Outrage, horror after Israeli attack kills nine children of Gaza doctor

An Israeli strike has killed nearly the entire family of a Khan Younis doctor while she was at work, Gaza health officials said.

The attack hit the home of Alaa al-Najjar, a paediatrician at the southern city’s Nasser Hospital, on Friday, setting it ablaze and killing nine of her 10 children, according to the head of the hospital’s paediatrics department, Ahmad al-Farra.The dead children, two of whom remain under the rubble, range in age from seven months to 12 years old, said Gaza’s Government Media Office. It named them as Sidar, Luqman, Sadin, Reval, Ruslan, Jubran, Eve, Rakan and Yahya.

Al-Najjar’s husband was critically injured in the attack. He has severe chest and head wounds, including a skull fracture, and is now receiving treatment in Nasser Hospital’s intensive care unit, al-Farra told Al Jazeera.

The couple’s only surviving child, 11-year-old Adam, is also severely injured. He is currently “in the moderate ICU department with his mother”, said al-Farra.

“It is unbelievable,” al-Farra said of the attack’s impact. “You can’t imagine the shock that [al-Najjar] had when she heard about that [attack]. But up until now, she is trying to be near her son and her husband to survive.”Hamas said it followed a routine of Israel “deliberately targeting … medical personnel, civilians and their families in an attempt to break their will”.

The Israeli military said it had struck suspected fighters operating from a structure next to its forces in an area where civilians had been evacuated. “The claim regarding harm to uninvolved civilians is under review,” the military added.

On Monday, Israel issued forced evacuation orders for Khan Younis, Gaza’s second-largest city, warning of an “unprecedented attack”. There has been heavy, deadly bombardment in the area daily.

The al-Najjar children were among dozens killed in Israel’s attacks on Friday and Saturday.According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, the bodies of 79 people killed in Israeli attacks were brought to hospitals between Friday and midday Saturday. That count does not include facilities in the north of the enclave that are inaccessible, it said.

The ministry puts the overall death toll in Gaza since October 2023 at 53,901, with 122,593 injured.