At least 10 civilians were killed and at least seven others injured in an alleged Israeli strike that hit the Salout family home in Al-Zana in Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Younis on November 8, 2023.
The strike was initially reported by news outlets including the Shehab Agency, who said that two were killed and seven had arrived injured at the Nasser Hospital following the attack. The number of the dead further rose to three, reported by PalToday Breaking News and then to four, reported by Al Ghad TV. Some outlets reported that up to 27 people had been injured in the attack.
Most of those killed were members of the Salout family, and local sources provided the names of 10 people who had been killed. 69-year-old Nabil Mousa Salout was killed. His 56-year-old brother, Muhammad Mousa Salout was also killed, seemingly dying from initial injuries. Muhammad’s wife, 53-year-old Ibtisam (Instab) Muhammad Salout was also killed. Nabil’s daughter-in-law, 45-year-old Maha Ahmed Salout was killed, as were her two daughters, 12-year-old Shaza Abdullah Nabil Salout and 10-year-old Joan Abdullah Nabil Salout. Nabil’s nephew, 40-year-old Imad Farid Musa Salout was killed, alongside his three sons, five-year-old Qasim Imad Farid Salout, 12-year-old Farid Imad Farid Salout, and 14-year-old Qusay Imad Farid Salout.
Photos and video of the Salout family home shared online show the house completely in ruins, with windows blown out and rubble strewn. Men were photographed surveying the rubble. Another video shared by Qanat Falsten Al Youm covered the aftermath of the strike on the Salout family home, showing a young boy lying on a hospital bed and the body of a little girl, seriously injured, rushed onto a stretcher as people checked for her pulse; she is later shown to have died. One man was receiving urgent medical care on a stretcher, breathing through an oxygen mask as people cut off his clothes. There were also several shrouds captured on video, belonging to both children and adults. No one in the video was identified by name.
Family members confirmed the names of those killed on social media and shared their condolences, with Om Moumen Abo Shehab asking that “God […] accept them and […] make them dwell in His spacious gardens,” and “Anonymous Participant” writing that with their deaths, the Salouts had “ascended to their Lord.”
One video posted to social media showed a girl described as Imad’s daughter sitting in front of her father’s shroud, mourning his death and saying “we will take revenge.” One of Imad’s brothers, Yaseen F Salout, remembered him in a Facebook post: “You are a good brother, a good leader, and a good teacher. You are a man worth a thousand men.” A photo of a bearded Imad showed him with his young son Qasim, held in his arms and wearing a pair of sunglasses.
Two of Imad’s children, Qusay and Farid, had been taken to the U.S. by the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund in cooperation with the WK Hospital to correct their skulls as they both suffered from birth defects, according to a Facebook post from Heba Daoud Hasan. Accompanying her post was a screenshot from a Whatsapp chat confirming the deaths of the boys, with a photo of one smiling in a selfie and another laughing in his hospital bed. Heba wrote that she had hoped their bodies could be recovered, but no remains were found: “unfortunately the airstrike was stronger than their bodies could bear [and] stole even the glimmer of hope from them.” The two boys were reportedly on a list to undergo another surgery in the U.S. with people having contributed financially to the cause. “But the F16 fire was stronger than any hope or dream,” wrote Hasan. “Thank you for giving us the opportunity to know two birds of paradise.”
Muhammad Salout was initially recorded as injured, with family members wishing him “a speedy recovery.” However, other sources, such as user Zakaria Salah, reported that Muhammad had been killed. Further, his presence on the Palestinian Ministry of Health list of fatalities gives credence to this claim. Names were matched with the list’s second publication.
Airwars had graded this incident as a Likely strike with a civilian harm rating of fair, given the widespread media reporting on the incident as well as photos showing both the destruction of the family home and the shrouds of those killed.
Where possible, names have been matched with the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH) lists, which include national ID numbers. 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’ list.