Italy offers to treat Gazan boy who survived Israeli strike that killed his nine siblings

By Reuters 29 May 2025, 10:18 pm

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A wounded Palestinian child, the only surviving child of doctor Alaa al-Najjar, lies in a hospital bed at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis after an Israeli airstrike on May 23, 2025, allegedly hit their home. Al-Najjar lost 9 of her 10 children in the attack, which occurred shortly after she had left for work. (Hani Alshaer / Anadolu via Reuters)

Italy’s government has offered to treat a Palestinian child who survived an Israeli military strike in Gaza in which nine of his siblings died, heeding an appeal from the boy’s uncle.

“The Italian Government has expressed its willingness to transfer the seriously injured boy to Italy,” the foreign ministry says in a statement, adding that it was studying the feasibility of the operation.

The boy, Adam Al-Najjar, is in serious condition in Nasser Hospital, one of the few medical facilities still operating in southern Gaza, following the May 25 strike on his home in which he lost his siblings.

His parents are both doctors. His father, Hamdi Al-Najjar, was at home with the children and was also seriously hurt. He is being treated in the same hospital as his son, and where his wife Alaa works.

Adam’s uncle, Ali Al-Najjar, tells Italy’s la Repubblica newspaper that the 11-year-old boy has burns on his body, head injuries, a broken left hand and is not able to walk, and that the Nasser Hospital is ill-equipped to treat him.

“He needs to be taken away immediately, to a real hospital, outside of the Gaza Strip. I beg the Italian government to do something, take him, Italians save him,” he says.