Khan Younis, Gaza – In a harrowing incident that underscores the growing toll on Gaza’s medical community, Dr. Alaa Al-Najjar, a paediatrician at Al Tahrir Hospital in the Nasser Medical Complex, lost nine of her ten children when an Israeli airstrike hit her home in Khan Younis just moments after she left for work.
The missile struck shortly after her husband, Dr. Hamdi Al-Najjar, returned home from dropping her at the hospital. He is currently in critical condition in the intensive care unit of the Jordanian field hospital in Gaza.
The airstrike claimed the lives of the couple’s children — Yahya, Rakan, Raslan, Gubran, Eve, Revan, Sadin, Luqman, and Sidra — all under the age of 12. The youngest, Adam, survived but was injured. The children’s bodies were severely burned in the attack.
Rights group Doctors Against Genocide condemned the incident, describing it as a targeted act of violence. “A mother, a physician, and a woman of unimaginable strength was forced to identify the charred bodies of her own children in the hospital where she works,” the group said. “This is not just a personal tragedy. It is the deliberate destruction of a Palestinian family — a crime against humanity itself.”
International medical voices have echoed the outrage. Dr. Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian physician and longtime volunteer in Gaza, said: “This is Gaza today — the systematic annihilation of families, the targeting of healthcare professionals, and the deprivation of 2.1 million people of food and water.”
Calling the events “outrageous crimes against humanity,” Gilbert added, “These atrocities will continue as long as the U.S. and Israel control the flow of arms.”
Over the past 19 months, Gaza’s healthcare sector has been repeatedly targeted. Hospitals, ambulances, and medical workers have come under attack, with many killed, detained, or buried under rubble. According to Dr. Munir Al-Bursh, Director General of Health in Gaza, Israeli forces killed 12 of the region’s most experienced nurses and paramedics in just one week — many alongside their families.
Medical and human rights groups are now calling for international accountability, warning that continued impunity is enabling the collapse of Gaza’s health system and contributing to a worsening humanitarian crisis.
