Father of nine children killed by Israeli strike in Gaza still in critical condition

The husband of a Palestinian physician in Gaza whose kids have been killed in an Israeli strike on Friday stays in essential situation, in line with the hospital treating him.

Hamdi al-Najjar’s “life stays in peril”, Dr Milena Angelova-Chee, a Bulgarian physician working at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, advised the BBC.

An Israeli strike killed 9 of the couple’s 10 kids on Friday and left him and the couple’s 11-year-old son injured. The Israeli navy has mentioned the incident is beneath evaluate.

The Crimson Cross in the meantime mentioned two of its employees have been killed in a strike on their residence in Khan Younis on Saturday.

The killing of Ibrahim Eid, a weapon contamination officer, and Ahmad Abu Hilal, a safety guard on the Crimson Cross Area Hospital in Rafah “factors to the insupportable civilian loss of life toll in Gaza”, the ICRC mentioned, repeating its name for a ceasefire.

On Sunday the Hamas-run well being ministry mentioned Israeli air strikes had killed 23 folks since daybreak, together with a senior rescue service official and a journalist.

Ashraf Abu Nar, a senior official within the territory’s civil emergency service, and his spouse have been killed of their residence in central Gaza, well being officers mentioned, whereas journalist Hassan Majdi Abu Warda and several other members of the family have been killed by a strike on his residence in Jabalia in northern Gaza.

Hamdi al-Najjar – a health care provider like his spouse – sustained important accidents to his mind, lungs, proper arm, and kidney in Saturday’s assault, Dr Angelova-Chee mentioned.

The hospital is “doing the whole lot we will for him”, she added.

The couple’s surviving son Adam was additionally injured. Dr Angelova-Chee mentioned her colleagues had advised her he was doing “fairly effectively”.

Dr Alaa al-Najjar was working at Nasser hospital when the Israeli assault occurred. Video shared by Well being Ministry Director Dr Muneer Alboursh and verified by the BBC confirmed small charred our bodies being lifted from rubble.

The 9 kids – Yahya, Rakan, Raslan, Gebran, Eve, Rival, Sayden, Luqman and Sidra – have been aged between only a few months outdated and 12.

Her colleague confronted “unspeakable struggling”, Dr Angelova-Chee mentioned.

Proper now Alaa’s “precedence is her household”, she mentioned, including: “She’s not the one one who faces this, many households are in the identical place.”

“All people is de facto shocked as a result of this continues already 18 months and it is compounded by fixed menace of loss of life, fixed relocations and evacuations,” she mentioned.

The Israel Protection Forces (IDF) mentioned on Saturday that its “plane struck numerous suspects who have been recognized working from a construction adjoining to IDF troops within the space of Khan Younis”.

It mentioned the Khan Younis are was a “harmful warfare zone” and the IDF had advised folks to go away for their very own security. On Monday the IDF said people in Khan Younis governorate should leave forward of an “unprecedented assault” in one of many largest such evacuation orders in latest months.

Some Palestinians advised the BBC that they had not left as a result of “as a result of there isn’t any place to go”. In line with the UN, about 81% of the territory is now both topic to Israeli evacuation orders or situated in militarised “no-go” zones.

Israel resumed air strikes and floor operations on 18 March and these have since killed 3,785 Palestinians, the well being ministry says.

Talking after the strike that killed the 9 al-Najjar kids, an Israeli girl who was held hostage in Gaza advised a rally in Tel Aviv that air strikes have been what she feared most whereas in captivity.

Naama Levy – considered one of 5 feminine surveillance troopers kidnapped through the 7 October assault led by Hamas – mentioned that every time air strikes started she was satisfied she would die. She mentioned she feared for the lives of remaining hostages in Gaza.

Israel additionally imposed a complete blockade on Gaza on 2 March that lasted 11 weeks earlier than it allowed restricted support to enter the territory within the face of warnings of famine and mounting worldwide outrage.

Israeli navy physique Cogat mentioned on Saturday morning that 388 vans carrying support had entered Gaza since Monday. The UN says way more support – between 500 to 600 vans a day – is required.

The World Meals Programme (WFP) advised the BBC that no extra vans had entered Gaza on Saturday, and there had been a halt within the distribution of bread attributable to “extreme safety threats” confronted by bakeries.

“Operations within the present imposed situations are usually not viable,” the spokesperson mentioned.

WFP Director Cindy McCain later advised the BBC’s US companion CBS Information that extra vans wanted to enter Gaza “at scale” as a result of there have been “500,000 folks inside Gaza which can be extraordinarily meals insecure, and could possibly be on the verge of famine if we do not assist convey them again from that.”

She mentioned the looting of support vans since Israel partially eased its blockade was carried out by civilians who she described as “poor souls” who “are actually, actually, actually determined.”

Dr Angelova-Chee mentioned her colleagues on the hospital have been working “hungry”, with one telling her on Saturday that he had solely a pair extra small packets of date biscuits left to eat.

Israel has mentioned the blockade was supposed to place strain on Hamas to launch the hostages the Palestinian armed group Hamas remains to be holding in Gaza. Israel additionally accuses Hamas of stealing provides, which the group has denied.

On Sunday Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir visited Israeli troops in Khan Younis and advised them that “this isn’t an limitless warfare” and that Hamas had misplaced most of its belongings and capabilities, the IDF mentioned in a press release.

Israel launched a navy marketing campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas’s cross-border assault on 7 October 2023, during which about 1,200 folks have been killed and 251 others have been taken hostage.

A minimum of 53,939 folks, together with at the least 16,500 kids, have been killed in Gaza since then, in line with the territory’s well being ministry.