The worst nightmare: Relatives recall Gaza strike that devastated family
'Death is sometimes kinder than this torture'
GAZA CITY: Alaa Al-Najjar was tending to wounded children at a hospital in the southern Gaza Strip when the news came through: the home where her own 10 children were staying had been bombed in a Zionist air strike. The pediatrician, with no means of transport, ran from the Nasser Hospital to the family house in the city of Khan Yunis, a relative told AFP, only to be met with every parent's worst nightmare. 'When she saw the charred bodies, she started screaming and crying,' said Ali Al-Najjar, the brother of Alaa's husband. Nine of her children were killed, their bodies burned beyond recognition, according to relatives. The tenth, 10-year-old Adam, survived the strike but remains in critical condition, as does his father, Hamdi Al-Najjar, also a doctor, who was also at home when the strike hit. Both are in intensive care at Nasser Hospital. When the body of her daughter Nibal was pulled from the rubble, Alaa screamed her name, her brother-in-law recounted.
The following day, under a tent set up near the destroyed home, the well-respected pediatric specialist sat in stunned silence, still in shock. Around her, women wept as the sounds of explosions echoed across the Palestinian territory, battered by more than a year and a half of war.
The air strike on Friday afternoon was carried out without warning, relatives said. Asked about the incident, the Zionist entity military said it had 'struck a number of suspects who were identified operating from a structure' near its troops, adding that claims of civilian harm were under review.
'I couldn't recognize the children in the shrouds,' Alaa's sister, Sahar al-Najjar, said through tears. 'Their features were gone.' 'It's a huge loss. Alaa is broken,' said Mohammed, another close family member. According to medical sources, Hamdi Al-Najjar underwent several operations at the Jordanian field hospital. Doctors had to remove a large portion of his right lung and gave him 17 blood transfusions. Adam had his arm severely wounded and suffers from severe burns across his body.
'I found my brother's house like a broken biscuit, reduced to ruins, and my loved ones were underneath,' Ali Al-Najjar said, recalling how he dug through the rubble with his bare hands alongside paramedics to recover the children's bodies. Now, he dreads the moment his brother regains consciousness. 'I don't know how to tell him. Should I tell him his children are dead? I buried them in two graves.' 'There is no safe place in Gaza,' he added with a weary sigh. 'Death is sometimes kinder than this torture.' — AFP
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Kuwait Times
2 days ago
- Kuwait Times
Gazans mourn as Zionists kill Al Jazeera journalists
GAZA: Gazans gathered on Monday for the funeral of five Al Jazeera staff members and a sixth reporter killed in a Zionist airstrike, with Zionist entity calling one of them a 'terrorist' affiliated with Hamas. Dozens stood amid bombed-out buildings in the courtyard of Al-Shifa hospital to pay their respects to Anas Al-Sharif, a prominent Al Jazeera correspondent aged 28, and four of his colleagues, killed on Sunday. A sixth journalist, Mohammed Al-Khaldi who worked as a freelance reporter, was also killed in the strike that targeted the Al Jazeera team, according to the director of Al-Shifa Hospital, Dr Mohammed Abu Salmiya. Their bodies, wrapped in white shrouds with their faces exposed, were carried through narrow alleys to their graves by mourners including men wearing blue journalists' flak jackets. Zionist entity confirmed it had targeted Sharif, whom it labeled a 'terrorist' affiliated with Hamas, saying he 'posed as a journalist'. Al Jazeera said its employees were hit in a tent set up for journalists outside the main gate of a hospital in Gaza City. The four other staff members killed were Mohammed Qreiqeh, also a correspondent, and cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa. 'Anas Al-Sharif served as the head of a terrorist cell in the Hamas terrorist organization and was responsible for advancing rocket attacks against civilians and IDF (Zionist) troops,' the military said in a statement. 'The IDF had previously disclosed intelligence information and many documents found in the Gaza Strip, confirming his military affiliation to Hamas,' it said. It published a graphic showing what it said was a list of Hamas operatives in northern Gaza, including Sharif's name, as well as an image of him emblazoned with the word: 'Eliminated'. It also published a list it said showed Sharif had been paid $200 by Hamas after an injury, as well as a list it said was a Hamas battalion's phone directory that included Sharif's number. Sharif was one of the channel's most recognizable faces working on the ground in Gaza, providing daily reports on the now 22-month-old war. 