Israeli strike kills nine of Gaza doctor's children, hospital says - BBC

A British surgeon working in Nasser Hospital said he had operated on the doctor's surviving 11-year-old.

Tragedy in Khan Younis

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Palestinian pediatrician Dr. Alaa al-Najjar has spent her career saving children's lives at Gaza's Nasser Hospital. On Friday, while she was at work, an Israeli airstrike hit her home in Khan Younis, killing nine of her ten children.

The children ranged in age from less than 1 year old to 12 years: Yahya, 12; Eve, 9; Rival, 5; Sadeen, 3; Rakan, 10; Ruslan, 7; Jibran, 8; Luqman, 2; and Sedar, not yet 1 year old. Her husband Hamdi, also a physician, and their 11-year-old son Adam survived with serious injuries.

British surgeon Graeme Groom, who operated on Adam at Nasser Hospital, described the boy's condition as critical. "His left arm was just about hanging off, he was covered in fragment injuries and had several substantial lacerations," Dr. Groom told the BBC. "Our little boy could survive, but we don't know about his father," he added, noting that Hamdi sustained a severe head injury.

"It is unbearably cruel that a mother who spent years caring for children as a pediatrician could lose almost all her own in a single missile strike," Dr. Groom said.

Military Response

The Israeli military stated its "aircraft struck a number of suspects who were identified operating from a structure adjacent to IDF troops in the area of Khan Younis," adding that "the claim regarding harm to uninvolved civilians is under review."