Geolocation
Airwars assessment
On October 7th 2023, 18 members of the same family, including at least seven children and four women, were reportedly killed in an alleged Israeli military airstrike, leaving at least one named survivor, 11 year-old Tala Abu Daqqa, with injuries. Other sources reported that between 25 to 150 civilians were injured.
The attack reportedly took place at 11pm in the town of Abasan Al-Kabira, east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. It was reported that Israeli aircrafts directly targeted the house of the Abu Daqqa family with several missiles, leading to its collapse.
Multiple sources corroborated that at least five children were killed.
Fajir News reported that two days prior to the missile strike on the Abu Daqqa family, Ali Abu Daqqa had been speaking to a journalist about an appeal for him to undergo heart surgery. He spoke alongside his son Khaled who was hopeful for his father’s recovery – Khaled Ali Abu Hamad Abu Daqqa was subsequently killed in the strike, aged 22. Khaled’s brother Qais Ali Abu Hamad Abu Daqqa, was also killed, aged 10, along with his older brother Asif Ali Abu Hamad Abu Daqqa who was 25 years old and their younger sister Maryam Ali Abu Hamad Abu Daqqa, who was seven. The report added that their mother and two of their brothers survived and were pulled from the rubble, however no other sources reported that there were multiple survivors.
Saeed Abu Daqqa posted on Facebook that this was the family of Yasser (Muhammad) Abu Daqqa, 28 years old, who is currently being detained in an Israeli prison, with nine years remaining until his release. It was not immediately clear what Yasser Abu Daqqa was detained for. The victims included his mother 68-year-old Zainab Abu Daqqa, his siblings 33-year-old Hassan Muhammad Abu Daqqa and 33-year-old Hussein Muhammad Abu Daqqa, and their wives and their children. Based on familial names, Hussein’s children seven-year-old Lian Hussein Abu Daqqa, six-year-old Judy Hussein Abu Daqqa, three-year-old Sham Hussein Abu Daqqa, two-month-old Muhammad Hussein Abu Daqqa, and his twin sister Aseed Hussein Abu Daqqa were among those killed.
Multiple sources reported the names of the other victims, though did not provide further details on ages or family connections – family connections have been extrapolated based on familial names. The named victims were as follows: 22-year-old Muhammad Ismail Abu Hamad (Abu Daqqa), his sibling 18-year-old Uday Ismail Abu Hamad Abu Daqqa, his sibling Dana Ismail Abu Hamad Abu Daqqa, 59-year-old Nadia Abu Hamad Abu Daqqa, 68-year-old Halima Abu Hamad Abu Daqqa, and 29-year-old Shaima Abdel Hadi Qadeeh (Abu Daqqa).
CNN reported that at least 13 members of the same family, including four toddlers, were killed by an Israeli airstrike, which also killed another four people and injured 25 others. Al Ghad TV reported about 150 people had been injured in the Abasan area.
Tala Abu Daqqa, 11, a survivor, was pictured crying in an image shared on social media. It is reported that her father, mother and three sisters were killed in the attack.
PCHR reported that the building consisted of three floors of concrete and the bombing resulted in the complete destruction of the house, further damaging surrounding houses. PCHR added that the victims were within the building, with no prior warning of the attack. Multiple sources support this claim with images of the building turned to rubble.
Mohammad Abu Daqqa, a relative of the Abu Daqqa family, told CNN that five residential buildings, each three or four stories tall, were destroyed in the strike. “They hit us with two or three barrels of explosives and brought the entire buildings down,” Abu Daqqa said. “We call on the Arab and European countries to interfere … and UN to solve this situation, because we are in a dire situation.”
Where possible, names have been matched with the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH) lists, which include national ID numbers. Since October 26, 2023 the MoH has released six 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 first ‘Palestinian Ministry of Health List of Fatalities in Gaza’ list, which was released on October 26, 2023.
Due to the scale and urgency of Airwars’ assessment process, all images have been automatically uploaded to each assessment with the graphic filter applied to protect users. We have also included all images identified from the sources, which may also include any imagery of combatants.
The incident occured at 23:00:00 local time.
The victims were named as:
Family members (19)
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the town of Abasan al-Kabira (عبسان الكبيرة). Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further. The generic coordinates for Abasan al-Kabira are: 31.327947, 34.345404.
Summary
Sources (19) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (30) [ collapse]
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Abu Ahmad facebook -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Alkabira Abdsan facebook -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Alkabira Abdsan facebook -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: @ShehabAgency -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: @ShehabAgency -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: @ShehabAgency -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: @ShehabAgency -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Alhayat facebook -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Alhayat facebook -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Wael Abu Dakkah facebook -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Wael Abu Dakkah facebook -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Wael Abu Dakkah facebook -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Wael Abu Dakkah facebook -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Wael Abu Dakkah facebook -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Bassam QH facebook -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Bassam QH facebook -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Bassam QH facebook -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Bassam QH facebook -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Omar Abu Dakka facebook -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Omar Abu Dakka facebook -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Omar Abu Dakka facebook -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Kairawan facebook -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Kairawan facebook -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
Source: Kairawan facebook -
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.
-
This media contains graphic content. Click to unblur.