A pediatrician and mother of 10 is mourning the deaths of nine of her young children after an Israeli airstrike hit their home near Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Friday, according to hospital officials.
Dr. Alaa al-Najjar’s husband, also a doctor, was severely wounded and is now in intensive care. Their only surviving child was also injured, according to Dr. Munir al-Bursh, director-general of the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health.
“This is the reality our medical staff in Gaza endure. Words fall short in describing the pain,” al-Bursh said in a statement on Friday night. “In Gaza, it is not only healthcare workers who are targeted — Israel’s aggression goes further, wiping out entire families.”
Nasser Medical Complex, where al-Najjar works as a pediatric specialist in the al-Tahrir clinic, expressed condolences in a statement, saying: “We are speechless, and our breaths suffocate in the face of the horror of this tragedy.”
When asked for comment, the Israel Defense Forces told ABC News its aircraft on Friday “struck a number of suspects who were identified operating from a structure adjacent to IDF troops in the area of Khan Yunis” and that the “claim regarding harm to uninvolved civilians is under review.”
“The Khan Yunis area is a dangerous war zone,” the IDF added. “Before beginning operations there, the IDF evacuated civilians from this area for their own safety.”
Mourners react as they attend the funeral of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes, at Nasser hospital, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 23, 2025.
Hatem Khaled/Reuters
Dr. Ahmed al-Farra, head of pediatrics and obstetrics at the Tahrir clinic in Nasser Medical Complex, confirmed the incident, telling ABC News in a telephone interview Saturday that al-Najjar was at work when she received word on Friday afternoon that strikes had hit Qizan an-Najjar, the area where her family lives, south of Khan Younis.
“She felt by her heart that something happened to her family,” al-Farra said. “She left and walked and tried to run without transport.”
“Unfortunately, she discovered that her house was completely destroyed,” he added.
Among the children who were killed, five were boys and four were girls, with the youngest being a seven-month-old daughter and the eldest a 12-year-old son, according to al-Farra.
“They were completely burned,” he told ABC News.
Smoke rises from an Israeli army airstrike south of Khan Younis, Gaza, on May 21, 2025.
Abdel Kareem Hana/AP
The one child who survived, al-Najjar’s 11-year-old son, had to undergo two surgeries and remains in critical condition in the hospital, according to al-Farra. The father, al-Najjar’s husband, also remains hospitalized in critical condition after undergoing surgeries and may have to have a leg amputated, al-Farra said.
When asked whether any humanitarian aid had reached Nasser Medical Complex, one of the largest hospitals in Gaza, al-Farra told ABC News that they still haven’t received anything because what little aid was distributed so far this week has been stolen by armed gangs.
The World Food Programme, the food assistance branch of the United Nations, said more than a dozen of its aid trucks were looted in southern Gaza late Thursday as 2 million people in the war-torn territory face “extreme hunger and famine without immediate action.”
The looting came just days after Israel succumbed to global pressure and eased its 11-weeklong blockade on all supplies entering neighboring Gaza, which the U.N. and other international aid organizations said has caused widespread malnutrition and conditions likely to lead to famine.
The aid blockade went into effect in early March as the initial phase of a two-month ceasefire expired between Israel and Gaza’s militant rulers, Hamas.
The Israeli government is working with the U.S. to set up aid distribution points in southern and central Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday. But the plan, set to begin Monday, has faced criticism from established aid organizations that have been operating inside of Gaza for the past 19 months.
The war between Israel and Hamas broke out on Oct. 7, 2023, after Hamas fighters entered Israel and killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages. There are still 58 hostages held captive by Hamas, 20 of whom are presumed to be alive. Hamas is believed to be holding the bodies of four Americans.
The war has taken a large toll on Palestinians, with over 53,000 killed in Gaza since the conflict began, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health. While statistics do not distinguish between military and non-military casualties, women and children make up tens of thousands of this number, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
-ABC News’ Samy Zayara and Nasser Atta contributed to this report.
