Alaa Al-Najjar (, born ) is a

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

pediatrician Pediatrics (American English) also spelled paediatrics (British English), is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, pediatrics covers many of their youth ...

who works at Al-Tahrir Hospital, part of the

Nasser Medical Complex The Nasser Hospital (or Nasser Medical Complex) is one of the largest hospitals in the Gaza Strip, Palestine. During the Gaza war, Nasser was one of the final active hospitals in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, and was one of the last f ...

Khan Younis Khan Yunis (), also spelled Khan Younis or Khan Yunus, is a city in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestine, and serves as the capital of the Khan Yunis Governorate. It has been largely destroyed during the Gaza war. Before the 14th century, Khan ...

, in the southern

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

. Her name gained international attention in May 2025 after she lost nine of her children in an Israeli airstrike that targeted her family’s home in the Qizan an-Najjar area, south of Khan Younis.

Early life

Alaa Al-Najjar comes from a Palestinian family working in the medical field. She worked as a general physician in pediatrics for years at the Nasser Medical Complex, where she was known for her dedication to treating children, especially during periods of military escalation in Gaza.

Career

Alaa Al-Najjar worked as a general physician in pediatrics at the Al-Tahrir Clinic within the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis. She is widely respected for her dedication to treating child victims of the ongoing conflict in Gaza, often working long hours despite severe shortages of medical staff and resources. She returned to work shortly after giving birth to her youngest child, determined to help other children amid relentless attacks and a dire humanitarian crisis.

Airstrike and personal tragedy

On the morning of Friday, May 23, 2025, Alaa left her home for work, while her husband, Hamdi Al-Najjar, returned home. Minutes later, an Israeli airstrike hit their house, resulting in the deaths of nine of their children: Yahya, Rakan, Ruslan, Jubran, Eve, Revan, Saydeen, Luqman, and Sidra. The eldest was 12 years old, and the youngest was six months old. Their tenth child, Adam, survived the strike but sustained serious injuries. Her husband, Dr. Hamdi al-Najjar, also a doctor at Nasser Hospital, was critically injured in the strike and succumbed to his wounds a week later.

References

{{Reflist, 3 Palestinian physicians Israeli war crimes in the Gaza war 1980s births Living people