An Israeli airstrike on a residential area in Khan Younis has killed nine of the ten children of a Gaza-based paediatrician, Dr Alaa al-Najjar, Nasser Hospital confirmed on Saturday.
According to hospital officials, Dr al-Najjar's husband, Hamdi, and their surviving 11-year-old son, Adam, were injured in the attack and remain in critical condition. The family’s home was reportedly hit shortly after Hamdi had returned from dropping his wife at the hospital for her shift.
British surgeon Dr Graeme Groom, who is currently volunteering at Nasser Hospital, operated on Adam and described the situation as “unbearably cruel.”
“She has spent years caring for children, only to lose nearly all of her own in one missile strike,” Dr Groom told the BBC. He said the young boy suffered severe injuries, including a nearly severed arm and multiple lacerations.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) acknowledged the strike, stating that its aircraft had targeted “a number of suspects” operating in a structure adjacent to Israeli troops in Khan Younis. The military added that “the claim regarding harm to uninvolved civilians is under review.”
A video shared by Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry — verified by the BBC — showed bodies of children being recovered from the rubble near a petrol station in the city. The ministry stated that the eldest of Dr al-Najjar’s children was 12 years old.
Dr Muneer Alboursh, the health ministry’s director, confirmed in a statement that the al-Najjar family home was hit “minutes after” Dr al-Najjar’s husband returned home. Mahmoud Basal, spokesman for Gaza’s Civil Defence agency, said eight bodies and several injured were recovered initially. The hospital later confirmed the death toll had risen to nine children.
“The father was very badly injured,” Dr Groom added, noting that Hamdi al-Najjar, also a doctor at Nasser Hospital, had no known political or military affiliations.
“This was an unimaginable scene,” said Dr Youssef Abu al-Rish, another medical officer, who arrived at the operating theatre to find Dr al-Najjar waiting anxiously for news about her son.
A relative, Youssef al-Najjar, speaking to AFP, pleaded for relief. “Enough! Have mercy on us! We are exhausted from the displacement and the hunger.”
The UN Secretary-General António Guterres, in a statement issued Friday, warned that civilians in Gaza may now be enduring “the cruellest phase” of the ongoing conflict and renewed his criticism of Israel’s restrictions on humanitarian aid.
While Israel partially lifted the blockade earlier in the week, aid organisations, including the UN, have reported that the flow of humanitarian assistance remains drastically insufficient. On Friday, only 83 trucks carrying flour, food, medical supplies and pharmaceuticals entered the enclave — far short of the 500–600 trucks daily the UN says are required to meet basic needs.
In recent days, chaos has unfolded around aid convoys. Witnesses have reported armed looting and desperate civilians swarming bakeries in search of food. Mothers are reportedly unable to breastfeed due to malnutrition, and water shortages have worsened due to fuel-deprived desalination and sanitation facilities.
The IDF has stated that its blockade aims to pressure Hamas into releasing hostages taken during the group’s October 7 cross-border attack, which killed approximately 1,200 people and saw 251 others taken hostage.
The Gaza health ministry estimates that at least 53,901 Palestinians, including over 16,500 children, have been killed in the Israeli offensive since then.
Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of diverting aid supplies, a claim the group denies.
