Gaza nurse loses entire family including quadruplets in strike

Mr Al-Attar says his wife, Hala, was “dedicated” to helping the displaced.

She said she worked for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), a UN agency that provides support to Palestinian refugees.

The nurse now says he has to adjust to the life they could have had together.

“I worked tirelessly to support my family and watch my children grow up, and I dreamed of giving them a better future – a big house, a car, mobile phones,” he says.

But now “all those dreams have been destroyed.”

“I demand justice for my family,” he says, something he has vowed to pursue through “any international court.”

“Israel committed a grave injustice. My entire family was wiped out in an instant, and I have nothing left.”

The IDF did not comment on this specific strike, but said it was operating in Deir al-Balah over the weekend.

In another statement issued on Monday, it said it was operating on the outskirts of Deir al-Balah “to eliminate terrorists and destroy combat complexes above and below ground.”

Israel says it only targets members of armed groups, and blames civilian deaths on Hamas – which it says emplaces fighters, weapons, tunnels and rockets in residential areas.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people in an attack on Israel, and took 251 others hostage to Gaza.

The attack led to a large-scale Israeli military assault on Gaza and the current war, in which more than 40,170 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the territory.