From the evening of April 18, 2025 till the dawn of April 19, 2025, a series of alleged Israeli attacks with a SkyStriker drone hit the tents of displaced people, setting them ablaze, in the Mawasi area of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, killing at least 11 civilians, including nine children and two women, and injuring a large number of other civilians. An individual identified as a militant was also killed.
Twitter/X user @jnfrj119440 was the first to report the attack on the tents and the fire at 9:59 PM on April 18. The Palestinian agency Safa mentioned the attack around 11:30 PM, while other sources, such as @mohammed_jbour and @Qadeyah1, reported that another attack happened at dawn. The images and videos of the fire clearly indicate that the incident occurred at night.
Social media sources helped Airwars to identify the names of the 12 civilians killed in the attack and of three civilians injured. The 12 identified victims came from four families.
The tent of the Abu Nada family, situated behind the British Hospital, was the one hit by a suicide drone which killed the child Mohammad Ali Abu al-Nada, along with his sister, also a child, Mira Ali Abu al-Nada, his infant brother Sand Ali Abu al-Nada, who turned one year of age just two days before the attack, and their aunt Haya (Hima) Ahmad Abu al-Nada.
Mahmoud Abu Nada posted on Facebook a heartfelt message in memory of the youngest member of this family, Sand Ali Abu Al-Nada. The message, soon reposted by other users across social media, depicted the story of a life barely begun. Born into the chaos of war, the child never had the chance to speak a first word or take a first step. His mother, who had endured immense suffering during her pregnancy, named him Sand because all the pain disappeared the moment she looked into her baby’s eyes for the first time. He was to be her support, strength and refuge in moments of sorrow. The message closed with a request not to forget him: “I’m not a number in a news report, nor a line in a forgotten international document.”
This post was accompanied by a photo of the child, his face lit up by a smile and his large, clear eyes full of life. Another image showed the three siblings posing for the camera: the little girl all dressed up with a pink flower in her curly hair and oversized sunglasses, while Mohammad, with small eyes and dark hair, sat next to her, snuggling their little brother in his arms.
32-year-old Ahmad Ziyad al-Qadi (a militant) was killed alongside his 32/33-year-old wife, Yasmin Abdel Halim al-Dawi, their eight-year-old son Moaz Ahmad al-Qadi, and their two daughters, five-year-old Bilsan Ahmad al-Qadi and two-year-old Lylian Ahmad al-Qadi.
When Airwars first published this incident on June 8, 2025, no open sources were found to suggest that Ahmad Ziyad al-Qadi was a militant. As such, Ahmad Ziyad al-Qadi was recorded as a civilian. This was in line with Airwars’ methodology which is employed across all conflicts we document, and informed by international standards regarding the ‘presumption of civilian status‘. Specifically, as outlined by the International Committee of the Red Cross, civilian status is assumed until evidence is identified to the contrary.
On March 1, 2026, a Telegram account affiliated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), published a tribute to Ahmad Ziyad al-Qadi, identifying him as a “martyred commander”. As such, Airwars updated Ahmad Ziyad al-Qadi’s status from civilian to militant, and changed the minimum number of civilians reportedly killed in this incident from 12 to 11.
Many friends and family members resorted to Facebook to express their grief for the loss of the beloved Ahmad and his family. “They rejoice in favour from Allah and bounty and that Allah does not allow the reward of the believers to be lost,” wrote Ahmad’s cousin, Mahmoud Zayed Al Qadi Shawqi. Then he added that there had been no chance to say goodbye, and now the absence is heavier, filled with silence, while souls seemed lost on paths that never met, as if destined to remain apart.
Another friend, Osama Dahi, reflected on the unbearable weight of repeated loss. The deaths of loved ones have become almost a daily occurrence, and no human heart was made to endure all this grief. He concluded the post, offering condolences to the family. In the pictures shared by these sources, Ahmad is seen as a middle-aged man with dark hair and a thick beard wearing a grey Lacoste T-shirt.
The one-month-old infant Mohammad Sameer al-Nahhal succumbed to his wounds minutes after being transported with several other wounded. His two-year-old brother, Omar Sameer al-Nahhal, was killed in the attack too, while, according to a Facebook post from Diwan Ealyat Al-Nahha, other family members and relatives were injured, but there was no additional information available in the sources. The Facebook account Akhlaq Islamia shared an image of the late Omar dressed in a white costume and a white cap.
The three-year-old boy Khaled Abdel-Hameed Tafesh lost his life in the attack, and his injured dad, Abdel-Hameed Tafesh, carried his body to his final resting place. Along with him, two other family members were wounded, and their names are Hameedo Tafesh and Fadi Tafesh. A video shared by Abo alaa Tafesh on Facebook showed that Abdel-Hameed himself was carried by two other men, apparently not being able to walk.
Shady Tafesh, a cousin of Abdel-Hameed, bid farewell to the child Khaled, calling him “a bird in heaven” that joined the rest of the family, asking him to send them his love, willing that one day they will all reunite. Pictures of the child were shared on social media. He can be seen sitting with a surprised expression, wearing matching denim pants and jacket, and sunglasses on his head.
Airwars found references to the names of five injured civilians, though the majority of sources declared that the injured were “a large number”. In line with Airwars’ methodology, Airwars has recorded the estimated range as 12-24 until further information is found.
Airwars’ researchers identified the ages of some victims using Shireen Monitor, an organisation which has a list of “Martyrs of Palestine” from 2023 onward, and from Genocide in Gaza, which has a list of “martyrs” of Israeli forces.
Where sources identified a belligerent, all sources attributed the strike to Israeli forces.