Israel's air and ground campaign in Gaza has killed hundreds of family members from the same bloodline, an unprecedented toll on the small community, which is mostly made up of refugees and their descendants.
An Associated Press (AP) investigation analyzed 10 strikes across Gaza between October and December, which killed more than 500 people. Almost every Palestinian family has suffered severe, multiple losses. However, many were decimated, especially in the first months of the war.
The AP geolocated and analyzed the strikes, consulting with weapons experts, open data analysts and legal experts, using data from the London-based conflict monitoring organization Airwars. The strikes hit residential buildings and shelters with families inside. In neither case was there an obvious military target or direct warning to people inside the facilities. In one case, a family said they raised a white flag on their building in a combat zone.
This war has proved more deadly than the displacement from Israel in 1948, said Rashid Khalidi, a Palestinian-American historian at Columbia University, when 20.000 people were killed in what is known as the Nakba, or Catastrophe.
"I don't think anything like this has happened in modern Palestinian history," Khalidi said.
Al-Aga family, 31 killed
In an airstrike on October 11, Amin al-Aga's house in the western part of Khan Yunis was leveled. Amin (61) was sleeping on the ground floor of a two-story building with his wife and three sons. His son Muhanad al-Aga (30) lived on the floor with his wife Hind and their daughters, two-year-old Talin and one-year-old Asil. The impact killed 11 family members, including two relatives in the building next door.
“It was no longer a house. There was a pile of sand,” said Yasser al-Aga, a relative who arrived shortly after the impact.
Early on October 14, an Israeli bomb hit the home of Hamis al-Aga, an employee of a humanitarian organization affiliated with Hamas. A three-story building in the center of Khan Yunis was razed to the ground. Among the dead are: Hamis al-Aga (38), his wife Nisrin, sons aged 11 and 13, daughters aged 8 and 6, younger brother and nine-year-old son, one cousin and her son. Only his brother's wife survived.
On November 14, the house of Avni al-Aga, another cousin of Hamis, was the target of a strike that destroyed a three-story building in the western part of Khan Yunis. Brian Kastner, a weapons expert at Amnesty International, said that by the extent of the damage, it could be concluded that this was also an airstrike.
Only the satellite dish was sticking out of the ruins. The strike killed Avni al-Aga's wife, 64-year-old Samia, his four sons, aged between 42 and 26, his daughter Rama (41), her husband and two sons, aged 18 and 16. Avni al-Agha, an official in the education system, survived because he had gotten up for the morning prayer. Three months later, in February, Avni al-Aga died at the age of 69, possibly of grief, Yasser al-Aga said.
Emily Tripp, director of Airwars, said her investigators were struggling to come to grips with the murder of entire families, across generations.
"Sometimes we had to make family trees to understand the damage to civilians," she said.
Family of Abu Naj, 20 killed
Israeli planes hit the houses of the Abu Najah and Madi families in southern Rafah on October 17. Twenty members of Abu Naja's family were killed instantly, including two pregnant women and eight children. A 78-year-old grandmother, her granddaughter and her children were killed in the airstrikes. Airwars said one of the men who died was identified on Facebook as a mujahid, or fighter. His wife, pregnant sister and her two-year-old daughter were also killed.
Killing a combatant who is not participating in hostilities and is in a place where there are many civilians is considered a violation of the laws of war.
Tarzai and Souri families, 20 dead
An Israeli airstrike destroyed a church in Gaza where hundreds of refugees had taken refuge. The October 19 strikes killed 20 members of mixed Tarzai and Souri families, from Gaza's dwindling Christian community, including at least seven children. Ramez al-Souri lost all three children and his wife.
The Israeli military claimed to have hit a Hamas command and control center, accusing the group of infiltrating civilians. She admitted that the wall of the church was damaged.
Amnesty visited the site and analyzed video footage, including one released and later deleted by the Israeli army, and concluded that it was an airstrike. Even if a military target was identified, Amnesty said it was "irresponsible and therefore a war crime".
Jabalija refugee camp, 130 killed
The Israeli bombing on October 31 was one of the deadliest in this war. The Jabaliya refugee camp is one of the most densely populated areas of Gaza and has been hit repeatedly since October 7. The exact number of victims is unknown because many are still lying under the rubble.
Airwars identified 112 killed civilians from 11 families, including 69 children and 22 women. Among them are at least 47 members of the Okasha and Abu al-Kumsan families. The AP identified an additional 17 members of the Al-Kumsan family, including uncles, fathers and children who died.
The bombs made several craters in an area over 100 meters long. Several buildings were demolished. "This is one of the biggest craters we've seen ... in the last 20 years," said Chris Cobb-Smith, a former UN weapons inspector and British army officer who investigated in Gaza after previous wars.
Israel said it targeted a Hamas command and control center and a Hamas battalion commander who would be the highest-ranking member of the group killed so far.
Dogmus family, 44 dead
An attack on a mosque in Sabra, a neighborhood in Gaza City, occurred in the early evening of November 15, killing at least 44 members of the Dogmus family, including the family elder, a nine-year-old boy, community leaders and two women in an adjacent building.
The damage was limited to the upper floors of the mosque. In a video taken after the attack, there were no craters and the mosque appeared to have been cleaned. There were no signs of significant damage nearby, indicating that the mosque may have been directly hit by small aerial munitions, Cobb Smith said.
The mosque was built and owned by the Dogmus family. Ragab Dogmus, whose 2007-year-old brother was killed, said that the mosque has no connection with militant groups and that the family does not allow any militant activities in their area. Due to a dispute between the Dogmoush family and Hamas dating back to the XNUMX Hamas takeover, the area has been largely out of reach of Hamas militants.
Salem family, 173 killed
Israeli airstrikes destroyed two separate shelters for the Salem family on December 11 and 19. At least 173 family members were killed, including children, at least one pregnant woman and many elderly people, including the 87-year-old family head.
In the attack on December 11, a block of family buildings was hit. One was destroyed, while the others were left without facades. Experts said the limited damage indicated it was a large bomb programmed to delay detonation until after impact.
At least eighty people were killed, including multiple generations from the same family line. Relatives said there was no apparent combat activity nearby.
An Israeli airstrike on December 19 hit another group of displaced members of the Salem family, who took refuge in a villa in Rimal. The attack left a deep crater, but the surrounding buildings remained undamaged. Survivors said that the tanks drove over the rubble. At least 90 members of the Salem family were killed.
"I saw the bodies of my uncles and relatives scattered on the floor," said Mohamed Salem, who survived the December 19 attack. "We managed to identify the bodies based on their identity cards. They were just a bunch of meat”.
Magazi refugee camp, at least 106 killed
Eyewitnesses said that at least four houses, which housed many displaced Palestinians, were directly hit on December 24. Body parts were scattered around.
The videos show damage consistent with airstrikes. Photos showed several destroyed houses in narrow streets with small, mostly one-story buildings, as well as a large crater at the entrance to the camp.
AP had access to hospital records after the coup in which 106 people were killed. Based on public death notices and partial health ministry data, AP was able to identify 36 members of the Navasreh, Abu Hamdah and Qandil families.
Israel said they targeted Hamas militants and mistakenly hit two neighboring buildings.
In the first and rare acknowledgment of the botched attack, Israel expressed regret for the "harm caused to those who were not involved". He announced that the necessary measures were taken to avoid harm to civilians. A military official told Israeli public broadcaster Khan that the wrong weapon was used in the attack, but did not provide details.
Prepared by: A.Š.
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