuals on Facebook. Naji Salah Al-Mazr’awi posted that 20 bodies had been recovered from the home of Abu Anas Shahada, stating that Israeli warplanes had targeted the house west of Al-Nuseirat Camp in the Abu Salim Land area. Other Facebook users, including Shereen Kullab, Amnah Al-Najjar, Loay bin Mohammed, and Al Sahfi Mahmoud Bakr Al-Louh, posted from or about the location, confirming that the Shahada family home had been struck and that there were killed and injured persons.
Detailed identification of the victims emerged primarily through Facebook posts by relatives and community members. A large number of posts named 21 members of the Shahada family who were killed, identifying entire family units spanning multiple generations.
31-year-old man, Abdulrahman Nizar Ashour Shahada, was killed along with his wife, 31-year-old Maysara Shahada, his mother, 68-year-old Rasmiya Awad Shahada, and their children, nine-year-old Yazan Abdulrahman Nizar Shahada, Mohammed Abdulrahman Nizar Shahada, and three-year-old Nidaa Abdulrahman Shahada.
61-year-old Nasser Ashour Shahada, his wife, 59-year-old Fayrouz Ali al-Jabali (Shahada), and their daughters, 19-year-old Ghada Nasser Ashour Shahada and 26-year-old Nour Nasser Ashour Shahada, were killed, in addition to Nour’s daughter Maryam and son Omar.
Nasser and Fayrouz’s daughter-in-law, 30-year-old Duaa Shahada, wife of their son Mohammed Nasser Ashour Shahada, was killed with their children, nine-year-old son, Mosab Mohammed Nasser Shahada and five-year-old son, Youssef Mohammed Nasser Shahada.
Another of Nasser and Fayrouz’s daughters-in-law, Wafaa Shahada, wife of Mahmoud Nasser Ashour Shahada, and her children, one-year-old Baraa Mahmoud Nasser Shahada, daughter Hala Mahmoud Nasser Shahada, and five-year-old Lama Mahmoud Nasser Shahada were killed in the same attack.
Two other members of the family, a boy named Malik Shahada (grandson of Abu Anas) and two-year-old girl, Zeina Ahmed Shahada, were among those killed.
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 a number of 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 are matched to the second “Palestinian Ministry of Health List of Fatalities in Gaza”, which was released on January 7, 2024.
A Facebook post by Saja Hassan Shehadah, which included video footage, stated that 18 bodies had arrived at Al-Aqsa Hospital following the strike and named several relatives killed, including her uncles, their wives, children, and grandchildren.
Where belligerents were identified, all sources attributed the strike to Israeli forces.