JERUSALEM /ISTANBUL

An Arab Knesset member submitted an urgent inquiry to Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Monday regarding the killing of nine sibling children in an Israeli airstrike targeting their home in southern Gaza.

“The Israeli army carried out a strike last Friday on the Al-Najjar family home in Khan Younis, which resulted in the death of nine children from the family,” Ayman Odeh, who heads the Hadash-Ta'al alliance, said in a statement.

The statement said Odeh submitted “an urgent parliamentary inquiry to Katz regarding the targeting of the house and the orders that led to the strike.”

“Nine infants, girls, and boys were burned to death in their own home – we demand accountability,” Odeh said.

“Responsibility for this crime does not lie with what they call an operational error, but with a government conducting a genocidal war against the civilian population, the Knesset member said. “We will not remain silent in the face of war crimes.”

There was no immediate comment from Katz or the army on the inquiry.

Palestinian pediatrician Alaa Al-Najjar was devastated to receive the charred bodies of her nine children at Nasser Medical Complex while she was on duty there.

They were killed in the Israeli airstrike that struck their home. Her only surviving child Adam and her husband Dr. Hamdi Al-Najjar were both injured.

The Israeli military claimed it would investigate the drone strike that hit the Al-Najjar family home.

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, at least 16,503 Palestinian children have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 2023.

The Israeli army, rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, has pursued a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing nearly 54,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war crimes against civilians in the enclave.