Latest news with #Alaa
The Journal
3 days ago
- Health
- The Journal
Sligo-based brother of woman who lost nine kids in Gaza speaks out as fundraiser launched
THE SLIGO-BASED BROTHER of a woman in Gaza who lost nine of her children in an Israeli air strike has described the moment he learned of their deaths. Dr Ali Al Najjar has been working in Sligo University Hospital since 2020, and he spoke to Joe Duffy on RTÉ Radio 1′s Liveline this afternoon about his sister Alaa's loss. Alaa is a doctor at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza. The tragedy that befell her last Friday made headlines around the world after the strike on her home killed nine of her ten children while she was at work. Her husband Hamdi remains in critical condition. These are the children of Dr. Alaa and Dr. Hamdi Al Najjar. 9 of their 10 children were killed in an Israeli air strike in southern Gaza. Gaza's Civil Defence teams published video showing their charred bodies getting recovered from the under the rubble. — Hamdah Salhut (@hamdahsalhut) May 24, 2025 He said he had been dreading that something like this could happen ever since the IDF bombardment of Gaza began in October 2023. 'My heart has been probably displaced from where it used to be,' Dr Ali said. 'You are always connected to the media, and watching the news every minute, just hoping that you won't be reading about one of your relatives.' Advertisement He described the moment he found out that all but one of his sister's children had died in the IDF attack on the family home. 'I was sitting next to my brother and and… he was watching a video. 'I recognised a voice in that in that video. So I jumped [up] immediately and looked at the picture, the horrible picture of child bodies being pulled out from the rubble, and those were her kids.' He said he could also see her husband's brother holding her back as she sshouted 'my love, my love' to one of her deceased children as they were carried out of the rubble. He said that communication with Alaa has been 'desperate' in the days since the tragedy due to substandard communication in and out of Gaza. 'She doesn't have WhatsApp. She has a phone that belongs to one of our cousins. I can't communicate with her through WhatsApp', adding: 'It's the story that everybody living in Gaza at the moment is experiencing difficulty of communication is a nightmare by itself.' A GoFundMe fundraiser has been set up by Dr Ali's colleagues at Sligo University Hospital in the hope of raising funds for his bereaved sister and her remaining family left in Gaza. 'His sister, Dr. Alaa Al Najjar, a paediatrician had left for work when 9 out of 10 of her children were brutally murdered,' his colleagues wrote in the GoFundMe page description. They added: 'If there is anything you can spare, we ask you to consider donating so we can support Ali in some small way during this horrific time.' The fundraiser has collected almost €25,000 in donations so far. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Observer
3 days ago
- Health
- Observer
A mother's loss and Gaza's cry for justice
In Gaza, pain has become part of daily life. The world sees numbers, but behind each number is a person, a story, a dream that was destroyed. One of the most painful stories is that of Dr Alaa al Najjar, a paediatrician from Khan Yunis. While she was working in Nasser Medical Complex, treating injured children, her own house was bombed by Israeli warplanes. Nine of her ten children were killed. Only her son Adam, 11-years-old, survived but is now in intensive care. Her sister Sahar told her the terrible news. 'The children are gone, Alaa,' she said. Alaa answered with calm faith, 'They are alive, being provided for by their Lord.' It was a short reply, but full of patience and deep pain. It shows how mothers in Gaza continue to carry heavy suffering with great strength. The names of her children — Yahya, Rakan, Ruslan, Jubran, Eve, Revan, Saydeen, Luqman and Sidra — are now names of martyrs. The oldest was just 12, the youngest only six months old. They used to recite the Quran, play and laugh at home. But the bombs turned them into bodies burned and broken, impossible to recognise. Sahar said her sister was trying to save other children's lives when she received the news. She ran into the street to reach her home and see her children for the last time, but what she found was heartbreaking. 'We could not know who was who. All of them were in pieces. All of them were burned,' she said. Dr Alaa's family says they have no connection to Hamas. 'What happened to us is something no one can imagine,' Sahar said. 