A pediatrician and mom of 10 is mourning the deaths of 9 of her younger youngsters after an Israeli airstrike hit their residence close to Khan Younis within the southern Gaza Strip on Friday, based on hospital officers.
Dr. Alaa al-Najjar’s husband, additionally a health care provider, was severely wounded and is now in intensive care. Their solely surviving youngster was additionally injured, based on Dr. Munir al-Bursh, director-general of the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Well being.
“That is the fact our medical employees in Gaza endure. Phrases fall brief in describing the ache,” al-Bursh mentioned in an announcement on Friday night time. “In Gaza, it’s not solely healthcare staff who’re focused — Israel’s aggression goes additional, wiping out total households.”
Nasser Medical Complicated, the place al-Najjar works as a pediatric specialist within the al-Tahrir clinic, expressed condolences in an announcement, saying: “We’re speechless, and our breaths suffocate within the face of the horror of this tragedy.”
When requested for remark, the Israel Protection Forces advised ABC Information its plane on Friday “struck various suspects who have been recognized working from a construction adjoining to IDF troops within the space of Khan Yunis” and that the “declare concerning hurt to uninvolved civilians is underneath evaluate.”
“The Khan Yunis space is a harmful struggle zone,” the IDF added. “Earlier than starting operations there, the IDF evacuated civilians from this space for their very own security.”
Mourners react as they attend the funeral of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes, at Nasser hospital, in Khan Younis, within the southern Gaza Strip, Might 23, 2025.
Hatem Khaled/Reuters
Dr. Ahmed al-Farra, head of pediatrics and obstetrics on the Tahrir clinic in Nasser Medical Complicated, confirmed the incident, telling ABC Information in a phone interview Saturday that al-Najjar was at work when she acquired phrase on Friday afternoon that strikes had hit Qizan an-Najjar, the realm the place her household lives, south of Khan Younis.
“She felt by her coronary heart that one thing occurred to her household,” al-Farra mentioned. “She left and walked and tried to run with out transport.”
“Sadly, she found that her home was fully destroyed,” he added.
Among the many youngsters who have been killed, 5 have been boys and 4 have been ladies, with the youngest being a seven-month-old daughter and the eldest a 12-year-old son, based on al-Farra.
“They have been fully burned,” he advised ABC Information.
Smoke rises from an Israeli military airstrike south of Khan Younis, Gaza, on Might 21, 2025.
Abdel Kareem Hana/AP
The one youngster who survived, al-Najjar’s 11-year-old son, needed to bear two surgical procedures and stays in important situation within the hospital, based on al-Farra. The daddy, al-Najjar’s husband, additionally stays hospitalized in important situation after present process surgical procedures and will should have a leg amputated, al-Farra mentioned.
When requested whether or not any humanitarian help had reached Nasser Medical Complicated, one of many largest hospitals in Gaza, al-Farra advised ABC Information that they nonetheless have not acquired something as a result of what little help was distributed to date this week has been stolen by armed gangs.
The World Meals Programme, the meals help department of the United Nations, mentioned greater than a dozen of its help vans have been looted in southern Gaza late Thursday as 2 million folks within the war-torn territory face “excessive starvation and famine with out rapid motion.”
The looting got here simply days after Israel succumbed to world strain and eased its 11-weeklong blockade on all provides coming into neighboring Gaza, which the U.N. and different worldwide help organizations mentioned has caused widespread malnutrition and situations more likely to result in famine.
The help blockade went into impact in early March because the preliminary part of a two-month ceasefire expired between Israel and Gaza’s militant rulers, Hamas.
The Israeli authorities is working with the U.S. to arrange help distribution factors in southern and central Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned Wednesday. However the plan, set to start Monday, has faced criticism from established help organizations which have been working within Gaza for the previous 19 months.
The struggle between Israel and Hamas broke out on Oct. 7, 2023, after Hamas fighters entered Israel and killed 1,200 folks and kidnapped 251 hostages. There are nonetheless 58 hostages held captive by Hamas, 20 of whom are presumed to be alive. Hamas is believed to be holding the our bodies of 4 People.
The struggle has taken a big toll on Palestinians, with over 53,000 killed in Gaza because the battle started, based on the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Well being. Whereas statistics don’t distinguish between army and non-military casualties, girls and kids make up tens of hundreds of this quantity, based on the Gaza Ministry of Well being.
-ABC Information’ Samy Zayara and Nasser Atta contributed to this report.
