Al - Dalu family killing The Al - Dalu family killing refers to the 18 November 2012 deaths of twelve people – ten members of the al - Dalu family , including five children and an elderly woman , plus of two of the family ' s neighbors , including another elderly woman – resulting from an Israeli air - strike on the family ' s home in Gaza City during Operation Pillar of Cloud . Several nearby houses were destroyed in the attack . At least nine other civilians were hurt . Mohammed Jamal al - Dalu , a member of a Gazan police unit charged with protecting important people , was one of those killed in the airstrike . The Israeli army said that he was the target of the raid . Israeli official statements . On the day of strike the Israel Defense Forces ( IDF ) said that the head of Hamas ' rocket unit Yahia Rabia was killed in the strike , but later corrected itself saying he is a high - ranking operative within the unit and was possibly not even hurt in the strike . A Gaza source said that the target was apparently Jamal Mohammed Yassin Dalu , 50 , an engineer , who is likely linked to the rocket unit . Human Rights Watch , who conducted an investigation over the strike , stated that Rabea ' s name is not listed as a killed fighter on the official websites belonging to the military wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad who were killed during the operation . A relative of the al - Dalu family , Hatem al - Dalu , said that he had never heard of Rabea and that Israel ' s explanation was " nonsense . " The Israeli press reported that a military investigation of the incident would be conducted . After a period of declining commentary on the deaths , on 27 Nov 2012 , the Israeli army said that Mohammed Jamal al - Dallu , a member of the Hamas police who died in the attack was the target of the raid . IDF spokeswoman Avital Leibovich said , " The father was a known terror operative affiliated with the military wing of Hamas . " She added : " There was no mistake from the IDF . It ' s tragic when a terror operative is hiding among civilians but unfortunately it is part of Hamas and Islamic Jihad tactics . " Mohammed Jamal al - Dallu was the father of four of the children killed in the strike . Neighbors of the al - Dalu family said to reporters that there was no connection between the family and militant groups . Human Rights Watch has criticized the IDF for failing to provide information supporting its claims about Mohamed al - Dalu . According to the group , the IDF did not respond to its request for more information on the strike . Criticism of the airstrike . Sherine Tadros , the Al Jazeera correspondent to the Middle East who covered the conflict from Gaza , criticized the IDF policy of targeting the family homes of alleged militants on the grounds of the high civilian death toll that it can produce : " Does anyone stop and ask : even if there was a Hamas official inside the house , is killing ten innocent civilians to take out one official who is obviously under Israeli surveillance justified ? " During the engagement in Gaza , the IDF said that it fired warning shots over residential areas so as to allow civilians to flee their homes before Israel ' s air - strikes . Jamal al - Dalu , owner of the house , and patriarch of the killed family , said however that no warning shot had been given to allow his family to flee the area : " They didn ’ t give us a warning . They just hit the house with the children in it . My daughters were in their youth . What did they do to them ? " The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights called the strike " an example of blatant targeting of civilians . " Human Rights Watch called the strike disproportionate and a war crime , and has called for the family members of the victims to be compensated . Victims . The Dalu family victims were : Mohamed al - Dalu , 25 ; Samah Abdul Hamid al - Dalu , 27 ; Jamal Mohammed Jamal al - Dalu , 6 ; Yousef Mohammed Jamal al - Dalu , 4 ; Sarah Mohammed Jamal al - Dalu , 7 ; Ibrahim Mohammed Jamal al - Dalu , 1 ; Tahani Hassan al - Dalu , 52 ; Suhaila Mahmoud al - Dalu , 73 ; and Raneen Jamal al - Dalu , 22 . The two neighbors killed were members of the al - Mauzannar family ; they were : Ameena Matar al - Mauzannar , 75 ; and Abdullah Mohammed al - Muzannar , 19 .