'Our family works in the medical field. Most of us are doctors or nurses. There was no reason for this attack.' The Israeli army later said it had targeted 'a number of suspects' in Khan Yunis, and that the civilian deaths were 'under review'. This kind of statement is made after every attack, but it does not change the fact that many civilians, especially children, are being killed. According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, more than 16,500 children have been killed since October 7, 2023. Among them were 916 babies under one year old and 311 newborns who died in the war. These are not just numbers. These are children who had a right to live. The statistics show that 4,365 of the children were aged between one and five years old, 6,101 were between six and twelve, and 5,124 were teenagers between 13 and 17. These numbers show the scale of the disaster and the kind of future that is being destroyed in Gaza. In total, more than 49,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began. These include over 16,500 children, 12,400 women, 3,853 elderly people, 1,168 health workers, 293 journalists and 719 teachers, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. Dr Alaa's story is not the only one. In May 2025, Anadolu Agency reported the case of five-year-old Arkan Assaf, who was badly injured in an Israeli attack that killed his parents, brother and many relatives. He now lives alone, injured and orphaned. There is also the story of five-year-old Hind Rajab, shared by Al Jazeera. She was the only one to survive a bombing on her family's car in January 2024. She called the Red Crescent for three hours, asking for help: 'I am very scared. Please come. Please send someone to rescue me.' Her body was found twelve days later, next to her family and the medics who tried to save her. On May 8, 2025, the Government Media Office in Gaza said that the Israeli army had destroyed about 2,200 families completely, removing 6,350 names from the population registry. More than 5,120 families were left with only one survivor. In the middle of all this pain, Dr Alaa al Najjar stands as a symbol of courage and sacrifice. Even after losing nine children, she returned to the hospital to help other people's children. Her actions show what it means to be strong, to continue giving in the darkest times. Dr Yousef Abu al Rish, a senior health official, said that Dr Alaa had left her children at home to do her duty towards sick children at the hospital. When he saw her, she was calm and quiet, whispering prayers with her eyes full of acceptance and patience. The story of Dr Alaa al Najjar is more than just a sad story. It is a message to the world. The killing of children in Gaza must stop. The world must act, not only with words but with serious steps. These children were not numbers. They were dreams, lives and hopes. Their deaths show us how far we have failed in protecting human values. Badr al Dhafari The writer works for Oman Daily Observer
RTÉ News
3 days ago
- Health
- RTÉ News
Sligo doctor says "heart has been displaced" after losing nieces and nephews in Gaza strike
A doctor living in Sligo who lost nine nieces and nephews in an Israeli strike on Gaza last Friday has said his "heart has been displaced". Dr Ali Al-Najjar has worked at Sligo University Hospital for the past six years. His sister Dr Alaa Al-Najjar is a paediatrician in Khan Younis. An Israeli airstrike hit her home after she had left for work at Nasser Hospital, killing nine of her ten children. Alaa's husband, Hamdi Al-Najjar, who is also a doctor, is in critical condition while her only surviving son Adam is seriously injured. Speaking to Liveline on RTÉ Radio 1 from Saudi Arabia, Ali described his sister as "the most resilient person I've ever met" and said she is now spending all her time with her husband and son in the hospital. "They have no home to return back to, the building was levelled to the floor," he said. "You are always connected to the media and watching the news every minute, hoping you won't be reading about one of your relatives. But every life that has been lost is related to me, we are all human, we are all the same." Ali recalled seeing the news unfold on social media: "The horrible pictures of charred bodies being pulled from the rubble, and they were her kids." Ali said he would keep in touch with Alaa when they could overcome difficulties in communication such as lack of electricity and internet in Gaza. He said she recently described life there as "experiencing what doomsday is". Staff at Sligo University Hospital have been fundraising for Ali's family in Gaza. A post on GoFundMe describes him as "a valuable member of our team here in Sligo University Hospital" who has "greatly contributed to the wider Sligo community."
