The husband of a Palestinian doctor in Gaza whose children were killed in an Israeli strike on Friday remains in critical condition, according to the hospital treating him.
Hamdi al-Najjar’s “life remains in danger”, Dr Milena Angelova-Chee, a Bulgarian doctor working at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, told the BBC.
An Israeli strike killed nine of the couple’s 10 children on Friday and left him and the couple’s 11-year-old son injured.
The Israeli military has said the incident is under review.
On Sunday the Hamas-run health ministry said Israeli air strikes had killed 22 people since dawn, mostly in the central and southern areas of the territory.
Hamdi al-Najjar – also a doctor – sustained significant injuries to his brain, lungs, right arm, and kidney, Dr Angelova-Chee said.
The hospital is “doing everything we can for him”, she added.
The couple’s surviving son Adam was also injured. Dr Angelova-Chee said her colleagues had told her he was doing “reasonably well”.
Dr Alaa al-Najjar was working at Nasser hospital when the Israeli attack happened. Video shared by Health Ministry Director Dr Muneer Alboursh and verified by the BBC showed small charred bodies being lifted from rubble.
The nine children – Yahya, Rakan, Raslan, Gebran, Eve, Rival, Sayden, Luqman and Sidra – were aged between just a few months old and 12.
Her colleague faced “unspeakable suffering”, Dr Angelova-Chee said.
Right now Alaa’s “priority is her family”, she said, adding: “She’s not the only one who faces this, many families are in the same position.”
“Everybody is really shocked because this continues already 18 months and it’s compounded by constant threat of death, constant relocations and evacuations,” she said.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Saturday that its “aircraft struck a number of suspects who were identified operating from a structure adjacent to IDF troops in the area of Khan Younis”.
