Latest news with #Najjar
Shafaq News
4 days ago
- Shafaq News
Trafficking ring dismantled: Kurdistan reveals 90+ fake firms
Shafaq News/ Kurdish authorities have shut down over 90 fake companies linked to human trafficking and illegal organ trade since 2018, Brigadier General Dara Faruk Najjar revealed on Sunday. Speaking at a seminar in Erbil's Palace of Culture and Arts, Najjar, head of the Interior Ministry's Directorate for Combating Organized Crime, explained that many of the dismantled companies posed as recruitment firms and deceived victims with fake job offers in Europe or the Gulf before exploiting them inside the Kurdistan Region, describing trafficking as a 'rapidly evolving threat' requiring constant vigilance. 'The KRG does not approve entry or work permits without verified employment or sponsorship,' Najjar emphasized, noting that trafficking networks have also infiltrated the medical sector, with several doctors arrested for conducting illegal kidney transplants disguised as legitimate donations. In one case, he added, a Sudanese woman was rescued after being trafficked under false pretenses and forced into domestic labor. 'Trafficking crimes in Iraq can carry up to 10 years in prison, and in fatal cases—such as illegal organ removals—the death penalty.' The Kurdish official also credited the KRG's proactive efforts for improving the Region's ranking on the global trafficking watchlist, upgrading from Tier 3 to Tier 2 by targeting criminal networks before they act.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
‘One of the most heartbreaking tragedies': Gaza doctor's last goodbye before nine children killed in airstrike
In the early hours of Friday, as she did every day, Dr Alaa al-Najjar said goodbye to her 10 children before leaving the house. The youngest, Sayden, six months old, was still sleeping. And like every day, with war raging in Gaza and Israeli strikes landing just metres from her neighbourhood in Khan Younis, Najjar worried about leaving them at home without her. But Najjar, 35, had little choice. One of Gaza's dwindling number of medics, a respected paediatrician at the Nasser medical complex, she had to go to work to care for injured babies who had barely survived Israeli attacks. She could never have imagined that that farewell to her family would be her last. A few hours later, the charred bodies of seven of her children, killed by an Israeli airstrike on Khan Younis, arrived at her hospital. Two other bodies, including Sayden's, remained under the rubble. Of her 10 children, only one had survived, along with their father, Hamdi al-Najjar, 40, also a doctor. Both are now in hospital. 'It's one of the most heartbreaking tragedies since the beginning of the conflict,' Mohammed Saqer, the head of nursing at Nasser hospital, said. 'And it happened to a paediatrician who dedicated her life to saving children, only to have her own motherhood stolen in a moment of fire and deafening silence.' Footage shared by the director of Gaza's health ministry and verified by the Guardian shows the burnt, dismembered bodies of children being pulled from the rubble of Najjar's building near a petrol station as flames still engulfed what remained of the family's home. Ali al-Najjar, 50, the older brother of Hamdi, Alaa's husband, said: 'When I heard the house was bombed, I instinctively rushed to my car and headed to the place as I knew my brother and his children were inside. When I arrived, I was shocked. I found my nephew Adam, who survived, lying on the road under the rubble. He was covered in soot, his clothes were almost torn, but his soul was still inside him. My brother was lying on the other side, bleeding heavily from his head and chest, and his arm was cut off. He was still breathing with difficulty.' Ali called the medical team and took the two survivors to the hospital. Then he began searching for his nine missing nieces and nephews. 'The house was very difficult to clear because the ceiling was stacked on top of itself. I started searching around the house hoping to find any of the children because I assumed the bombing might have thrown them outside the house,' he said. 'But then, sadly, the first burnt body appeared. After completely putting out the fire, we found the rest of them – some were mutilated and all were burnt.' Alaa al-Najjar rushed to the site of the explosion as rescuers pulled the body of her daughter Revan from the rubble. In tears, she begged the rescuers to let her hold her one last time. 'Her [Revan's] body was completely burnt from the upper part, nothing remained of her skin or flesh,' Ali said. 'There are still two bodies of my brother's children we could not find: the oldest, 12-year-old boy, Yahya, and the six-month-old girl, Sayden.' Najjar returned to the hospital to check on her son Adam, 11, and her husband. Sources at the Nasser hospital who transferred the children's bodies one by one to the morgue said their mother was not able to identify them, so bad were the burns. The children's names were Yahya, Rakan, Ruslan, Jubran, Eve, Revan, Sayden, Luqman and Sidra. 'Alaa went to the morgue, held her children in her arms, recited the Qur'an over them and prayed for them,' said Dr Ahmed al-Farra, 53, the director of the children's building at the Nasser medical complex. 'Other female doctors around her collapsed from grief and rage, but Dr Alaa remained composed. God sent peace upon her heart. After they were buried, she went directly to check on her husband and son and began caring for them.' Colleagues at the hospital described Najjar as a committed, polite and ethical doctor, capable of enduring immense pressure, treating dozens of children and patients daily, and at the same time caring for a large family. 