'One of the bravest' A posthumous message, written in April in case of his death, was published on his account on Monday morning saying he had been silenced and urging people 'not to forget Gaza'. According to local journalists who knew him, Sharif had worked at the start of his career with a Hamas communication office, where his role was to publicize events organized by the militant group that has exercised total control over Gaza since 2006. Following online posts by Zionist entity's Arabic-language military spokesman Avichay Adraee on Sharif, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called in July for his protection, accusing Zionist entity of a 'pattern' of labeling journalists militants 'without providing credible evidence'. It said the military had leveled similar accusations against other journalists in Gaza earlier in the war, including other Al Jazeera staff. 'International law is clear that active combatants are the only justified targets in a war setting, so unless the IDF can demonstrate that Anas Al-Sharif was still an active combatant, then there is no justification for his killing,' Jodie Ginsberg, CPJ's chief executive, told AFP. AFP has contacted the military for comment. Al Jazeera called the attack that killed Sharif 'a desperate attempt to silence voices exposing the occupation', as it described Sharif as 'one of Gaza's bravest journalists'. It also said it followed 'repeated incitement and calls by multiple Zionist officials and spokespersons to target the fearless journalist Anas Al Sharif and his colleagues'. Reporters Without Borders says nearly 200 journalists have been killed in the war so far. International reporters are prevented from travelling to Gaza by Zionist entity, except on occasional tightly controlled trips with the military. The strike on the journalists came with criticism mounting over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to expand the war in the Gaza Strip. The security cabinet voted last week to conquer the remaining quarter or so of the territory not yet controlled by troops, including much of Gaza City and Al-Mawasi, the area designated a safe zone by Zionist entity where huge numbers of Palestinians have sought refuge. The plan, which Zionist media reported had triggered bitter disagreement between the government and military leadership, drew condemnation from protesters in Zionist entity and numerous countries, including Zionist allies. Notably, the plans caused Germany, a major weapons supplier and staunch ally, to suspend shipments to Zionist entity of any arms that could be used in Gaza. Recognizing Palestine Australia and New Zealand said they would join a growing list of Western nations in recognizing a Palestinian state. Australia will recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Monday. 'A two-state solution is humanity's best hope to break the cycle of violence in the Middle East and to bring an end to the conflict, suffering and starvation in Gaza,' he told reporters in Canberra. 'Until (Zionist entity) and Palestinian statehood is permanent, peace can only be temporary. 'Australia will recognize the right of the Palestinian people to a state of their own. We will work with the international community to make this right a reality.' According to an AFP tally, at least 145 of the 193 UN members now recognize or plan to recognize a Palestinian state, including France, Canada and Britain. 'There is a moment of opportunity here, and Australia will work with the international community to seize it,' Albanese said. He said that Australia's decision was predicated on reassurances from the Palestinian Authority that there would be 'no role for the terrorists of Hamas in any future Palestinian state'. The Palestinian Authority, however, does not have a presence in Gaza, which has been governed by Hamas for nearly two decades. Zionist ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, said the decision was symbolic, rather than 'genuine progress towards peace'. 'Let us be clear: this decision will not change the reality on the ground,' Maimon said in a statement on social media. 'Australia elevates the position of Hamas, a group it acknowledges as a terrorist organization, while weakening the cause of those working to end violence and achieve genuine, lasting peace.' Just hours earlier, Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized international calls to recognize Palestinian statehood, saying it would 'not bring peace, it will bring war'. 'To have European countries and Australia march into that rabbit hole, just like that, fall right into it and buy this canard is disappointing, and I think it's actually shameful,' he said. International concern is growing about the plight of the more than two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where the fighting has triggered a dire humanitarian crisis and warnings of mass starvation. Albanese further criticized the Zionist government on Monday, saying it continued to defy 'international law and deny sufficient aid'. As the global movement to recognize a Palestinian state grows, New Zealand's Foreign Minister Winston Peters said his country would carefully consider whether to do the same over the next month. He added that New Zealand's recognition of a Palestinian state was a 'matter of when, not if'. 'The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is rightly at the forefront of the global agenda,' he said. - AFP
