Sligo-based doctor loses nine nieces and nephews in Israeli airstrike on Gaza

Irish Daily Mirror

5 days ago

A Sligo-based doctor has spoken of his devastation after his nine nieces and nephews were wiped out in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza.
Dr. Ali Al Najjar, who works as a paediatrician in Sligo University Hospital, has been left heartbroken after nearly all of his sister Dr Alaa al-Najjar's immediate family were killed.
Dr Alaa Al-Najjar was at work at the Nasser medical complex at the time of the attack. One of her sons survived while her husband Dr Hamdi al-Najjar is still fighting for his life.
Tragically, just hours after saying goodbye - seven out of her 10 children's bodies arrived at the hospital where she was working.
The body of her youngest child, six-month-old Sayden, remains under the rubble since the deadly airstrike, which targeted the neighbourhood of Khan Younis on Friday, May 23.
Dr Al Najjar said he was like a 'mad person' trying to find out information about the missile attack after hearing about it.
He said it's incredibly difficult to make contact with relatives in Gaza and said that before Friday's attack - he last spoke with his sister around three weeks ago.
Speaking about that conversation, Dr Al Najjar recalled: 'She was describing how life is like while she walks among the rubble.
'She usually walks as her eyes stare at the sky. Because every building she looks at carries out its own special memory."
Speaking on RTÉ's Liveline, he added: 'All you'd be looking at is rumble, dismantled, destroyed houses, buildings - we have memories with every single thing you see around you.
'I remember specifically she said I don't know what life is about at your side - we believe that we are already experiencing what doomsday is.'
Devastatingly, Dr Al Najjar said his sister has told him that when Gazans greet each other on the street they say goodbye as most feel like they're on a 'waiting list' to die.
He explained: 'Every moment, she tells me, when I meet or greet anybody on the street, we'll always be saying farewell or goodbye - we never know when we're going to meet again. Everybody is expecting his moment at any time.'
Dr Al Najjar said up until the airstrike, his sister was constantly telling her children to remain positive in spite of the bombardment.
He said global outrage and particularly condemnation from within the Jewish community gives him hope 'that one day this nightmare will end'.
But he said the government needs to do more to put pressure on Israel to stop the attacks.
He added: 'Has (humanity) done enough that what is happening in Gaza won't be repeated again?'