An Israeli strike on May 24, 2025, killed nine of Dr. Alaa al-Najjar’s 10 children in Khan Younis, Gaza. The attack occurred while the doctor was working at Nasser Hospital, leaving her husband critically injured with severe chest and head wounds, including a skull fracture. Their 11-year-old son, Adam, is also severely injured and receiving treatment in the moderate ICU department alongside his mother.
“It is unbelievable,” said Ahmad al-Farra, head of the hospital’s paediatrics department. “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.” Al-Farra appealed to people worldwide to “be on the right side of humanity” and speak out against the bombardment, saying, “These children, they have no voice. Their mother … she’s [in shock]. Please, I ask everyone to be her voice [in] this world. Please.”
The UN’s special rapporteur for the Palestinian territory, Francesca Albanese, condemned the attack as part of a “sadistic pattern” of a “new phase of genocide” facing Palestinians in the besieged enclave. Hamas accused Israel of deliberately targeting medical personnel, civilians, and their families to break their will. In contrast, the Israeli military claimed to have struck suspected fighters operating from a structure next to its forces, stating that the claim regarding harm to uninvolved civilians is under review.
The attack on the al-Najjar family is part of a larger crisis in Gaza, where the population is at risk of famine due to Israeli airstrikes and blockade. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, 79 people were killed in Israeli attacks between Friday and midday Saturday, with the overall death toll in Gaza since October 2023 standing at 53,901, and 122,593 injured.
Children are expected to be spared in war, but the latest action of Israel is seen by the world as an anathema and one that should follow with severe sanctions.