Yahya. Rakan. Raslan. Jubran. Eve. Rivan. Sideen. Luqman. Sidra. Nine siblings killed at home by Israel - while their mother, a paediatrician was treating injured children from across Gaza.
An Israeli airstrike in Gaza obliterated the home of Dr Alaa al-Najjar, setting it ablaze and killing nine of her 10 children, the youngest just six months old.
Dr Alaa al-Najjar, a paediatrician at Al-Tahrir Hospital within the Nasser Medical Complex and a colleague of Dr Hussam Abu Safiyeh, was treating injured children when the charred bodies of her own children were brought in.
Israel had bombed her home in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, early on Friday, 23 May 2025, killing nine of her children. The massacre was confirmed by Dr Ahmed Al Farra, head of the hospital’s paediatric unit.
Yahya was 12 years old. Rakan was 10. Eve was 9. Jubran was 8. Raslan was 7. Sideen was 3. Luqman was 2. The youngest, baby Sidar, was just six months old. Under the rubble lay the remains of Luqman and baby Sidar, whose remains have since been recovered and buried.
Dr al-Najjar’s husband, now awaits the fate of her only surviving child, 11 year old Adam, and her husband, Dr Hamdi al-Najjar, himself a physician, who are both in critical condition.
Video footage shared by the director of the Gaza health ministry, verified by the BBC, shows the charred remains of the children being pulled from the rubble.
The children were at home in the Qizan al-Najjar neighbourhood when the airstrike hit, shortly after Dr al-Najjar had left for work. Her husband had just returned from dropping her off. As he got in, Israeli strikes targeted the house.
“ The shock was bigger than anything you can describe. The children were charred beyond recognition,” said Dr Hamdi’s brother, Ali Al-Najjar.
“What mattered to me was tried to save at least one surviving child. I found Adam lying on the asphalt. I phoned my brother lying on the other side, also on the asphalt. As for the rest, I couldn't find them. We searched, but we could find no trace of the children. The house wasn't blown apart like it is with missiles that usually make the whole building explored. No, we found the house completely crushed.
“I buried seven of my brother's children, and two remain missing. When I find them, I will bury them. So that makes nine in total. What did they do? The oldest was 12 years old and the youngest was six months. I buried the seven in two bags. I placed all seven in two graves.
“Every morning he brought his wife to the hospital. He brings her in the morning, then leaves to go to his children, the next morning he comes to pick her up. What was the purpose of trying to assassinate him? To me it was an attempted assassination, it wasn't just a targeting.”
Dr Alaa’’s sister, Sahar Al-Najjar, said: “The first missile hit but didn't explode. Hamdi went to get the children and evacuate them. But then a second missile hit. There was no way to say farewell to the children. They were charred and severely burned. The children, from 12 years down to 6 months, were burnt black. I couldn't even see them. They were all in sealed bags. We weren't even allowed to say goodbye. We didn't know who was Rakan, who was Jubran, who was Eve. We couldn’t identify any of the children.
“They (Israel) knew there were children in the basement. They had been staying there for two months, and they (Israel) knew the children and their ages. They could have given them a warning. If your intentions were good, why would you hit the house with a second missile? How could they be so cruel?”
The children's family say Israel deliberately targeted the family home with advanced precision targeting technology capable of identifying everyone inside.
As Rescue and Civil Defence teams recovered the children’s remains from the rubble of their destroyed home, Dr Alaa was caring for other children at Nasser Hospital. The charred remains were brought to Nasser Hospital’s morgue. Not a single complete body remained for Dr Alaa to bid farewell to.
British surgeon Graeme Groom, working at Nasser Hospital, operated on Adam.
On Monday, 20 May, Israel issued forced evacuation orders for Khan Younis, warning of an “unprecedented attack.” Heavy, deadly bombardment followed daily. The al-Najjar children were among dozens killed in Israel’s attacks.
Dr Munir Al-Bursh, Director General of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, stated:
“This is what our medical staff in Gaza endure. Words cannot describe this pain. In Gaza, not only are medical personnel targeted, but the Israeli occupiers persist in their crimes, targeting entire families.”
Gaza’s Health Ministry reported that the bodies of 79 people killed by Israeli attacks were brought to hospitals between Friday and midday Saturday—excluding those from the north, where access is blocked.
The Israeli military announced it had struck over 100 targets across Gaza in 24 hours.
Since October 2023, Israel’s campaign has killed 53,901 Palestinians and injured 122,593, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Thousands remain buried under rubble.
Dr Youssef Abu al-Rish described Dr al-Najjar waiting in the operating room for news of her surviving son. A relative, Youssef al-Najjar, pleaded to the international community:
“Enough! Have mercy on us!”
This attack encapsulates the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza. It is a war crime under all international laws and conventions. Israel is deliberately targeting medical personnel, journalists, civilians, and families.
Meanwhile, Gaza starves. The UN warns this may be “the cruellest phase” of the war. Israel’s blockade, nominally eased, allows a trickle of aid—83 trucks for a population of 2.1 million. The UN says 500–600 are needed daily. Aid convoys are attacked. Bakeries are overwhelmed. Famine is imminent. Infants are starving to death. There is no clean water. Sewage plants are out of fuel. Whole communities are displaced again and again.
Israel justifies this with the events of 7 October 2023. But nearly 54,000 Palestinians—including over 16,500 children—have been killed since. By deliberate policy and military design, Gaza has been turned into a graveyard.
Note: Some details of this story originated from the BBC, however, apart from the most basic facts, the article used downplaying and minimising language which failed to express the full gravity of the atrocity. The original framing was steeped in passive voice, institutional deflection, and euphemism— The BBC routinely uses nouns in place of active verbs, stripping agency from the killers when it comes to Israel. People are not “dead” or “lost”; they are killed. Replace the noun with a verb, and the perpetrator appears. Only then can we grasp the true scale of the crime.
Update: Dr. Alaa Al-Najjar and her wounded son Adam were evacuated to Italy on 11 June 2025.
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Absolutely Heartbreaking... I have no words but, free Palestine now🙏🙏🙏🙏
This restoration of language is crucial. In fact I can see value for a compilation of such restorations of meaning. No doubt the BBC's output would figure prominently. The Guardian also... in fact their report, some time ago now, on the IDF's use of AI, minimized and deflected from the scale and savage intent to terrorize which the true investigation by +972mag article was clear about.
"Note: Some details of this story originated from the BBC. All minimising language has been removed to restore the full gravity of the atrocity. The original framing—steeped in passive voice, institutional deflection, and euphemism—has been replaced with direct, unambiguous statements of fact. The BBC routinely uses nouns in place of active verbs, stripping agency from the killers when it comes to Israel. People are not “dead” or “lost”; they are killed. Replace the noun with a verb, and the perpetrator appears. Only then can we grasp the true scale of the crime."