The father of nine children killed in an Israeli military strike in Gaza over the weekend remains in intensive care, said a doctor on Sunday (May 25) at the hospital treating him.

Hamdi Al-Najjar, himself a doctor, was at home in Khan Younis with his 10 children when an Israeli air strike occurred, killing all but one of them. He was rushed to the nearby Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza where he is being treated for his injuries.

Abdul Aziz Al-Farra, a thoracic surgeon, said Najjar had undergone two operations to stop bleeding in his abdomen and chest and that he sustained other wounds including to his head.

"May God heal him and help him," Farra said, speaking by the bedside of an intubated and heavily bandaged Najjar.

The Israeli military has confirmed it conducted an air strike on Khan Younis on Friday but said it was targeting suspects in a structure that was close to Israeli soldiers.

The military is looking into claims that "uninvolved civilians" were killed, it said, adding that the military had evacuated civilians from the area before the operation began.

According to medical officials in Gaza, the nine children were aged between one and 12 years old. The child that survived, a boy, is in a serious but stable condition, the hospital has said.

Najjar's wife, Alaa, also a doctor, was not at home at the time of the strike. She was treating Palestinians injured in Israel's more than 20-month war in Gaza against Hamas in the same hospital where her husband and son are receiving care.

"She went to her house and saw her children burned, may God help her," said Tahani Yahya Al-Najjar of her sister-in-law.

"With everything we are going through only God gives us strength."

Tahani visited her brother in hospital on Sunday, whispering to him that she was there: "You are okay, this will pass."

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.

The retaliatory campaign, that Israel has said is aimed at uprooting Hamas and securing the release of the hostages, has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, Gazan health officials say.

Most of them are civilians, including more than 16,500 children under the age of 18, according to Gaza's health ministry.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA (MAY 25, 2025)

1. VARIOUS OF INJURED FATHER, HAMDI AL-NAJJAR, WHO LOST NINE OF HIS CHILDREN IN ISRAELI STRIKE, LYING ON HOSPITAL BED AT NASSER HOSPITAL'S INTERMEDIATE CARE DEPARTMENT / AL-NAJJAR'S SISTER TAHANI YAHYA AL-NAJJAR STANDING NEXT TO HOSPITAL BED, SPEAKING TO HIM

2. AL-NAJJAR LYING ON HOSPITAL BED WITH EYES CLOSED AND TUBES IN HIS MOUTH AND BANDAGES ON HIS HEAD

3. AL-NAJJAR'S SISTER, TAHANI LEANING ON BED TALKING TO HIM AND SAYING (Arabic): "You are okay, this will pass. I want you to wake up, so I can be relieved. I am sitting by the door, okay?"

4. NURSE LIFTING AL-NAJJAR'S HAND

5. AL-NAJJAR LYING ON HOSPITAL BED

6. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) THORACIC SURGEON CONSULTANT AT NASSER HOSPITAL, ABDUL AZIZ AL-FARRA, SAYING:

"A critical condition that required two surgeries on his abdomen and chest to stop the bleeding. Multiple injuries on his body, head and foot. He is now receiving intensive care. His special situation is that his wife, who is also a doctor, also received her nine children, martyrs, from the bombing. May God heal him and help him and help all the medical teams to help him."

7. VARIOUS OF AL-NAJJAR'S SISTER, TAHANI, STANDING NEXT TO HOSPITAL BED, SPEAKING TO HIM

8. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HAMDI AL-NAJJAR'S SISTER, TAHANI YAHYA AL-NAJJAR, SAYING:

"The area was full of smoke and the bombing was very intense, so I found my entire family's house collapsed. My house is on the street behind them and they are on the main road. I started asking 'where is Hamdi, where are Hamdi's children?' My other brother was coming to get me, so Hamdi's wife told me that her children have died. I couldn't bear to hear what she was saying, nor did I comprehend what was happening to us, because we were in a state of extreme fear and panic. It is indescribable. Praise be to God."

KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA (MAY 23, 2025) (PALESTINIAN CIVIL DEFENCE - No Resale / No Archive / Must on-screen courtesy Palestinian Civil Defence)

9. RESCUERS CARRYING WOUNDED MAN, HAMDI AJ-NAJJAR, ONTO STRETCHER / PICKING UP STRETCHER AND WALKING TOWARD AMBULANCE

10. RESCUERS PUTTING WOUNDED MAN, HAMDI AJ-NAJJAR, INTO AMBULANCE

KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA (MAY 25, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

11. AL-NAJJAR'S SISTER STANDING NEXT TO HIM

12. PATIENTS LAYING ON BEDS INSIDE NASSER HOSPITAL

13. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HAMDI AL-NAJJAR'S SISTER, TAHANI YAHYA AL-NAJJAR, SAYING:

"So she (Hamdi's wife) told me her children have died, she went to her house and saw her children burned, may God help her. What happened to us only God gives us strength, with everything we are going through only God gives us strength."

14. NURSE GIVING CARE TO AL-NAJJAR

15. AL-NAJJAR LYING ON BED

16. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HAMDI AL-NAJJAR'S SISTER, TAHANI YAHYA AL-NAJJAR, SAYING:

"The death, separation, and destruction. I lived in my family's house, my memories, my whole life is gone. They wouldn't do to the targeted people what they did to Hamdi. Seriously, if you saw the place. On the first day, I felt like I wasn't conscious. I wanted someone to hit me in the head so I would wake up because what I was seeing wasn't real."

17. AL-NAJJAR'S SISTER STANDING NEXT TO AL-NAJJAR LYING ON HOSPITAL BED

18. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HAMDI AL-NAJJAR'S SISTER, TAHANI YAHYA AL-NAJJAR, SAYING:

"Hamdi has been in his house for 60 days and hasn't left it, only to go to the hospital and come back, him and his wife. So I told him, "Get out. We were going out and came back to our house because there is no place to go. We are in Gaza. There is no place to go. We have no safe place left for us to seek refuge in. We are just living like this. We wait for the time when we will be struck. Praise be to God. There were many times when we longed for the interior of the earth rather than its surface (meaning to be dead rather than alive). A lot, a lot, a lot, and until now we do."

19. AL-NAJJAR'S SISTER AND OTHERS WALKING OUTSIDE HOSPITAL

20. VARIOUS OF NASSER HOSPITAL WITH DAMAGED SIGN READING (Arabic and English):' NASSER MEDICAL COMPLEX