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

The husband of a Palestinian physician in Gaza whose youngsters had been killed in an Israeli strike on Friday stays in important situation, in keeping with the hospital treating him.

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

An Israeli strike killed 9 of the couple’s 10 youngsters on Friday and left him and the couple’s 11-year-old son injured. The Israeli army has stated the incident is underneath assessment.

The Purple Cross in the meantime stated two of its workers had 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 Purple Cross Area Hospital in Rafah “factors to the insupportable civilian dying toll in Gaza”, the ICRC stated, repeating its name for a ceasefire.

On Sunday the Hamas-run well being ministry stated Israeli air strikes had killed 23 individuals 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 had been killed of their residence in central Gaza, well being officers stated, whereas journalist Hassan Majdi Abu Warda and several other relations had been killed by a strike on his residence in Jabalia in northern Gaza.

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

The hospital is “doing all the pieces we are able to for him”, she added.

The couple’s surviving son Adam was additionally injured. Dr Angelova-Chee stated her colleagues had instructed her he was doing “moderately 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 youngsters – Yahya, Rakan, Raslan, Gebran, Eve, Rival, Sayden, Luqman and Sidra – had been aged between only a few months previous and 12.

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

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

“All people is admittedly shocked as a result of this continues already 18 months and it is compounded by fixed menace of dying, fixed relocations and evacuations,” she stated.

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

It stated the Khan Younis are was a “harmful battle zone” and the IDF had instructed individuals 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 instructed the BBC that they had not left as a result of “as a result of there isn’t a place to go”. In line with the UN, about 81% of the territory is now both topic to Israeli evacuation orders or positioned 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 youngsters, an Israeli lady who was held hostage in Gaza instructed a rally in Tel Aviv that air strikes had been what she feared most whereas in captivity.

Naama Levy – certainly one of 5 feminine surveillance troopers kidnapped throughout the 7 October assault led by Hamas – stated that every time air strikes started she was satisfied she would die. She stated 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 army physique Cogat stated on Saturday morning that 388 vans carrying support had entered Gaza since Monday. The UN says far more support – between 500 to 600 vans a day – is required.

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

“Operations within the present imposed circumstances will not be viable,” the spokesperson stated.

WFP Director Cindy McCain later instructed the BBC’s US associate CBS Information that extra vans wanted to enter Gaza “at scale” as a result of there have been “500,000 individuals inside Gaza which might be extraordinarily meals insecure, and may very well be on the verge of famine if we do not assist deliver them again from that.”

She stated 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 stated her colleagues on the hospital had 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 stated the blockade was supposed to place strain on Hamas to launch the hostages the Palestinian armed group Hamas continues 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 instructed them that “this isn’t an infinite battle” and that Hamas had misplaced most of its belongings and capabilities, the IDF stated in a press release.

Israel launched a army marketing campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas’s cross-border assault on 7 October 2023, wherein about 1,200 individuals had been killed and 251 others had been taken hostage.

Not less than 53,939 individuals, together with a minimum of 16,500 youngsters, have been killed in Gaza since then, in keeping with the territory’s well being ministry.