On the evening of 17th of December, 2024, an alleged Israeli airstrike reportedly struck the Batah family home opposite the western gate of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, in the north of the Gaza Strip, killing at least nine people, including at least two women and seven children, and injuring seven civilians.
At 19:37, Safa News reported this incident, detailing that there were “martyrs” and wounded in the attack. However, as further reports emerged over time, the number of victims continued to rise. Ahmad Sweity reported that the toll increased partly because, although the house belonged to the Batah family, it also sheltered two other families—the Suwaiti family and the Ashqar family.
Activist Mohammad Yousef reported on Facebook that the attack caused a number of injuries. Later, Shaher Alwiti wrote on Facebook that the injury toll rose to seven.
Alaa Elswety posted on Facebook, sharing her “sincere condolences to our dear cousin Ramez Ziad al-Suwaiti on the martyrdom of his wife and children.” She identified the victims as Ramez’s wife, 40-year-old Asmaa al-Suwaiti (Batah), and her children: 17-year-old daughter Nahida Ramez al-Suwaiti, 14-year-old son Ziad Ramez al-Suwaiti, and eight-year-old son Youssef Ramez al-Suwaiti. Mohammad Alrajoub Abu Mosa, also on Facebook, further identified another of their children, 12-year-old Zain Ramez al-Suwaiti, as a victim of the reported attack.
Mohammed Tayeh Abu Ahmed also identified additional victims from this reported attack, naming them as his wife’s sister, Fadwa Jamal al-Ashqar, her 17-year-old son Muhammad Abdul Hadi al-Ashqar, her eight-year-old son Ihsan Abdul Hadi al-Ashqar, and her 13-year-old daughter Dima Abdul Hadi al-Ashqar, who were all killed. Mohammed reports on social media that the only survivor of the attack was Fadwa’s son, Amir Abdul Hadi al-Ashqar, who was injured.
A testimony for the al-Ashqar family, posted by Abu Ahmad on Facebook, stated that the father, Abdul Hadi Muhammad al-Ashqar, had only recently passed away in a different attack in Gaza, and now his children and wife have “now joined him.” Abu also shared three images of the family: one showed a touching picture of the father and son wearing suits and smiling into the camera; the second showed a young girl, presumably Dima Al-Ashqar, wearing a white dress with pink stars, smiling and showing off her dress to the camera; and the third showed a young boy posing in front of a garden in a bright yellow shirt and jeans, with the caption “happy” on the photo.
A particularly moving tribute for the Al-Ashqar family was posted by EngNour T Abukarsh on Facebook, who shared that with “hearts filled with pain and eyes overflowing with tears,” they mourned the loss of the al-Ashqar family. EngNour stated that “their departure is painful” and continued: “they left our world, but they live in our hearts every day.” This testimony was also shared alongside photos of the family: one showing a young girl with bright innocent eyes staring into the camera; another showing two young boys eating and drinking at a table, one wearing a white T-shirt and the other, younger boy, in a red T-shirt; and the third showing a young boy in a navy T-shirt resting on his arms and smiling cheekily at the camera.
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 are matched to the eighth “Palestinian Ministry of Health List of Fatalities in Gaza”, which was released on March 24, 2025.
Where sources identified a belligerent, all attributed the strike to Israeli forces.