Israeli Airstrike in Khan Younis Kills Nine of Doctor’s Children, Only One Survives
Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said rescue teams recovered eight bodies and several injured from the Najjar family home
In a devastating Israeli airstrike on the Khan Younis area of Gaza, the home of a female doctor, Aala Al-Najjar, was targeted, resulting in the death of nine of her ten children.
The heartbreaking incident was confirmed by Nasser Hospital, where Dr. Al-Najjar is employed.
According to the hospital, her husband and one child survived but were critically injured. British surgeon Graeme Groom, working at the hospital, performed surgery on the couple’s 11-year-old surviving son.
British surgeons Graeme Groom and Victoria Rose explained the aftermath of an Israeli strike that killed nine children of Palestinian doctors Alaa al-Najjar and Hamdi al-Najjar in Khan Younis on Friday pic.twitter.com/YYQcWLyAJi
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) May 24, 2025
A verified video shared by the Hamas-run Health Ministry shows charred bodies of children being pulled from the rubble following the strike.
https://twitter.com/DropSiteNews/status/1925970429665063206
A doctor named Alaa al-Najjar in Khan Younis received her children and her husband in the emergency room of Nasser Hospital.
Each of them was a story, a dream and a name: Yahya, Rakan, Raslan Ruslan, Jibran Jibran, Yves Rivan, Saydin… Eight lives burned by the fire of the… pic.twitter.com/qTirTJ2FCD— Muhammed Mazen 🇵🇸 (@mhmd_Gaza) May 24, 2025
On Saturday, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) stated they had targeted over 100 sites in Gaza within 24 hours. According to the Health Ministry, at least 74 people were killed in these attacks by Saturday afternoon.
Dr. Munir Al-Bursh, Director of Gaza’s Health Ministry, shared on platform X that the Najjar family home was struck shortly after Dr. Najjar’s husband, Hamdi, had dropped her off at the hospital and returned home. The eldest child killed was just 12 years old.
In a video posted on British surgeon Victoria Rose’s Instagram, Groom called the incident “an unimaginable tragedy,” noting that the father, himself a doctor, had no political or military ties and was not a public figure on social media.
On Friday afternoon, Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said rescue teams recovered eight bodies and several injured from the Najjar family home, located near a petrol station. Nasser Hospital initially reported the deaths of eight children, later updating the toll to nine.
Another doctor, Yousef Abu Al-Reesh, shared in a ministry statement that Dr. Najjar was waiting in the operating room corridor to hear news about her surviving son’s condition, trying to stay composed amidst overwhelming grief.
In a video released by AFP, a grieving relative, Yousef Al-Najjar, pleaded, “Stop this and have mercy on us.”
