In the early hours of 18 March 2025, Israeli aircraft reportedly carried out an airstrike on a residential apartment in the Habboub building in Jabalia refugee camp, north of the Gaza Strip. The strike wounded several people and killed at least three civilians from the same family: 35-year-old Mahmoud Issa Abdel Aziz Hamdan (also known as Adili), his 15-year-old daughter Malak Mahmoud Hamdan, and his six-year-old son Youssef Mahmoud Hamdan. Relatives and multiple local media outlets, including Rasad News Network, Al-Masirah TV, Quds News Network, France 24 Arabic, and others, via social media posts reported on the incident.
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 eighth “Palestinian Ministry of Health List of Fatalities in Gaza”, which was released on March 24, 2025.
Family and friends of the victims posted tributes online, mourning the deaths of Mahmoud and his children, Malak and Youssef. Their posts spoke of unbearable grief, describing how the three had “left behind incurable pain and an unfilled void.”
“With hearts filled with pain and sorrow, we mourn the passing of my brother Mahmoud Issa Hamdan, his son Youssef, and his daughter Malak,” wrote his brother Adam Hamdan at the time of the incident. In his post, he recalled that the family had already endured the loss of two other brothers, Mohammed and Abdul Karim Issa Hamda.
Lama Eyed al-Shami, Mahmoud’s niece, also mourned the loss of her uncle and cousins. She described their deaths as leaving behind “incurable pain and an unfilled void.”
The social media posts also included photographs of Mahmoud Issa Hamdan and his children. In one image, Malak is seen smiling widely, wearing a black dress and headscarf, while little Youssef appears to be at a mall, dressed in a blue and white tracksuit. Mahmoud himself is depicted wearing a dark blue hoodie with orange inner lining and a white shirt.
Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strike to the Israeli Military.