The Journal
5 days ago
- The Journal
'There is no safe place': Relatives recount Israeli strike that killed nine children of Gaza doctor
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 an Israeli air strike. The paediatrician, 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. Al Jazeera English / YouTube '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. These are the children of Dr. Alaa and Dr. Hamdi Al Najjar. 9 of their 10 children were killed in an Israeli air strike in southern Gaza. Gaza's Civil Defence teams published video showing their charred bodies getting recovered from the under the rubble. — Hamdah Salhut (@hamdahsalhut) May 24, 2025 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 paediatric 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. Advertisement 'Their features were gone' The air strike on Friday afternoon was carried out without warning, relatives said. Asked about the incident, the Israeli 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 recognise 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 one hand amputated 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 2025
Saudi Gazette
6 days ago
- Health
- Saudi Gazette
Nine out of Gaza doctor's 10 children killed in Israeli airstrike
GAZA — Dr. Alaa al-Najjar left her ten children at home on Friday when she went to work in the emergency room at the Nasser Medical Complex in southern Gaza. Hours later, the bodies of seven children — most of them badly burned — arrived at the hospital, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. They were Dr. Najjar's own children, killed in an Israeli airstrike on her family's home, Gaza Civil Defense said. The bodies of two more of her children – a 7-month-old and a 12-year-old who authorities presume to be dead – remain missing. Only one of her ten children, 11-year-old Adam, survived. Dr. Najjar's husband Hamdi, himself a doctor, was also badly injured in the strike. Civil defense and the health ministry say that the family's home, in a neighborhood of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, was targeted by an Israeli airstrike. In response to a CNN request for comment, the Israeli military said aircraft had 'struck a number of suspects who were identified operating from a structure adjacent to IDF troops in the area of Khan Younis.' It said it was reviewing the claim civilians had been killed. Israel's military chief Eyal Zamir went to Khan Younis on Sunday, according to a statement from the IDF. 'Hamas is under immense pressure—it has lost most of its assets and its command and control. We will deploy every tool at our disposal to bring the hostages home, dismantle Hamas, and dismantle its rule,' Zamir told troops, adding that the military needs to now take down Hamas' Khan Younis brigade. Gaza Civil Defense published graphic video from the scene of the strike. It showed medics lifting an injured man onto a stretcher as other first responders try to extinguish a fire engulfing the house. They recover the charred remains of several children from the debris and wrap them in white sheets. Dr. Sahar al-Najjar, a niece, told CNN that Hamdi, 38, had dropped his wife at the hospital and gone to get food for his children. When he returned, he witnessed a missile strike on their home that failed to detonate. He rushed inside to rescue his children but was hit by a second Israeli strike. 'My father went to rescue Uncle Hamdi but found Adam on the street and took him to the hospital. Uncle Hamdi was taken by civil defense, and the rest of the children were all charred,' she said. Sahar said Dr. Alaa broke down when she showed the last bottle of breast milk she had expressed for her infant daughter, Sidra, whose body remains missing. 'She told me today that her chest aches so much as she was breastfeeding,' Sahar said on Sunday. 'Every day at work, Dr. Alaa pumped milk to provide for Sidra, and today she showed me the last bottle she prepared for her.' 'Dr. Alaa can barely speak. If you could see her face, you would understand her pain. She is only praying for her son and husband to recover.' When Adam, the sole surviving child, came out of the operating room, he called out for his sister Eve, saying, 'There's blood on the tree.' One of Adam's arms is severely injured, and he will need another surgery in a few days. His father, Hamdi, remains in critical condition. In a condolence message to Dr. Najjar, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Israeli-occupied West Bank said she will always be remembered as 'the steadfast Palestinian woman and the noble doctor who heals the wounds of others while bearing her own pain in silence.' 'This horrific crime is not an isolated incident, but part of a systematic targeting of medical personnel and institutions, aimed at breaking the will of those standing steadfast in Gaza,' it said. Munir al-Boursh, Director-General of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, said that Dr. Najjar's husband had just returned home when the home was struck. 'Nine of their children were killed: Yahya, Rakan, Raslan, Gebran, Eve, Rival, Sayden, Luqman, and Sidra,' Boursh posted on X. 'This is the reality our medical staff in Gaza endure. Words fall short in describing the pain. In Gaza, it is not only healthcare workers who are targeted—Israel's aggression goes further, wiping out entire families,' Boursh said. Ahmad al-Farra, a doctor at the Nasser Medical Complex, told CNN that Dr. Najjar continued to work despite losing her children, while periodically checking on the condition of her husband and Adam. Youssef Abu al-Reesh, a senior official at the Health Ministry, said Dr. Najjar had left her children at home to 'fulfill her duty and her calling toward all those sick children who have no place but Nasser Hospital.' Reesh said that when he arrived at the hospital, he had seen her 'standing tall, calm, patient, composed, with eyes full of acceptance. You could hear nothing from her but quiet murmurs of (glorification of God) and (seeking forgiveness).' Dr. Najjar, 38, is a pediatrician, but like most doctors in Gaza, she has been working in the emergency room during Israel's onslaught on the territory. As southern Gaza comes under renewed attack, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Sunday that two of its team members were killed in a strike on their home in Khan Younis on Saturday. CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment on the strike. 'Their killing points to the intolerable civilian death toll in Gaza,' the ICRC said in a statement posted to X. — CNN
