Daijiworld Media Network- Cairo

Cairo, May 25: In one of the most heartbreaking tragedies to emerge from the ongoing Gaza conflict, nine of a pediatrician’s ten children were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis on Friday, as confirmed by Gaza's health ministry and hospital colleagues.

Dr. Alaa Najjar, a pediatrician working at Nasser Hospital, was reportedly on duty when she received the devastating news that her home had been bombed. Rushing back, she found the house engulfed in flames and her family buried under rubble, said Ahmad al-Farra, head of the hospital’s pediatric department.

Najjar’s husband was severely injured, while the only surviving child, an 11-year-old son, is said to be in critical condition. The children who perished ranged from seven months to 12 years in age. According to health ministry spokesperson Khalil Al-Dokran, two children still remain trapped under the debris.

This grim incident is part of a broader wave of airstrikes that killed at least 79 people in Gaza over the last 24 hours, the health ministry reported Saturday. The death toll does not include casualties from northern Gaza, where access to hospitals has become impossible due to heavy bombardment and military encirclement.

Israel’s military, in a brief statement, confirmed it had struck over 100 targets in the last day but has not commented specifically on the Khan Younis strike.

The cumulative death toll in Gaza has now reached 53,901 since the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack, which triggered a 19-month-long military conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group.

As the war grinds on with no ceasefire in sight, international humanitarian organizations continue to raise alarms over the worsening civilian toll, mass displacement, and the collapse of health infrastructure in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.