Dr. Alaa Al-Najjar

23 May 2025

Dr. Alaa al-Najjar, a dedicated pediatrician in Gaza, spent her days caring for the children of a war-torn city, never imagining that the violence she worked to heal would shatter her own family. On May 23, 2025, while she was on duty at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, an Israeli airstrike struck her home in the Qizan al-Najjar neighborhood. In a single moment, nine of her ten children were killed, her entire world reduced to rubble. The youngest was just seven months old; the oldest, only twelve.

Her husband, Dr. Hamdi al-Najjar, a fellow physician, was critically wounded in the attack. Days later, he died from his injuries. Their only surviving child, eleven-year-old Adam, was pulled from the debris with serious injuries. He now lies in a hospital bed, the only living thread of a family torn apart.

Dr. al-Najjar, a woman who had devoted her life to protecting and healing children, was left with one, wounded, grieving, and alone. Her story is not just one of personal loss, it is a searing reflection of the price civilians, especially healthcare workers, continue to pay in this genocide.