Dr. Alaa Al-Najjar was preparing for another day of work in the pediatric department at Al-Tahrir Hospital, part of the Nasser Medical Complex, when she was struck by news no mother’s heart could bear. Her nine children had arrived at the very hospital where she worked—but as martyrs.
اضافة اعلان
In one of thousands of heartbreaking stories embodying Gaza’s suffering, pediatrician Alaa Al-Najjar received the bodies of her nine children in the same emergency room where she cares for others. An Israeli airstrike targeted the family home in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on Saturday morning.
Dr. Alaa, a pediatric specialist, had left her home early that day with her husband, Dr. Hamdi Al-Najjar, who dropped her off at her regular hospital shift to care for young patients. She had no idea that the day, which began like any other, would turn into a devastating tragedy—her children arriving not to visit, but wrapped in white shrouds.
According to health workers, the Israeli occupation not only targets doctors at their workplaces but also follows them into their homes, destroying their families and dreams. Dr. Munir Al-Bursh, Director General of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, reported that the airstrike claimed the lives of Dr. Alaa’s nine children—none older than twelve: Yahya, Rakan, Ruslan, Jubran, Eve, Revan, Saydin, Luqman, and Sidra.
The tenth child, Adam, miraculously survived but sustained serious injuries. He is now hospitalized alongside his father, Dr. Hamdi Al-Najjar, who is being treated in the intensive care unit.
Alaa, who spent her life easing the pain of sick children and comforting their mothers, suddenly found herself in an unimaginable position—facing the bodies of her own nine children in the same hospital she had devoted her life and career to. Searching for words to console herself, all she could say was:
“All the children of Gaza are my children... but these were my life.”
Commenting on the tragedy, Dr. Munir Al-Bursh said:
“What happened is a painful example of what medical staff in Gaza endure. Words are not enough to describe the pain. In Gaza, it’s not only medical workers who are targeted—Israel deliberately commits atrocities against entire families.”
On Saturday, the Hamas movement said that the Israeli army committed yet another massacre by targeting the home of Dr. Alaa Al-Najjar while she was on duty at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, resulting in the killing of her nine children.
In a statement, the movement declared:
“In a new brutal crime, the fascist Israeli army carried out a horrific massacre by launching an airstrike on the home of Dr. Alaa Al-Najjar, a physician at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, causing her nine children to be martyred while she was performing her humanitarian duty.”
The movement emphasized that this crime is a clear reflection of
“the sadism of the occupation and the deeply rooted spirit of revenge that drives [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and the human beasts who commit mass killings in cold blood, devoid of any moral or human restraint.”
