‘Free world, where are you?’ Gaza hospital chief pleads amid Israel attacks

“Free world, where are you regarding these massacres committed against this bereaved and oppressed people?” al-Akkad continued, in a video released by the besieged enclave’s Ministry of Health on Wednesday.

At least nine people were killed, including seven children, in an Israeli air attack that struck the al-Bakri family house south of Khan Younis, Palestinian news agency WAFA said. Many were trapped under the rubble, it added.
The news of the attack spread quickly on social media as images of children’s bodies lined up side by side on a hospital stretcher stirred outrage in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Photographers swarmed the operation room of the European Gaza Hospital as women covered their eyes and doctors wept.

“This is a massacre,” al-Akkad said, his voice choking with emotion. “Let the world see, these are just children.”

Doctors and residents also confirmed that the children were killed in the attack and said the al-Bakri family was just one of many such cases on Wednesday, according to The Associated Press news agency.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which started a devastating air campaign on Gaza after an October 7 attack of Hamas, the group that rules the enclave, in southern Israel.