Tuesday 27 / May / 2025
Gaza's civil defense agency said an Israeli strike in the southern city of Khan Younis on Friday killed nine of the 10 children of a married doctor couple.
Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said Saturday that civil defense "crews transported the bodies of nine child martyrs, some of them charred, from the home of Dr. Hamdi al-Najjar and his wife, Dr. Alaa al-Najjar, all of whom were their children."
In a statement, Israel's military said it struck suspects operating from a structure near to its forces and described the area of Khan Younis as a "dangerous war zone."
The military said it had evacuated civilians from the area and that "the claim regarding harm to uninvolved civilians is under review."
What do we know about the incident?
Alaa al-Najjar, a pediatrician at Nasser Hospital, was on duty when she ran home and found her family's house on fire, Ahmad al-Farra, head of the hospital's pediatrics department told the Associated Press.
Muneer Alboursh, director general of the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, said on X that the strike happened shortly after Hamdi Al-Najjar drove his wife to work.
"Just minutes after returning home, a missile struck their house," he said, adding the father was "in intensive care."
Farra said that the couple's only surviving child, an 11-year-old son, was in critical condition after the strike. The dead children ranged in age from seven months to 12 years old.
