A Palestinian pediatrician received the burnt bodies of seven children on duty after an Israeli strike struck Khan Eunice’s home in the Gaza Strip.
Dr Araa Al Najar, a specialist at the Children’s Hospital at Altaril Hospital within the Nasser Medical Complex, was treating the victims of the ongoing Israeli attacks across the strip on Friday when she was shocked to find her own children and husband.
The children – the eldest son, 13 years old and the youngest six months – were heavily burned in the bombing.
Shortly before the strike, Najal set out to work with her husband, Dr Hamdi al-Najal.
Shortly afterwards, Israeli artillery bombarded their homes in the Qizan Al-Najjar area of southern Khan Eunice, killing nine of the 10 children and injuring 10.
Najar’s husband, seriously injured, is in intensive care.
Footage released by the Palestinian civil defense showed rescue teams pulling the child’s body from the tile rub showed as the flames still involved the family’s home.
Stolen by a lack of proper equipment and a massive destruction, civil defense workers were able to hear them calling the tile rub and desperately searching for signs of life.
The civil defense team reported that seven bodies had been recovered and transferred to Nasser Hospital, where his mother works.
The other two, including a six-month-old baby, remain trapped under the tiled rub.
The children were identified as Yahya, Lakan, Ruslan, Jublan, Eve, Levan, Seiden, Lukman and Sidra.
“The kids were completely burning.”
Ali Al Najar immediately rushed to the site when he heard that his brother’s house had been attacked.
“Someone called us and said the house had been bombed. We rushed there even before civil defense arrived,” he said in the eyes of the Middle East.
When he reached the scene he found his brother, Dr. Hamdi Al-Najjar, lying motionless on the ground, his son was by his side. The house was engulfed in flames.
“The kids were completely burning,” he said. “I carried my nephew and my injured cousin and ran to the hospital.”
After a while he returned to the burning house. To see her step-sister, the mother of the child, arrive in horror. “She was on foot from the hospital to her house.”
“Four of her children were burnt and left in front of her eyes,” he said.
Ali explained the continued distress of not knowing the fate of two missing children. “Seven children have been pulled out from under the tile rub, and two Yahya (age 13) and Sidra (just six months) are still missing.
He said the civil defense team resumed the search the next morning but found nothing. “Their mothers can’t even identify their bodies. The children are so burned that they can’t know who and who.”
Ali questioned the reasons behind the strike. “I don’t know why they were targeted. Why would they target my siblings? There’s no reason unless his wife is a doctor.”
“A woman who is immovable”
Najal insisted on returning to work shortly after giving birth to her youngest child six months ago, and decided to treat the child victim amid relentless attacks and a shortage of medical staff.
In testimony given to the eyes of the Middle East, Dr Yousef Abu al-Rish, secretary of the Palestinian Ministry of Health, said, “I learned that our colleague, Dr Ala al-Nazar, was standing in front of the operating room, waiting for news about his son. Even trying to explain his suffering will only deepen his anguish.
“She left them to fulfill her duties to all the sick children she had nowhere else, other than Nasser Hospital, a place where she was choked with the cry of innocent souls.
“Men and women lined up, their faces were cloudy with confusion. I scanned my anxious face and quickly recognized the most devastated expression. I began looking for words to comfort her, but she pointed to another woman.
“Calm, patient, full of faith – it was Dr. Araa al-Najar. The last thing I had hoped was that this immovable woman was someone who had lost her child.”
The reality of healthcare workers
At least 1,400 medical professionals have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 7, 2023, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Association.
“This is the reality that Gaza medical staff endure. There is a lack of words to describe the pain,” Palestinian Ministry of Health Dr Munir Al Barsch commented on the attack in a post in X.
“In Gaza, health workers aren’t the only ones being targeted. The Israeli attacks will go further and wipe out the whole family.”
Additionally, at least 111 civil defense workers were also killed.
On Thursday, the Ministry of Health reported that at least 53,822 Palestinians (including 16,503 children) were killed in an ongoing Israeli attack via a blocked strip.
Of the children killed, 916 were under one year old. The ages of 4,365 were between 1 and 5 years old. 6,101 ranged from 6 to 12. The ages of 5,124 ranged from 13 to 17 years old.
Thousands of more people remained missing and are estimated to be dead under the tile rub, according to the Ministry of Health and civil defense.