Gaza pediatrician and mother loses 9 of 10 children after Israeli airstrike hits their home, hospital says

Trump's top meme coin investors visit White House

The White House said Trump's meme coin gala wasn't part of his official duties.

Despite repeated claims from the White House that President Donald Trump's Thursday night gala for the top holders of his cryptocurrency meme coin had nothing to do with his official duties, several of those investors visited the White House Friday afternoon for what they described as a special VIP event, the attendees told ABC News.

Sangrok Oh, a Korean crypto investor and entrepreneur, told ABC News on Friday that he and other top investors had been invited to tour the White House Friday afternoon, though it was not clear to him whether Trump himself would meet them.

"So, we're going to visit and tour the White House [and] at the same time talk about crypto industries and the future of crypto," Oh said.

MORE: Protesters decry 'crypto corruption' as Trump fetes top investors in his crypto meme coin

Thursday night's black tie event, held at Trump's Washington-area golf club, was attended by around 200 cryptocurrency traders, including many from overseas, who gained admission through a contest that awarded invitations to the top investors in Trump's meme coin -- with at least some of the funds flowing directly into the Trump family's coffers.

Critics have blasted the gala as a "pay for play" event in which investors who poured millions into Trump's crypto coin got special access to the president.

News that top $TRUMP coin investors visited the White House appeared to contradict White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt's assertion Thursday that the president was attending the crypto gala in a personal capacity, and that since the dinner did not take place at the White House, it was separate from his official duties.

"The president is attending [the dinner] in his personal time," Leavitt said Thursday. "It is not a White House dinner. It's not taking place here at the White House."

President Donald Trump speaks after signing executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House May 23, 2025 in Washington.

Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

The White House did not immediately respond on Friday to a request for comment from ABC News.

Cherry Hsu, an executive at MemeCore, a Singapore-based blockchain startup, said the firm's founder, known publicly as "Ice," had also been invited to the White House on Friday afternoon. MemeCore, according to the contest leaderboard, finished second in the competition with $TRUMP coin holdings in excess of $1 million.

And late Friday, Justin Sun, a Chinese crupto mogul and the top investor in Trump's meme coin, posted a highly produced video of his White House tour, writing on X, "Was an honor to be invited to tour the @WhiteHouse. Such a privilege to see it in person."

In addition to his multimillion-dollar investment in the $TRUMP coin, Sun has also invested $75 million in World Liberty Financial, another Trump-backed crypto venture. One month after that investment, SEC lawyers under the Trump administration moved to halt an alleged fraud case against Sun.

The Trump meme coin's website at one point earlier this month advertised a "Special VIP White House tour" for the top 25 meme coin holders as part of the contest -- but as of last week, the site said only that a "Special VIP tour" would be arranged, without mentioning the White House.

The site also included a disclaimer saying the tour was being arranged by the Fight Fight Fight LLC, and that the president himself would be appearing as a "guest

Gaza pediatrician and mother loses 9 of 10 children after Israeli airstrike hits their home, hospital says

The pediatrician's husband and a surviving child were injured.

A pediatrician and mother of 10 is mourning the deaths of nine of her young children after an Israeli airstrike hit their home near Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Friday, according to hospital officials.

Dr. Alaa al-Najjar's husband, also a doctor, was severely wounded and is now in intensive care. Their only surviving child was also injured, according to Dr. Munir al-Bursh, director-general of the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health.

"This is the reality our medical staff in Gaza endure. Words fall short in describing the pain," al-Bursh said in a statement on Friday night. "In Gaza, it is not only healthcare workers who are targeted -- Israel's aggression goes further, wiping out entire families."

Nasser Medical Complex, where al-Najjar works as a pediatric specialist in the al-Tahrir clinic, expressed condolences in a statement, saying: "We are speechless, and our breaths suffocate in the face of the horror of this tragedy."

MORE: Doctor details Gaza famine: 'We're not asking for miracles. We're asking for food'

When asked for comment, the Israel Defense Forces told ABC News its aircraft on Friday "struck a number of suspects who were identified operating from a structure adjacent to IDF troops in the area of Khan Yunis" and that the "claim regarding harm to uninvolved civilians is under review."

"The Khan Yunis area is a dangerous war zone," the IDF added. "Before beginning operations there, the IDF evacuated civilians from this area for their own safety."

Mourners react as they attend the funeral of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes, at Nasser hospital, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 23, 2025.

Hatem Khaled/Reuters

Dr. Ahmed al-Farra, head of pediatrics and obstetrics at the Tahrir clinic in Nasser Medical Complex, confirmed the incident, telling ABC News in a telephone interview Saturday that al-Najjar was at work when she received word on Friday afternoon that strikes had hit Qizan an-Najjar, the area where her family lives, south of Khan Younis.

"She felt by her heart that something happened to her family," al-Farra said. "She left and walked and tried to run without transport."

"Unfortunately, she discovered that her house was completely destroyed," he added.

Among the children who were killed, five were boys and four were girls, with the youngest being a seven-month-old daughter and the eldest a 12-year-old son, according to al-Farra.

"They were completely burned," he told ABC News.

MORE: Aid trucks looted in southern Gaza as famine looms due to blockade: UN

Smoke rises from an Israeli army airstrike south of Khan Younis, Gaza, on May 21, 2025.

Abdel Kareem Hana/AP

The one child who survived, al-Najjar's 11-year-old son, had to undergo two surgeries and remains in critical condition in the hospital, according to al-Farra. The father, al-Najjar's husband, also remains hospitalized in critical condition after undergoing surgeries and may have to have a leg amputated, al-Farra said.

When asked whether any humanitarian aid had reached Nasser Medical Complex, one of the largest hospitals in Gaza, al-Farra told ABC News that they still haven't received anything because what little aid was distributed so far this week has been stolen by armed gangs.

The World Food Programme, the food assistance branch of the United Nations, said more than a dozen of its aid trucks were looted in southern Gaza late Thursday as 2 million people in the war-torn territory face "extreme hunger and famine without immediate action."

The looting came just days after Israel succumbed to global pressure and eased its 11-weeklong blockade on all supplies entering neighboring Gaza, which the U.N. and other international aid organizations said has caused widespread malnutrition and conditions likely to lead to famine.

The aid blockade went into effect in early March as the initial phase of a two-month ceasefire expired between Israel and Gaza's militant rulers, Hamas.

The Israeli government is working with the U.S. to set up aid distribution points in southern and central Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday. But the plan, set to begin Monday, has faced criticism from established aid organizations that have been operating inside of Gaza for the past 19 months.

The war between Israel and Hamas broke out on Oct. 7, 2023, after Hamas fighters entered Israel and killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages. There are still 58 hostages held captive by Hamas, 20 of whom are presumed to be alive. Hamas is believed to be holding the bodies of four Americans.

The war has taken a large toll on Palestinians, with over 53,000 killed in Gaza since the conflict began, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health. While statistics do not distinguish between military and non-military casualties, women and children make up tens of thousands of this number, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.