DayofPal– An Israeli air strike on Khan Younis hit the home of a doctor and killed nine of her 9 children, the hospital where she works in the city of Khan Younis says.
Late on Friday, Dr Alaa al-Najjar, a paediatric specialist at Al-Tahrir Hospital within the Nasser Medical Complex in southern Gaza, was on her duty under relentless pressure, treating children wounded in the latest Israeli strikes, when the calamity struck her heart.
As emergency crews streamed in with victims from yet another bombardment, Dr Najjar was confronted with a scene no parent should ever face. Nine of the charred bodies being brought in were her own children. Her husband, critically injured, was rushed into intensive care.
Moments earlier, the family’s home in Khan Younis’ Qizan Al-Najjar area had been struck by an Israeli missile. She had left for work just prior to the attack, accompanied by her husband, Hamdi Al-Najjar.
Then he had returned home to their children, the eldest just 12, the youngest six months old, moments before the bombing reduced their house to rubble.
Of their ten children, only one survived.
Footage released by the Palestinian Civil Defence captured the horror when rescuers clawing through smouldering ruins, flames still devouring what remained of the home, while voices rang out in desperation, calling into the wreckage.
Seven children were pulled from the debris and brought to Nasser hospital, the same facility where their mother worked tirelessly. Two more, including the infant, remained buried beneath the ruins.
The children were later named: Yahya, Rakan, Ruslan, Jubran, Eve, Revan, Sayden, Luqman and Sidra.
Dr Al-Najjar, known among colleagues for her relentless dedication, had returned to work mere weeks after giving birth to her youngest. Her resolve to treat Gaza’s wounded children amid a catastrophic shortage of medical staff became her personal mission.
Dr Yousef Abu Al-Rish, undersecretary of the Palestinian health ministry, witnessed the moment Al-Najjar learned the extent of her loss.
“I learned that our colleague, Dr Alaa Al-Najjar, was standing in front of the surgery room, waiting for any news about her son, the only surviving child out of 10,” he recounted in testimony to Middle East Eye.
“I rushed there, sensing I was about to witness a unique example of humanity: a doctor who left her own children behind in Gaza, a place where even attempting to describe the suffering only deepens the anguish.”
“She left them to fulfil her duty to all the sick children who have nowhere else to turn but Nasser hospital, a place choking with the cries of innocent souls,” he said.
He added: “There were men and women lined up, their faces clouded with confusion. I scanned the anxious faces and immediately recognized the most devastated expression. I began searching for words to comfort her, but she pointed to another woman.
“Calm, patient and filled with faith, that was Dr Alaa Al-Najjar. The last thing I expected was that this steadfast woman was the one who lost her children.”
The enormity of the tragedy has reverberated throughout Gaza’s crumbling healthcare system, already on the brink of collapse after months of siege and bombardment.
I a statement on X, Dr Munir Al-Bursh, director general of the Palestinian ministry of health, said, “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,” he added.
According to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, at least 1,400 healthcare workers have been killed since 7 October 2023. Civil defence crews, too, have paid a heavy price, with 111 killed while trying to rescue others.
The health ministry reports that more than 53,800 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes, including 16,503 children. Among them, 916 were infants under a year old. Thousands more, many of them children, remain missing beneath the rubble, presumed dead.
In the halls of Nasser hospital, amid the sounds of sirens and the cries of the wounded, one mother’s loss has become a symbol of the suffering endured by thousands of Palestinian families. And still, Dr Alaa Al-Najjar, the steadfast woman, continues her work, her grief etched in silence, her resilience a testament to a people’s unbreakable will.
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