Gaza doctor who lost his 9 children in Israeli airstrike dies

Indian Express

3 days ago

Gazan media outlets reported on Sunday (Jun 1) that Dr. Hamdi al-Najjar, a physician in Gaza's Khan Younis, has died of wounds sustained in an Israeli airstrike last week that killed nine of his ten children. According to The Times of Israel, Najjar's death was reported overnight. A widely circulated photo from a few days earlier showed him standing next to his only surviving child, 11-year-old Adam, without visible injuries, though the cause and timeline of his fatal condition remain unclear.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) responded to the incident, stating:
An aircraft targeted several suspects identified by IDF forces operating in a structure near their position in the Khan Younis area. Khan Younis is a dangerous combat zone that was cleared of civilians by the IDF for their protection prior to the start of operations. Claims of harm to non-combatants are under review.
As reported by The Guardian, in the early hours of Friday last week, Dr. Alaa al-Najjar, a 35-year-old paediatrician at the Nasser Medical Complex and Hamdi's wife, said goodbye to her ten children before leaving for work. Her youngest, six-month-old Sayden, was still asleep. With airstrikes occurring dangerously close to their home in Khan Younis, she worried daily about leaving them behind—but her medical duty to treat wounded infants left her no choice.
A few hours later, seven of her children's charred bodies arrived at the same hospital where she worked. Two others, including Sayden, were still trapped under the rubble. Only one child, Adam, survived the strike along with their father, Hamdi.
Hamdi's brother, Ali al-Najjar, rushed to the site after hearing the house had been bombed.
I found my nephew Adam lying on the road under the rubble… covered in soot, his clothes torn, but his soul was still inside him. My brother was on the other side, bleeding from his head and chest, with his arm cut off. He was still breathing with difficulty.
Alaa arrived at the scene just as her daughter Revan's body was being retrieved.
Her body was completely burnt… nothing remained of her skin or flesh.
Too disfigured to be identified by appearance, the children were recognised individually at the hospital morgue, according to sources at the Nasser Hospital. Their names were Yahya, Rakan, Ruslan, Jubran, Eve, Revan, Sayden, Luqman, and Sidra.
Despite the overwhelming loss, Alaa went directly to check on her surviving son and husband after the burial. Hamdi had suffered severe brain damage and chest fractures. Adam's condition was described as moderate to severe.
The Gaza Health Ministry reports that nearly 54,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, including more than 16,500 children.
(With inputs from The Times of Israel and The Guardian)