Gaza nurse says whole family, including quadruplets, killed in air strike

Aug 22, 2024 News

Hala Khattab and her six children were killed when an air strike destroyed their family home in Deir al-Balah

(BBC NEWS) A nurse in Gaza has told the BBC his wife and six children – including a group of quadruplets – were killed in an attack in the central Gaza strip.

“My entire family has been wiped out in an instant”, says Ashraf El Attar, “leaving me with nothing”. The nurse – who works at Gaza’s European hospital – says his family home in Deir-al-Balah was hit in the early hours of Sunday morning. He survived with minor injuries.

Israel has not spoken about this specific attack, but has said its forces were operating in the city. It says it only targets members of armed groups.

Killed in the strike were Mr. El Attar’s wife – Hala Khattab, a teacher – and their six children – a 15-year-old boy, a one-year-old girl, and their four 10-year-old quadruplets. Speaking to BBC Arabic’s Gaza Today podcast, the nurse says that around 6am on the morning of the attack he was getting ready for work when he “heard the alarm sound and suddenly lost consciousness”. When he came to, Mr. El Attar says he was in “severe pain” and the house “was in ruins”.

Mr El Attar says all his “dreams have been destroyed” in the attack

All the outer walls of their apartment building were destroyed. “I desperately called out for my children and my wife, but it was too late. “My six children, including four twins, and my wife were killed instantly in the attack,” he says. The strike took them by surprise, Mr. El Attar says. The night before, the family had spent time “enjoying a soap opera together”, trying to “escape the harsh reality of war”. Mr. El Attar’s mother – and grandmother to his six children – says she “cannot comprehend” why their home was hit. “My son Ashraf works as a nurse at the European hospital, where he is dedicated to helping patients. “We had no connections with any organisations,” she says. The couple had an “incredibly challenging time” raising their children, she says, in particular the quadruplets.

“The babies faced severe health issues in their early months and nearly died. “We provided oxygen cylinders at home, and one of them, Hammam, underwent hernia surgery,” she says. Mr El Attar says his wife – Hala – was “dedicated” to helping displaced people. She was working for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa), he says, a UN agency that provides support for Palestinian refugees. Now the nurse says he is forced to come to terms with the life they could have had together. “I worked tirelessly to support my family and watch my children grow up, dreaming of giving them a better future – a big house, a car, and mobile phones,” he says. But now “all those dreams have been destroyed”. “I demand justice for my family”, he says, something he vows to pursue through “any international court”.

“Israel has committed a grave injustice. My entire family has been wiped out in an instant, leaving me with nothing.” The Israel Defense Forces has not commented on this specific strike, but has said it was operating in Deir al-Balah over the weekend. In another statement on Monday, it said it had been operating in the outskirts of Deir al-Balah “eliminating terrorists, destroying combat compounds above and below ground”. It says it only targets members of armed groups, and blames civilian deaths on Hamas – who it says places fighters, weapons, tunnels and rockets in residential areas.

Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 people in an attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, taking 251 others back to Gaza as hostages. That attack triggered a massive Israeli military offensive against Gaza and the current war, during which more than 40,170 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

• family, Gaza, killed, quadruplets, strike