Hamdi al-Najjar, father of ten children, was severely wounded in an Israeli strike on their Khan Yunis home in May. At the time of writing, only two family members have survived – the mother, Alaa, and her son, Adam, who was also seriously wounded
Haaretz
A Gazan doctor who was seriously wounded in an Israeli strike on his Khan Yunis home that killed nine of his children died of his wounds, medical officials and his family confirmed on Sunday.
Hamdi and Alaa al-Najjar, a married couple who both work as doctors at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, lost their children nine days ago, when the IDF struck the al-Najjar family home. At the time of writing, only two family members have survived – the mother, Alaa, and her son, Adam, who was also severely wounded in the strike.
According to reports from the BBC and Sky News Arabia, Hamdi had driven his wife to work at the hospital, and the strike occurred just minutes after he returned home.
The Gisha Legal Center for Freedom of Movement had appealed to the IDF for Hamdi and his son to receive urgent medical care abroad, noting that both are still suffering life-threatening injuries from the strike.
The World Health Organization told Alaa that it aims to evacuate her son and husband, the NGO said, adding that Malta and Ireland have expressed their willingness to treat patients from Gaza.
‘The attached medical documents indicate that the Israeli attack caused extremely serious and life-threatening injuries to the father and son,’ the NGO said. ‘The accumulation of a large amount of blood in the chest cavity has caused pressure on Hamdi’s lung, causing it to collapse.’
Gisha added that the father ‘subsequently underwent emergency surgery to open his chest, and the lower lobe of his right lung was removed.’
The organization added that he ‘suffers from a penetrating wound to his abdomen, skull fractures that endanger brain tissue and a serious injury to his right limb that resulted in the amputation of one of his fingers.’
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.’
The IDF responded to reports of that strike, saying that on Friday night, ‘an aircraft struck several suspects identified by IDF forces as operating in a building near troops in the Khan Yunis area, a dangerous combat zone that had been evacuated of civilians in advance for their protection. The claim of harm to uninvolved individuals is being reviewed.’
Humanitarian groups in Gaza have criticized the IDF for not limiting its evacuation orders in time. The army issues evacuation notices but does not announce when combat operations in a given area have ended, making it unclear to residents when it is safe to return.
According to a UN assessment published last week, more than 80 percent of Gaza is currently either under evacuation orders or direct Israeli control, leaving the enclave’s two million residents with just 73 square kilometers of space to inhabit.