Kuwait Times
3 days ago
- Kuwait Times
China vessels collide while pursuing Philippine boat in South China Sea
Incident occurs near the contested Scarborough Shoal MANILA: A Chinese navy vessel collided with one from its own coast guard while chasing a Philippine patrol boat in the South China Sea on Monday, Manila said, releasing dramatic video footage of the confrontation. The incident occurred near the contested Scarborough Shoal as the Philippine Coast Guard escorted boats distributing aid to fishermen in the area, spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said in a statement. Video released by Manila showed a China Coast Guard ship and a much larger vessel bearing the number 164 on its hull colliding with a loud crash. Additional footage and photos released later by the Philippine Coast Guard showed the stricken Chinese vessel still afloat but with its entire bow crumpled inward. 'The (China Coast Guard vessel) CCG 3104, which was chasing the (Filipino coast guard vessel) BRP Suluan at high speed, performed a risky maneuver from the (Philippine) vessel's starboard quarter, leading to the impact with the PLA (People's Liberation Army) Navy warship,' Tarriella said in a statement. 'This resulted in substantial damage to the CCG vessel's forecastle, rendering it unseaworthy.' At a later press briefing, Tarriella said that crew members aboard the smaller Chinese vessel had been visible in its front section just before the collision. 'We're not sure whether they were able to rescue those personnel who were in front prior to the collision. But we are hoping that these personnel are in good condition,' he told reporters. Tarriela said the Chinese crew 'never responded' to the Philippine ship's offer of assistance. Gan Yu, a Chinese coast guard spokesperson, confirmed that a confrontation had taken place without mentioning the collision. 'The China Coast Guard took necessary measures in accordance with the law, including monitoring, pressing from the outside, blocking and controlling the Philippine vessels to drive them away,' he said in a statement. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not confirm or deny the collision when asked about it by AFP. Monday's incident is the latest in a series of confrontations between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost entirely despite an international ruling that the assertion has no legal basis. More than 60 percent of global maritime trade passes through the disputed waterway. Speaking at a morning news conference, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos said the country's patrol vessels would 'continue to be present' in the area to defend, as well as exercise Manila's sovereign rights over, what it considers to be part of its territory. The Scarborough Shoal—a triangular chain of reefs and rocks—has been a flashpoint between the countries since China seized it from the Philippines in 2012. Earlier in the confrontation, the BRP Suluan was 'targeted with a water cannon' by the Chinese but 'successfully' evaded it, Tarriela's statement said. – AFP
Kuwait Times
3 days ago
- Kuwait Times
Zionist military kills five journalists in Gaza, bringing tally to 237
GAZA: Mourners carry the body of a Palestinian, killed in an overnight Zionist military strike, ahead of a group funeral outside the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on August 11, 2025. — AFP RAMALLAH: The Zionist entity's war machine killed five Palestinian journalists in the Gaza Strip late Sunday, bringing the total of news personnel covering the genocidal war to 237. The Gaza media office said in a press statement that Al-Jazeera network correspondent Anas Al-Sharif and his colleagues were targeted by the Zionist military while residing in their tent near Al-Shifa hospital. GAZA: Al-Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif reports near the Arab Ahli (Baptist) Hospital in Gaza City on October 10, 2024. Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera said on August 11, 2025, that five of its journalists were killed in an Zionist military strike, including a prominent reporter. — AFP The assault resulted in the injury of several other journalists, it added. The office insisted that the targeting of journalists in the Gaza Strip was intended to suppress the coverage of the war crimes committed by the Zionist entity, calling on regional and international news outlets and organizations to condemn this heinous crime against the freedom of speech and journalism. — KUNA
