Doctor’s nine children killed in Israeli airstrike, Gaza Officials Say

A Gaza doctor's husband and sole surviving child are being treated in a Khan Younis hospital after an Israeli airstrike destroyed her home, claiming the lives of nine of her ten children.

Alaa al-Najjar, a pediatrician, and her husband, a surgeon, who have dedicated their lives to saving others, now find themselves trapped in unimaginable grief, with her husband in the intensive care unit (ICU) at Nasser Hospital, where both have tirelessly worked to heal others.

"Dr. Alaa lost most of her children, about seven. 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," said Abdul Raouf al-Atrash, head of ICU at the Nasser Hospital.

The Israeli airstrike on Friday leveled her home the east of Khan Younis city near Rafah town in southern Gaza Strip, killing seven children and leaving two trapped under the rubble of their home, who were presumed dead.

Ali al-Najjar, her brother-in-law, described the horrifying scene, recounting the frantic attempts to find survivors beneath the rubble. "We tried searching under the rubble to see if anyone was still alive. I called out for Jubran and the others, but no one answered. There were ten children in total, nine were missing, and Adam, the tenth was with me. I called out to all the children, but no one responded. At the same time, the scene I witnessed was beyond words. From what I understand, houses usually scatter when they're bombed, but this house was crushed down on itself, all in one pile," said Ali al-Najjar.

The Israeli military claimed that the strike happened in a red zone, a zone for Israel's ongoing operations that are going intensively over the past several days in the eastern part in Khan Younis and Rafah.

It also said that the killing of those children is being now reviewed. Gaza's Media Office said Israel effectively controls 77 percent of the Gaza Strip through ongoing military operations, causing mass displacement.

Gaza's Civil Defense authorities also reported 34 Palestinian deaths by Israeli attacks on Sunday.