CNN
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Dr. Araa al-Najar left 10 children at home on Friday when he went to work in the emergency room at Nasser Medical Facility in southern Gaza.
Hours later, the bodies of seven children, most of whom were severely burned, arrived at the hospital, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. They were Dr. Najar’s own children and were killed in an Israeli airstrike at her family’s home, Gaza civil defense said. The oldest was 12 years old and the youngest was 3 years old. On Saturday morning, the bodies of two more children (7 months old and 2 years old) remained trapped under the tile rub.
Only one of her children (who was seriously injured) survived. Dr. Najar’s husband is a doctor himself, but was seriously injured in the strike.
The Ministry of Civil Defense and Health says the family home in the neighborhood of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza has been targeted by Israeli airstrikes.
CNN provided the Israeli military with strike coordinates and requested comment.
Gaza Civil Defense has released a graphic video from the strike scene. The other first responders showed a medic lifting the injured man onto the stretcher as he tried to put out the fire that would involve the house. They recover the burnt relics of several children from the shredded pieces and wrap them in white sheets.
Gaza’s Health Ministry Director Munir Al Barsh said Dr Najar’s husband had just returned to his home when the house was attacked.
“Nine children were killed: Yahya, Lakan, Raslan, Gebran, Eve, Rival, Seiden, Lukman, Sidra,” Basch posted on X.
“This is the reality that Gaza medical staff endure. There is a lack of language to describe the pain. In Gaza, healthcare workers aren’t the only ones who are targeted.
Ahmad Al-Farra, a doctor at Nasser Medical Complex, told CNN that Dr. Najjar continued to work despite losing his child, regularly checking Adam’s status, his 11-year-old husband and only surviving child.
Both the father and son had two surgeries in the hospital and are still undergoing treatment, Fara said.
Yousef Abu al-Reish, a senior health ministry official, said Dr Najar “leave the children at home to meet her duties and calling to all sick children who have nowhere other than Nasser Hospital.”
Leish said he saw her “tall, calm, patient, composed, tolerable eyes” when he arrived at the hospital.
Dr. Najar, 38, is a pediatrician, but like most doctors in Gaza, she works in the emergency room during an onslaught on Israeli territory.
