The Israeli strike in Gaza that killed a Palestinian doctor and eight family members

Dr Hassan Hamdan was killed alongside his family members in an area Israel designated as a safe zone

Palestinians search for bodies and survivors in the rubble of a residential building destroyed in an Israeli air strike in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip. AP

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A prominent Palestinian doctor and eight members of his family were killed in an Israeli air strike despite complying with military orders to evacuate their home in Khan Younis and move to a designated safe zone.

Dr Hassan Hamdan, 62, fled together with dozens of his family members and arrived in Deir Al Balah on Monday night where they sought refuge with other relatives.

The building was located inside the so-called humanitarian zone designated by the Israeli army – a place they had said would be safe for Palestinians to flee to.

But hours after they arrived, strikes shattered the fifth floor where the family was living, killing at least 12 people. Five children and three women were among the dead.

Dr Hamdan was the head of the burns and plastic surgery department at the Al Nasser Medical Complex which has been the scene of carnage caused by Israeli strikes.

Abdullah Zaqout, his son-in-law, told The National that Dr Hamdan was killed along with his wife, son, daughter, four grandchildren and a daughter-in-law.

“The doctor was such a peaceful man, all he cared about was securing a dignified life for his family and ensuring their well-being,” Mr Zaqout said.

Originally from Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, the doctor fled his home at the beginning of the war after it was destroyed. He first moved to the southern city of Rafah and then to Deir Al Balah in central Gaza Strip before returning to Khan Younis.

“Dr Hassan went back to Khan Younis after the Israeli army withdrew and stayed in his destroyed home because he was so attached to it,” Mr Zaqout said.

He had five daughters and three sons. Two of his daughters are in intensive care and are in a serious condition.

“However, a day before he was killed he insisted on going back to his home, as if he wanted to spend his last days there,” Mr Zaqout said.

The Israeli army withdrew from Khan Younis in April after declaring it had cleared the area of Hamas fighters but a new incursion sent hundreds fleeing. Hundreds of people began leaving densely populated areas in and around Khan Younis city after being told to move west immediately to a designated “humanitarian zone” along Gaza's coast.

Among them was the Hamdan family – who lost numerous members and dreams in the strike.

Dr Hamdan's youngest son Mohammed, 20, was supposed to leave Gaza to study in Egypt after trying to enrol at Al Azhar University in Gaza. However, the onset of the war and the closure of the borders shattered his dream to study abroad.

October 7, when the war broke out following a Hamas attack on Israel, was supposed to be one of the family's happiest and memorable days. Dr Hamdan's daughter Reem, currently in intensive care, was supposed to celebrate her engagement that day.

Instead, her home was turned into her family's graveyard.

Mr Zaqout also said he lost his sister, whose husband is from the Hamdan family. In total, 12 people were killed in that strike, including women and children, and 25 were injured, Mr Zaqout told The National.

“This army does not distinguish between children, women, or the elderly,” he said.

The tragedy that befell the Hamdan family is not unique in over nine months of war in Gaza where more than 38,000 people have been killed.

While Israel has not officially announced the beginning of a new offensive in Khan Younis, photos and videos on social media show residents sleeping outside on the streets while family members dragged their loved ones from nearby hospitals out of fear of a reprisal of Israeli attacks on medical facilities.