'She was in constant worry for her children when she was at the hospital. When she heard a house had been bombed in the Qizan al-Najjar neighbourhood, her mother's heart sensed something was wrong,' Farra said. He said there were no words for her loss. 'If anyone wants to share an opinion, let them first imagine it happening to them – to suddenly lose every person connected to you.' After saying goodbye for the last time to the lifeless bodies of her seven children, Alaa went to the ward where her surviving child was being treated. 'Her husband was suffering from severe injuries – brain damage and fractures caused by shrapnel, along with shrapnel wounds and fractures in the chest. He was placed on a ventilator and fitted with medical tubes,' Farra said. ''Her son's condition was relatively better – his injuries ranged from moderate to severe.' Najjar's colleagues and friends said her children held Egyptian citizenship and that Alaa and Hamdi had been planning to leave for Egypt and enrol their children in Cairo's Al-Azhar University. The Israel Defense Forces said: 'Yesterday, an IDF aircraft struck a number of suspects who were identified operating from a structure adjacent to IDF troops in the area of Khan Younis. The Khan Younis area is a dangerous war zone. Before beginning operations there, the IDF evacuated civilians from this area for their own safety. The claim regarding harm to uninvolved civilians is under review.' The Gaza health ministry says nearly 54,000 Palestinians, including 16,503 children, have been killed in Israeli attacks across the territory. Farra said: 'My only hope is that those who were killed are not just names on paper. We were created just like every other human being in this world. And like every other human, we have the right to live.'
Express Tribune
26-05-2025
- Health
- Express Tribune
Gaza father in intensive care after Israeli strike kills nine children
Hamdi Al-Najjar, a wounded Palestinian father and doctor who, according to medics, lost nine of his children in an Israeli strike on Friday, lies in a hospital bed in the Intensive Care Unit at Nasser Hospital after being injured in the same strike, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 25, 2025. PHOTO:REUTER Listen to article The father of nine children killed in an Israeli military strike in Gaza over the weekend remains in intensive care, said a doctor on Sunday at the hospital treating him. Hamdi Al-Najjar, himself a doctor, was at home in Khan Younis with his 10 children when an Israeli air invasion occurred, killing all but one of them. He was rushed to the nearby Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, where he is being treated for his injuries. Abdul Aziz Al-Farra, a thoracic surgeon, said Najjar had undergone two operations to stop bleeding in his abdomen and chest and that he sustained other wounds, including to his head. "May God heal him and help him," Farra said, speaking by the bedside of an intubated and heavily bandaged Najjar. According to the BBC, Najjar sustained injuries to his brain, lungs, right arm, and kidney. 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 Bulgarian doctor Milena Angelova-Chee, who is treating him at Nasser Hospital, told the BBC that his "life remains in danger" and that the hospital is "doing everything we can for him." The Israeli military has confirmed it conducted an air invasion on Khan Younis on Friday, but claims it was targeting suspects in a structure that was close to Israeli soldiers. The military claims it is looking into the "uninvolved civilians" killed. According to medical officials in Gaza, the nine children were aged between one and 12 years old. The child who survived, a boy named Adam, is in serious but stable condition, according to the hospital. The BBC reported that doctors say Adam is "doing reasonably well." Najjar's wife, Alaa, also a doctor, was not at home at the time of the strike. She was treating Palestinians injured in Israel's more than 20-month war in Gaza against Hamas in the same hospital where her husband and son are receiving care. Video verified by the BBC and shared by Health Ministry Director Dr Muneer Alboursh showed small charred bodies being lifted from the rubble. The nine children — Yahya, Rakan, Raslan, Gebran, Eve, Rival, Sayden, Luqman, and Sidra — were aged between just a few months and 12 years, according to the BBC. "She went to her house and saw her children burned, may God help her," said Tahani Yahya Al-Najjar of her sister-in-law. "With everything we are going through, only God gives us strength." Tahani visited her brother in the hospital on Sunday, whispering to him that she was there: "You are okay, this will pass." On Saturday, Ali Al-Najjar said that he rushed to his brother's house after the strike, which had sparked a fire that threatened to collapse the home, and searched through the rubble. "We started pulling out charred bodies," he said. In its statement about the air invasion, the Israeli military defended its actions by claiming Khan Younis was a "dangerous war zone." Practically all of Gaza's more than 2 million Palestinians have been displaced after more than 20 months of war. Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, according to international media. Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war crimes against defenseless civilians in the enclave. Israel's invasion of Gaza since October 7 has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, Gazan health officials say. Most of them are civilians, including more than 16,500 children under the age of 18, according to Gaza's health ministry.
