Doctor’s nine children killed in Israeli airstrike, Gaza Officials Say
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A Gaza doctor mourns the loss of nine children after an Israeli airstrike destroys her family home.
An Israeli strike on Khan Younis leaves a pediatrician’s family shattered, deepening Gaza’s humanitarian tragedy.
A devastating Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza has claimed the lives of nine children belonging to a local pediatrician, according to Gaza health officials. The airstrike, which struck the family’s home east of Khan Younis, near Rafah, has left only one child from the family alive and the father critically injured in intensive care.
Dr. Alaa al-Najjar, a respected pediatrician in Khan Younis, and her husband, a surgeon, had dedicated their lives to saving others. Now, they find themselves at the center of unimaginable personal loss. The Friday night strike leveled their home, killing seven of their children instantly, with two others reportedly buried under rubble and presumed dead. Their only surviving child, Adam, was rescued from the site by a relative.
At Nasser Hospital, where both Dr. Alaa and her husband have worked for years, grief now hangs heavy. The hospital’s ICU chief, Abdul Raouf al-Atrash, confirmed that her husband is currently being treated in critical condition. “Dr. Alaa lost most of her children, about seven,” he said. “Only one child remains. Her husband is also in the intensive care unit, hovering between life and death. We pray that God gives her strength. She is enduring what no human being should ever have to endure.”
Ali al-Najjar, the brother of Dr. Alaa’s husband, described the harrowing aftermath of the strike. He recounted racing to the rubble, calling out for the children by name, hoping for signs of life. “There were ten children in total, nine were missing, and Adam, the tenth, was with me,” he said. “I called out to all the children, but no one responded. The scene I witnessed was beyond words. Usually, when a house is bombed, it’s blown apart. But this house was crushed down into one pile. It collapsed in on itself.”
The Israeli military confirmed conducting operations in the eastern Khan Younis area, referring to it as a “red zone” for intensified operations over the past several days. In a statement, it acknowledged the strike and said that the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the children are under review.
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Media Office claims that Israel currently controls 77 percent of the Gaza Strip through its ongoing military operations, which have resulted in mass displacement and destruction. These military operations, launched in response to the ongoing conflict with Hamas, have led to increasingly frequent and deadly strikes in southern Gaza, particularly around Rafah and Khan Younis.
The tragic case of the al-Najjar family is not isolated. According to Gaza’s Civil Defense authorities, at least 34 Palestinians were killed by Israeli attacks on Sunday alone. Humanitarian groups have repeatedly raised alarm over the rising civilian death toll, especially among children, in what many describe as one of the worst humanitarian crises in recent memory.
The World Health Organization, United Nations, and numerous international aid agencies have urged for the protection of civilians and medical personnel, especially in areas like Khan Younis, where hospitals are overwhelmed, supplies are running low, and entire neighborhoods have been reduced to rubble.
As the war drags on, doctors like Alaa al-Najjar—once healers and protectors—are becoming victims of the same violence they once worked to alleviate. With her husband fighting for his life and only one child left from her large family, her personal loss is now a heartbreaking reflection of Gaza’s broader suffering.
The international community continues to call for an immediate ceasefire and full humanitarian access to Gaza, but on the ground, families are still burying their loved ones—one home, and one child, at a time.
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