Description

Photo:
An illustrative scene. [Not a photo of Dr. al-Najar]. Posted by Mosab Abu Toha on Twitter

Dr. Alaa Al-Najjar (left) outside of Nasser Hospital, where she works as a pediatrician, in Khan Yunis yesterday. Credit: Hatem Khaled/Reuters. Published by Haaretz

Dr. Hamdi al-Najjar recovering at Nasser Hospital after being injured in the same strike that killed nine of his children. Credit: Hatem Khaled/Reuters. Published by Haaretz

A rescue worker walking through rubble in Khan Yunis on Friday, following the strike that killed Alaa al-Najjar's nine children. Credit: Palestinian Civil Defence/Handout via Reuters. Published by Haaretz

Dr. Alaa al-Najjar's nine children, created by Israeli artist Shoshke, whose illustrations of hostages are often carried at anti-war protests. Published by Haaretz.
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Mosab Abu Toha
@MosabAbuToha
Shocking, shocking, shocking!!!

Dr. Alaa al-Najar while working at Nasser Hospital found the bodies of her 7 children entering the hospital. Her children are Yahia, Rakan, Raslan, Jubran, Ev, Rivan, and Sidin.

Any comments, EU, UN, US, UK?
Any coverage of this, BBC, CNN?
1:19 PM · May 23, 2025


Mosab Abu Toha
@MosabAbuToha
Note: this photo is not of Dr. Alaa al-Najjar.
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A Gaza doctor went to work. Hours later, her children’s bodies arrive

CNN
May 25, 2025

Dr. Alaa al-Najjar left her ten children at home when she went to work in the emergency room at the Nasser Medical Complex in southern Gaza.

Hours later, the bodies of seven children - most of them badly burned - arrived at the hospital, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

They were Dr. Najjar’s own children, killed in an Israeli strike on her home. The bodies of two more of her children – a 7-month-old and a 12-year-old who authorities presume to be dead – remain missing.
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'How Does One Bear Such Pain?' |

Colleagues Say Gaza Doctor Who Lost Nine Children in Israeli Strike Has Kept Working
Dr. Alaa al-Najjar was at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis when an airstrike hit her home on Friday, reportedly killing nine of her 10 children. Acquaintances describe her as a devout Muslim and caring doctor, who could have left the Strip at the start of the war, but decided to stay and treat patients

by Nagham Zbeedat for Haaretz
May 26, 2025 6:19 pm IDT

Dr. Alaa al-Najjar, a 38-year-old pediatrician from Khan Yunis, was on duty at at Al-Tahrir Hospital on Friday when news came of the strike on her home, which killed nine of her 10 children, and seriously wounded her husband – Hamdi, also a doctor – and their 11-year-old son.

Colleagues of al-Najjar at Al-Tahrir, which is part of the Nasser Medical Complex, have told local and foreign news outlets that she hasn't stopped working since then. One of them, Ahmad al-Farra, who heads the pediatric care unit, told CNN that al-Najjar has kept working in the emergency room, while "periodically checking on her husband."

Speaking to the New York Times, he described al-Najjar as a doctor who "treated the children with a blend of maternal care and professional expertise."

Another colleague, Dr. Yousef Abu al-Rish, wrote on Facebook that he arrived at the hospital expecting to "find her broken by grief, but she was calm, dignified, whispering prayers. That is Alaa."

Dr. Yousef Abu al-Rish, who is also Gaza's Deputy Minister of Health, said he had rushed to the Khan Yunis hospital "knowing I was about to witness something extraordinary: A doctor who left her children behind in war-torn Gaza to care for sick children at Nasser Hospital, itself overflowing with suffering." He encountered her waiting outside the operating room for news about her surviving 11-year-old son, Adam.

Abu al-Rish said he struggled to find words. "Perhaps for the first time, I understood the meaning of 'beautiful patience' [an Islamic concept of unwavering trust in God] – and I walked away asking myself, 'Who is she, and how does one bear such pain?'"

Over the weekend, rescue teams worked to recover the bodies of Yahya, Rakan, Raslan, Jubran, Ayb, Rifan, Sidin, Luqman and Sidra from the home, which was engulfed in flames after the strike. Rescue workers released footage showing the retrieval of the bodies, with the victims appearing charred and mutilated.

Ali al-Najjar, the children's uncle, told Middle East Eye that rescue teams are still looking for the bodies of two of the children. "Seven children were pulled from beneath the rubble, but two - Yahya, 13, and Sidra, only six months old – are still missing. We haven't been able to find them."

He said rescue teams resumed their search the following morning, but no trace of the children was found. "Their mother can't even identify the bodies – her children are so badly burned, she can't recognize who is who."

Mohammed Haniya, a journalist based in Gaza, shared on X that al-Najjar is devoted religiously, as she has memorized the Quran in its entirety and wears a niqab. Haniya also wrote that the doctor had Egyptian citizenship and was urged by relatives earlier in the war to find safety in Egypt. Al-Najjar and her husband refused, insisting they would stay to treat patients in Gaza.

In a message shared on Facebook, the staff of Al-Tahrir Hospital in Khan Yunis offered their condolences to Dr. al-Najjar. "Words fail us," the hospital wrote. "The martyrdom of your children in a cowardly strike is a crime that will never be forgotten."

Addressing her directly, they added: "Your pain is our pain. Your children are our children. ... You are the mother of martyrs, a symbol of dignity, and a witness to the injustice that will one day end."

British-Iraqi neurosurgeon Dr. Mohammed Tahir, who has volunteered in another Khan Yunis hospital three times since the war began, wrote on X: "Words fail me. What do you say to a mother who has lost nine of her children?" Tahir wrote. "When will the world say it's enough? How can such daily atrocities happen while we watch in silence?"