Boy whose father and nine siblings were killed in Israeli strike on way to Italy

An 11-year-old Palestinian boy who survived an Israeli air strike in Gaza last month, which killed his father and nine siblings, is being evacuated to Italy for treatment.

Adam al-Najjar and his mother, Dr Alaa al-Najjar, were scheduled to fly to Milan in northern Italy on Wednesday evening, Italy’s foreign ministry said.

Alaa’s husband, Dr Hamdi al-Najjar, and nine of their children were killed after their home in the southern city of Khan Younis was struck on 23 May.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said at the time the incident was being reviewed. The BBC has contacted the IDF for an updated comment.

Footage posted online by Palestinian journalists Mohammad Salama and Hala Asfour on Wednesday showed the boy and his mother getting into a Red Crescent ambulance and waving goodbye as they made their way out of Gaza.

In an interview with Italian newspaper la Repubblica published ahead of their evacuation, Alaa said Adam’s condition was stable but “his left arm is in bad shape, the bones are fractured and the nerves are damaged”.

The mother and son, along with 17 other injured Palestinians, plus their relatives, were set to cross the border to the Israeli city of Eilat on Wednesday, where they would then be flown to various cities in Italy on chartered flights by the Italian Air Force, the country’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

The flight carrying Adam was due to land at Milan’s Linate airport, the statement said.

Including Wednesday’s mission, 150 Palestinian patients have been evacuated from Gaza to Italy for medical treatment, as well as more than 450 accompanying family members, the foreign ministry added.

Alaa’s husband, Hamdi, had just returned from dropping his wife at Nasser Hospital where they both worked when the deadly attack on their home took place in May.

Hamdi was taken to hospital with brain and internal injuries but died days later.

Adam was severely injured but survived the attack.

A British surgeon who treated him said Adam’s “left arm was just about hanging off, he was covered in fragment injuries and he had several substantial lacerations” when he arrived at the hospital.

At the time, the IDF said in response to reports of the strike that “an aircraft struck several suspects identified by IDF forces as operating in a building near troops in the Khan Younis area, a dangerous combat zone that had been evacuated of civilians in advance for their protection. The claim of harm to uninvolved individuals is being reviewed.”

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas’s cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 54,981 people have been killed in Gaza during the war, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.