Child survivor of IDF strike in Gaza that killed his father, 9 siblings heads to Italy with his mother for treatment

A 10-year-old Palestinian boy who survived an Israeli airstrike in Gaza last month that killed his father and nine siblings is heading to Italy today for treatment.

Adam and his mother, pediatrician Alaa al-Najjar, are due to fly to Milan in northern Italy alongside his aunt and four cousins, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani says.

“Adam will arrive in Milan and will be admitted to the Niguarda [hospital], because he has multiple fractures and he will be treated there,” Tajani tells Rtl radio.

Adam had a hand amputated and suffered severe burns across his body following the strike in the city of Khan Younis on May 23.

His mother was at work at the time of the strike, which killed nine of her children and injured Adam and his father, doctor Hamdi al-Najjar, who died of his injuries last week.

Al-Najjar, who ran to the house to find her children charred beyond recognition, tells Italy’s Repubblica daily: “I remember everything. Every detail, every minute, every scream.”

Al-Najjar says she has packed the Quran, their documents and Adam’s clothes.

“I am heartbroken. I am leaving behind everything that was important to me. My husband, my children, the hospital where I worked, my job, my patients,” she says.

The IDF says it has been investigating the deadly incident.

According to the IDF’s preliminary probe, soldiers spotted several suspected terror operatives at a building several hundred meters from where ground troops were operating and called in an airstrike.

The IDF had ordered the area, in southern Khan Younis, to be evacuated on March 31.

The military says it did not expect any civilians to be in the area when the incident took place.