Latest news with #PalestinianCivilDefence
Middle East Eye
2 days ago
- Health
- Middle East Eye
Palestinian doctor who lost nine children in Israeli attack dies from wounds
A Palestinian doctor, who lost nine children in an Israeli strike in late May, has died from wounds sustained in the same attack. Hamdi al-Najjar, 40, is survived by his wife Alaa al-Najjar, a doctor at al-Tahrir hospital within the Nasser Medical Complex, and his 11-year-old son Adam, who is still receiving treatment for his injuries. Shortly before the strike on 23 May, Alaa had left for work with Hamdi, who then returned home. Not long after, an Israeli strike hit their house in the Qizan al-Najjar area in southern Khan Younis, killing nine of their 10 children and wounding the 10th. Alaa, a paediatric specialist, was treating victims of Israeli bombardments that day when her own children and husband were brought to her. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Najjar sustained serious wounds and remained in intensive care until he died on Saturday, nearly a week after the attack. Footage released by the Palestinian Civil Defence showed rescue crews pulling the children's bodies from the rubble, as flames engulfed the family's home. Hampered by a lack of proper equipment and the vast scale of destruction, civil defence workers could be heard calling into the rubble, desperately searching for signs of life. The civil defence team reported that seven bodies were recovered and transferred to Nasser hospital, where their mother works. Two others, including a six-month-old baby, remained trapped under the rubble at the time. The children were identified as Yahya, Rakan, Ruslan, Jubran, Eve, Revan, Sayden, Luqman and Sidra. Speaking to Middle East Eye following the Israeli assault on the family home, Ali al-Najjar, Hamdi's brother, said he had found Hamdi lying motionless on the ground, with his son beside him. The home was engulfed in flames. 'The children were completely burnt,' he said. 'I carried my nephew Adam and my wounded cousin and rushed them to the hospital.' Moments later, he returned to the burning home - only to see his sister-in-law, the children's mother, arrive in horror. 'She had run on foot from the hospital to the house,' he said. 'Four of her children were pulled out, charred, right in front of her eyes,' he said. Ali described the ongoing agony of not knowing the fate of two missing children. 'Seven children were pulled from under the rubble, and two - Yahya, 13, and Sidra, just six months old - are still missing. We cannot find them.' He said civil defence teams resumed the search the next morning but found nothing. 'Their mother cannot even identify the bodies, the children are so badly burned she cannot tell who is who.' Ali questioned the reason behind the strike. 'I don't know why they were targeted. Why would they target my brother? There's no reason, unless it was because his wife is a doctor.' Collapse of healthcare system The health ministry reported on Sunday that at least 54,418 Palestinians have been killed in ongoing Israeli attacks across the blockaded Strip. War on Gaza: Palestinian healthcare workers are the true heroes Read More » According to the Government Media Office in Gaza, at least 1,580 of those killed since 7 October 2023 were medical personnel. Earlier this year, the UN warned that a "pattern" of destruction of Gaza's hospitals by Israeli forces has pushed its healthcare system to the "point of almost complete collapse". Since the report was published, the Israeli military has repeatedly targeted healthcare professionals, civil defence teams, aid workers and even patients. The latest instance of Israeli aggression on healthcare came on Sunday when the Noura al-Kaabi Kidney Dialysis Centre in the northern Gaza Strip was bombed. The Palestinian health ministry warned that the destruction of the centre poses a "catastrophic threat to the health of kidney patients, the consequences of which are unpredictable". "The occupation is working according to a dangerous methodology to empty the northern Gaza Strip of hospitals and specialised care centres," it added in a statement.
