Delilah D’ Souza
Daijiworld Media Network – Gaza
Gaza, May 26: Grief hangs thick in the air over the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis, as the al-Najjar family mourns the heartbreaking loss of nine of their children following a devastating Israeli air strike that flattened their home over the weekend.
Among the dead are the sons and daughters of renowned paediatricians Dr. Alaa al-Najjar and Dr. Hamdi al-Najjar. Their tenth child, 10-year-old Adam, remains in critical condition in intensive care, battling severe burns and the trauma of witnessing his siblings perish.
Dr. Alaa, who was treating other wounded children at Nasser Hospital at the time of the strike, rushed through the war-torn streets barefoot and desperate—only to arrive at the ruins of her family home. Her brother-in-law, Ali al-Najjar, recalled the horrifying moment. “When she saw the charred bodies, she began screaming—no mother should have to endure this,” he said.
The air strike, according to family members, came without prior warning. The children’s remains were burned so badly that even close relatives struggled to identify them. “I couldn’t recognise my nieces and nephews in the shrouds. Their faces, their innocence—it was all gone,” said a tearful Sahar al-Najjar, Alaa’s sister.
Dr. Hamdi, who was at home during the bombing, miraculously survived but remains in critical condition after undergoing multiple surgeries at the Jordanian field hospital. Surgeons were forced to remove part of his right lung and administer 17 blood transfusions. Adam, too, has suffered immensely—losing one hand and suffering widespread burns.
Amid the smoking rubble, a silent Alaa sat under a makeshift tent, surrounded by grieving women and the haunting echoes of nearby explosions. Her brother-in-law, Ali, described the anguish of watching her call out to her daughter, Nibal, as her body was pulled from the debris. “She kept screaming her name… again and again,” he said, his voice choked with sorrow.
Ali was one of the first to arrive at the scene, digging with bare hands and alongside rescue workers in a desperate bid to find survivors. “The house looked like crushed biscuits—nothing was left. I found my nieces and nephews beneath the wreckage,” he said.
The family is now facing another impossible moment—preparing to break the news to Dr. Hamdi once he regains consciousness. “I buried his children in two graves,” Ali whispered, “but I don’t know how to tell him.”
The Israeli military, when contacted, stated that it had “targeted a number of suspects” operating near their troops and added that civilian casualties were under review.
But for the al-Najjar family, no review will bring back their lost children. “There is no safe place in Gaza,” Ali said with a trembling voice. “Sometimes… death feels kinder than what we are forced to live through.”
This devastating tragedy underscores the rising toll of civilian casualties in Gaza, where families like the al-Najjars continue to pay the ultimate price amid a conflict that shows no signs of easing.