Palestinian man Hamdi al Najjar dies after losing nine children in Israeli airstrike

Hamdi al Najjar, a Palestinian father who lost nine of his children in an Israeli airstrike on May 23, has died from injuries sustained in the same attack, local health officials in Gaza have confirmed.

The airstrike struck the family’s home in Khan Younis while Hamdi was with his ten children. Only one child survived the bombing.

Hamdi was rushed to Nasser Hospital with critical injuries, where he remained under treatment before succumbing to his wounds.

His wife, Dr Alaa al Najjar, a paediatrician at Nasser Hospital, was on duty the night of the airstrike. In a tragic twist of fate, she received the bodies of nine of her children while at work.

Read more: Father in intensive care after nine children killed in Israeli strike on Gaza

She now endures the devastating loss of both her husband and nearly all her children.

On last Saturday, Ali Al-Najjar said that he rushed to his brother’s house after the strike, which had sparked a fire that threatened to collapse the home, and searched through the rubble. "We started pulling out charred bodies," he said.

In its statement about the air strike, the Israeli military said Khan Younis was a "dangerous war zone".

Practically all of Gaza's more than 2 million Palestinians have been displaced after more than 20 months of war.

The war erupted when Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, killing around 1,200, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 more.