Ya Libnan
4 days ago
- Politics
- Ya Libnan
Hamas says it is still reviewing a US proposal for a Gaza ceasefire
A rescuer walks over rubble to assess damage and look for survivors, in Khan Younis, Gaza, May 23, 2025, in this screengrab taken from video. Palestinian Civil Defence/Handout via REUTERS DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Hamas said Friday it was still reviewing a U.S. proposal for a temporary ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, where 27 people were killed in new Israeli airstrikes, according to hospital officials. The ceasefire plan, which has been approved by Israeli officials, won a cool initial reaction Thursday from the militant group. U.S. negotiators have not publicized the terms of the proposal. But a Hamas official and an Egyptian official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive talks, said Thursday that it called for a 60-day pause in fighting, guarantees of serious negotiations leading to a long-term truce and assurances that Israel will not resume hostilities after the release of hostages, as it did in March .In a terse statement issued Friday, Hamas said it is holding consultations with Palestinian factions over the proposal it had received from U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff. While changes may have been made to the proposal, the version confirmed earlier called for Israeli forces to pull back to the positions they held before it ended the last ceasefire. Hamas would release 10 living hostages and a number of bodies during the 60-day pause in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, including 100 serving long sentences after being convicted of deadly attacks. Each day, hundreds of trucks carrying food and humanitarian aid would be allowed to enter Gaza, where experts say a nearly three-month Israeli blockade — slightly eased in recent days — has pushed the population to the brink of famine . 'Negotiations are ongoing on the current proposal,' Qatar's ambassador to the United Nations, Alya Ahmed Saif Al-Thani said Friday, referring to talks between her country, the United States and Egypt. On Thursday, a top Hamas official, Bassem Naim, said the U.S. proposal 'does not respond to any of our people's demands, foremost among which is stopping the war and famine.' The uncertainty over the new proposal came as hospital officials said that 27 people had been killed Friday in separate airstrikes. A strike that hit a tent in the southern city of Khan Younis killed 13, including eight children, hospital officials said. The Israeli military did not immediately comment. Meanwhile, the bodies of 12 people, including three women, were brought to Shifa Hospital on Friday from the nearby Jabaliya refugee camp. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said the bodies of two others were brought to a hospital in Gaza City. Hospital officials also said Friday that at least 72 had been killed in Gaza during the previous day. That figure does not include some hospitals in the north, which are largely cut off due to the fighting. Since the war began, more than 54,000 Gaza residents, mostly women and children , have been killed according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tally. The war began with Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which left around 1,200 Gaza residents said their hope for a ceasefire is tempered by repeated disappointment over negotiations that failed to deliver a lasting deal. 'This is the war of starvation, death, siege and long lines for food and toilets,' Mohammed Abed told The Associated Press in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah. 'This war is the 2025 nightmare, 2024 nightmare and 2023 nightmare.' Abed said he and his family struggle to find food, waiting three hours to get a small amount of rice and eating only one meal daily.'It's heartbreaking that people are being starved because of politics. Food and water should not be used for political purposes,' he said. Another Gaza resident, Mohammed Mreil, said about the possibility of a truce that: 'We want to live and we want them (Israelis) to live. God did not create us to die.' AP
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Israeli strikes kill more than 50 as school and housing hit
Israeli attacks on northern Gaza are reported to have killed more than 50 people since dawn. The death toll from the overnight attacks was being tallied on Monday morning. Among the targets hit was a school sheltering displaced people in Gaza City and a family home in Jabalia, according to Palestinian Civil Defence officials. At least 33 people were killed in an attack in the middle of the night on the Fahmi al-Jarjawi school in the Daraj neighbourhood of Gaza City, Civil Defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told the AFP news agency. The school had been sheltering 'hundreds' of people, Bassal said, adding that those killed were mostly children and women. Dozens were injured, he added. The Israeli military claimed on Monday that the target of the attack had been a Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad control centre housing 'key terrorists'. 'Numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians,' it added. Video footage broadcast by Al Jazeera showed fires in classrooms where forcibly displaced people had been sleeping, a child wandering alone among the flames, and people on the outside desperately trying to break windows. In a separate attack on a residence in the town of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, 19 members of the Abd Rabbo family were killed, according to Bassal. A nearby tent camp in Gaza City was also targeted, according to unconfirmed reports, killing six people. Despite mounting international pressure, which has pushed Israel to lift a blockade on aid supplies in the face of warnings of looming famine, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated last week that Israel would carry out an intensified military campaign until it controls the whole of Gaza. International humanitarian law forbids attacks on civilian infrastructure, including schools. But Israel has repeatedly bombed schools, mostly being used as shelter by displaced people, throughout its 19-month war in Gaza. At least 50 people were killed by bombs and artillery attacks in November 2023 at al-Buraq School in Gaza City At the nearby al-Tabin School, more than 100 people were killed as they gathered for morning prayers in August last year.
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First Post
26-05-2025
- Health
- First Post
The heartwrenching story of Gazan doctor couple who lost 9 children in Israeli strike