AsiaOne
26-05-2025
- Health
- AsiaOne
Father in intensive care after 9 children killed in Israeli strike on Gaza, World News
GAZA/CAIRO — The father of nine children killed in an Israeli military strike in Gaza over the weekend remains in intensive care, said a doctor on Sunday (May 25) at the hospital treating him. Hamdi Al-Najjar, himself a doctor, was at home in Khan Younis with his 10 children when an Israeli air strike occurred, killing all but one of them. He was rushed to the nearby Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza where he is being treated for his injuries. Abdul Aziz Al-Farra, a thoracic surgeon, said Najjar had undergone two operations to stop bleeding in his abdomen and chest and that he sustained other wounds including to his head. "May God heal him and help him," Farra said, speaking by the bedside of an intubated and heavily bandaged Najjar. The Israeli military has confirmed it conducted an air strike on Khan Younis on Friday but said it was targeting suspects in a structure that was close to Israeli soldiers. The military is looking into claims that "uninvolved civilians" were killed, it said, adding that the military had evacuated civilians from the area before the operation began. According to medical officials in Gaza, the nine children were aged between one and 12 years old. The child that survived, a boy, is in a serious but stable condition, the hospital has said. Najjar's wife, Alaa, also a doctor, was not at home at the time of the strike. She was treating Palestinians injured in Israel's more than 20-month war in Gaza against Hamas in the same hospital where her husband and son are receiving care. "She went to her house and saw her children burned, may God help her," said Tahani Yahya Al-Najjar of her sister-in-law. "With everything we are going through only God gives us strength." Tahani visited her brother in hospital on Sunday, whispering to him that she was there: "You are okay, this will pass." On Saturday, Ali Al-Najjar said that he rushed to his brother's house after the strike, which had sparked a fire that threatened to collapse the home, and searched through the rubble. "We started pulling out charred bodies," he said. In its statement about the air strike, the Israeli military said Khan Younis was a "dangerous war zone". Practically all of Gaza's more than two million Palestinians have been displaced after more than 20 months of war. The war erupted when Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, killing around 1,200, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 more. The retaliatory campaign, that Israel has said is aimed at uprooting Hamas and securing the release of the hostages, has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, Gazan health officials say. Most of them are civilians, including more than 16,500 children under the age of 18, according to Gaza's health ministry. [[nid:718376]]
NDTV
26-05-2025
- Health
- NDTV
Gaza Doctor In ICU, His 9 Of 10 Children Killed In Israeli Airstrikes
Gaza: The father of nine children killed in an Israeli military strike in Gaza over the weekend remains in intensive care, said a doctor on Sunday at the hospital treating him. Hamdi Al-Najjar, himself a doctor, was at home in Khan Younis with his 10 children when an Israeli air strike occurred, killing all but one of them. He was rushed to the nearby Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza where he is being treated for his injuries. Abdul Aziz Al-Farra, a thoracic surgeon, said Najjar had undergone two operations to stop bleeding in his abdomen and chest and that he sustained other wounds including to his head. "May God heal him and help him," Farra said, speaking by the bedside of an intubated and heavily bandaged Najjar. The Israeli military has confirmed it conducted an air strike on Khan Younis on Friday but said it was targeting suspects in a structure that was close to Israeli soldiers. The military is looking into claims that "uninvolved civilians" were killed, it said, adding that the military had evacuated civilians from the area before the operation began. According to medical officials in Gaza, the nine children were aged between one and 12 years old. The child that survived, a boy, is in a serious but stable condition, the hospital has said. Najjar's wife, Alaa, also a doctor, was not at home at the time of the strike. She was treating Palestinians injured in Israel's more than 20-month war in Gaza against Hamas in the same hospital where her husband and son are receiving care. "She went to her house and saw her children burned, may God help her," said Tahani Yahya Al-Najjar of her sister-in-law. "With everything we are going through only God gives us strength." Tahani visited her brother in hospital on Sunday, whispering to him that she was there: "You are okay, this will pass." On Saturday, Ali Al-Najjar said that he rushed to his brother's house after the strike, which had sparked a fire that threatened to collapse the home, and searched through the rubble. "We started pulling out charred bodies," he said. In its statement about the air strike, the Israeli military said Khan Younis was a "dangerous war zone". Practically all of Gaza's more than 2 million Palestinians have been displaced after more than 20 months of war. The war erupted when Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, killing around 1,200, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 more. The retaliatory campaign, that Israel has said is aimed at uprooting Hamas and securing the release of the hostages, has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, Gazan health officials say. Most of them are civilians, including more than 16,500 children under the age of 18, according to Gaza's health ministry.
