Gaza doctor who lost nine children in Israeli attack dies from injuries

A Palestinian doctor who lost nine of his children in an Israeli air strike on Gaza has died from the injuries he sustained in the same attack.

Dr Hamdi al-Najjar, 40, had just arrived home in Khan Younis after dropping off his wife, Dr Alaa al-Najjar, at Nasser Hospital, where the couple both worked, when the family property was hit.

Nine of their children were killed in the bombardment, which happened on May 23, while Hamdi and their only remaining child Adam, 11, were seriously hurt.

Hamdi suffered brain and internal injuries and despite efforts by severely depleted medical teams, died on Saturday. Adam remains in hospital.

Hamdi and Alaa founded a private medical compound in Khan Younis, which Hamdi headed up. His brother, Dr Ali al-Najjar, described him as a loving father who would treat poorer patients for free.

Alaa learnt about her children’s deaths when their charred remains were brought to the hospital, with eyewitnesses saying she collapsed on seeing them.

They were identified as Yahya, Rakan, Ruslan, Jubran, Eve, Rivan, Saydeen, Luqman and Sidra and ranged in age from just six months to 12-years-old, according to local media.

Graeme Groom, a British surgeon working in the hospital who operated on the surviving son, Adam, told the BBC that it was ‘unbearably cruel’ that Alaa lost almost all her family in the Israeli strike.

He said that Adam’s ‘left arm was just about hanging off, he was covered in fragment injuries and he had several substantial lacerations’.

‘Since both his parents are doctors, he seemed to be among the privileged group within Gaza, but as we lifted him onto the operating table, he felt much younger than 11.’

On Thursday, Italy’s government offered to treat Adam after his uncle, Ali, told Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper that Nasser hospital was ill-equipped to treat him.

The Italian foreign ministry said it was willing to transfer the boy to Italy and was looking into the feasibility of the proposal.

The Israeli military confirmed it carried out an air strike on Khan Younis on the day the al-Najjar family were struck, but said it was targeting suspects in a structure that was close to Israeli soldiers.

The military was looking into claims that ‘uninvolved civilians’ were killed, it said.

On Sunday, meanwhile, at least 31 Palestinians were killed and more than 170 wounded after Israeli forces fired towards crowds on their way to a US-backed aid distribution centre near Rafah, according to health officials and witnesses.

Health officials and a witness said at least three people going to get aid were also killed in the same spot by Israeli fire this morning.

Israeli forces have denied shooting at civilians, claiming troops only fired warning shots when ‘suspects’ had advanced towards them.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was ‘appalled by the reports of Palestinians killed and injured while seeking aid in Gaza’.

‘It is unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food.”

‘I call for an immediate and independent investigation into these events and for perpetrators to be held accountable,’ he said in a statement on Monday.

Israel and the United States say they helped establish the new aid system after accusing Hamas of siphoning off supplies.

U.N. agencies deny there is any systemic diversion of aid and say the new system violates humanitarian principles by allowing Israel to control who receives aid and by forcing Palestinians to travel long distances to receive it.

Palestinians must pass close to Israeli forces and cross military lines to reach the aid hubs, in contrast to the U.N. aid network, which delivers aid to where Palestinians are located.

Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Israel has vowed to continue the war until all the hostages are returned, and Hamas is defeated or disarmed and sent into exile.

It has said it will maintain control of Gaza indefinitely and facilitate what it refers to as the voluntary emigration of much of its population.

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