Hamdi Al-Najjar, a doctor, was at home in Khan Younis with his 10 children when an Israeli air strike hit, killing nine of them. The children who died were aged between seven months and 12 years. Al-Najjar was taken to Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, where he is being treated for his injuries. His wife is a doctor too. Notably, Israel has intensified its offensive in Gaza, drawing international criticism and renewed calls to increase aid to the region read more Nine of a doctor's ten children were killed in Israel's renewed military offensive in Gaza. Palestinian Civil Defence/Reuters An Israeli air strike in the southern city of Khan Younis killed nine children and left their father in intensive care, as the military intensified its operations in Gaza. Hamdi Al-Najjar, a doctor, was at home in Khan Younis with his ten children when the air strike hit. Only one of his children survived. He was taken to Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, where he is receiving treatment for his injuries. ALSO READ | Who is Elias Rodriguez, the man accused of killing Israel embassy staffers in Washington shooting? STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Notably, Israel has stepped up its offensive in Gaza over the past few days, leading to international criticism and fresh appeals to allow more aid into the area. This comes after it slightly relaxed a full blockade on supplies that began on March 2. In this explainer, we look at what happened when the Israeli strike hit the region, what Israel said about the incident, and its recent ground operations in Gaza. Let's take a look: What happened? Nine of a doctor's ten children were killed in Israel's renewed military offensive , according to Gaza health officials. Alaa Najjar, a paediatrician at Nasser Hospital, was on duty when the strike happened. She rushed home to find the house in flames, said Ahmad al-Farra, head of the hospital's paediatric department. Her husband, Hamdi al-Najjar, was seriously injured, and their only surviving child, an eleven-year-old son, was critically wounded in Friday's attack on Khan Younis in southern Gaza, Farra said. The children who died were aged between seven months and twelve years. Khalil Al-Dokran, a spokesperson for Gaza's Health Ministry, told Associated Press that two of the children were still trapped under the rubble. Of the ten children, only one survived, along with their father, Hamdi al-Najjar, 40, who is also a doctor. Both are now in the hospital. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Abdul Aziz Al-Farra, a thoracic surgeon, told Reuters that Hamdi had two surgeries to stop bleeding in his abdomen and chest. He also suffered other injuries, including to his head. Alaa, Najjar's wife, had been treating Palestinians wounded in the ongoing conflict with Israel in the same hospital where her husband and son are now being treated. 'This is the reality our medical staff in Gaza endure. Words fall short in describing the pain,' said Muneer Alboursh, director general of the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. He also accused Israel of 'wiping out entire families'. Hamdi Al-Najjar lies in a hospital bed in the Intensive Care Unit at Nasser Hospital. Reuters Video released by the civil defence agency showed rescuers pulling badly burned bodies from the ruins of the home. When her daughter Nibal's body was found, Alaa screamed her name, her brother-in-law recalled. The next day, under a tent set up near the destroyed home, the respected paediatrician sat in silence, still in shock. Around her, women cried as the sound of explosions echoed across Gaza, which has been under fire for more than a year and a half. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD What did Israel say? When asked about the incident, the Israeli military said it had 'struck a number of suspects who were identified operating from a structure' close to its troops. It added that 'the Khan Younis area is a dangerous warzone'. The military said the claim about civilian casualties was 'under review'. An evacuation warning for the city had been issued on Monday. However, the family's relatives said the air strike on Friday afternoon happened without any warning. Israel's new offensive in Gaza Israel's latest military campaign in Gaza aims to take control of about 75 per cent of the territory within two months, according to Israeli media reports citing a military briefing. The operation is intended to defeat Hamas or push its leaders into exile, while also increasing pressure on the group to release the hostages taken during its attack on October 7, 2023. ALSO READ | Why Israel is blaming Keir Starmer after Washington shooting that killed embassy staff The conflict, now stretching beyond 20 months, has displaced nearly the entire population of Gaza. Since early March, Israel has tightened its blockade on Gaza and its over two million residents. Limited aid deliveries resumed on Monday for the first time since the full blockade began on March 2, with a few trucks finally reaching Palestinians in need. However, Gaza City's municipality issued a warning on Saturday about the risk of a major water crisis, saying it lacked the materials required to repair damaged infrastructure. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Meanwhile, demonstrators gathered again in Tel Aviv on Saturday night for their regular protest demanding the release of the hostages. They carried a large banner reading, 'Save the hostages, end the war.' A protest demanding the end of the war and the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. AP The war began in October 2023 when Hamas launched an attack on Israel, killing around 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking 251 hostages. Israel's response has focused on dismantling Hamas and securing the return of the hostages. According to Gaza health officials, more than 53,000 Palestinians have been killed, including over 16,500 children under the age of 18. Most of the dead are civilians, the health ministry says. On Friday, United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said Palestinians were now facing 'the cruellest phase' of the war, with Israel's long-running blockade causing severe shortages of food and medicine. With inputs from agencies
Ya Libnan
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Ya Libnan
Israeli strikes kill 30 in Gaza, including a journalist and rescue service official, update
A rescuer walks over rubble to assess damage and look for survivors, in Khan Younis, Gaza, May 23, 2025, in this screengrab taken from video. Palestinian Civil Defence/Handout via REUTERS CAIRO – Israeli military strikes killed at least 30 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, including a local journalist and a senior rescue service official, local health authorities said. The latest deaths in the Israeli campaign resulted from separate Israeli strikes in Khan Younis in the south, Jabalia in the north and Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, medics said. In Jabalia, they said local journalist Hassan Majdi Abu Warda and several family members were killed by an airstrike that hit his house earlier on Sunday. Another airstrike in Nuseirat killed Ashraf Abu Nar, a senior official in the territory's civil emergency service, and his wife in their house, medics added. There was no immediate comment by the Israeli military. The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said that Abu Warda's death raised the number of Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023, to 220. In a separate statement, the media office said Israeli forces were in control of 77% of the Gaza Strip, either through ground forces or evacuation orders and bombardment that keeps residents away from their homes. The armed wing of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said in separate statements on Sunday that fighters carried out several ambushes and attacks using bombs and anti-tank rockets against Israeli forces operating in several areas across Gaza. On Friday the Israeli military said it had conducted more strikes in Gaza overnight, hitting 75 targets including weapons storage facilities and rocket launchers. Israel launched an air and ground war in Gaza after Hamas militants' cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people by Israeli tallies with 251 hostages abducted into Gaza. The conflict has killed more than 53,900 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, and devastated the coastal strip. Aid groups say signs of severe malnutrition are widespread. (Reuters)
